Proper Prayer and Personal Holiness

Mark 11:12-26

12 Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. 13 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 In response Jesus said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again."

And His disciples heard it.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. 17 Then He taught, saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"

18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching. 19 When evening had come, He went out of the city.

The Lesson of the Withered Fig Tree

20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. 21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away."

22 So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Forgiveness and Prayer

25 "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."

Jesus taught by word and example about the necessity of holiness to worship and the impact of faith in prayer according to His will and word.  He was hungry as they left Bethany after the triumph was still lingering in the air and they passed a fig tree with only leaves and no fruit.  Even though it was not the season for the fruit, Jesus expected it and found none.  Therefore, the Lord told the tree that it would never bear fruit again because it was not ready in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2, 1 Peter 3:15) just as we are to be always ready to bear fruit for the Master in proclaiming the gospel.  May we not be found only covered only in the leaves of learning and not in the fruit (John 15:8) to feed the souls of others to be well-pleasing (2 Corinthians 5:9, Hebrews 13:21) to our Lord.  The disciples heard this and did not ask further questions until they passed by that tree the next morning and noticed it had completely withered away into a dried up dead stick.  They pointed that out to Jesus in astonishment.  He told them as a matter of fact that this was a lesson on prayer as much as fruitfulness.  They were to persist in prayer with conviction and confidence that God would answer according to His will if they had the faith to trust Him and His word.  This certainly does not mean that we should blindly name and claim whatever we desire, but what God does (John 14:13, 16:23).  He gives us the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4-6, Job 22:26-27) as His desires are made yours and not what we desire apart from that will of his desire which is in His name and according to His word.  Confidence in prayer with absolute trust must needs to know His will to ask what then fills our will to act in response and not just to have power or get things to happen because we desire them to.  But when we have confidence that we ask rightly for His glory alone, then we can be confident He will answer and give us what we need without fail in His time.  The time may be immediate as with the fig tree or much later as we anticipate with enduring trust in His work.  We are also to learn the necessity of holiness in worship.  Jesus was indignant over the unholy worship in the temple when He arrived and saw the money changers making profit over selling wares to the visiting worshipers.  They had made God’s house of prayer (Isaiah 56:7) into a den of thieves (Jeremiah 7:8-9, 10-11) who robbed God of His glory and made the worship unholy along with those participating in that endeavor as they sought personal gain instead of prayers for the will of the Lord to be answered for His glory and honor (Malachi 1:6-7).  This prayer was further explained as being impeded by our lack of forgiveness for those who sin against us as we have been forgiven by Him (Matthew 6:12, 14-15, 18:35), a reason why holiness in the temples of our bodies is the basis of prayer being heard by God.  This holiness is in our morality and humility as well as our willingness to forgive and right attitude and aim in our prayers of faith.  Proper prayer and personal holiness are kinsmen of grace.