A Fighting Faith
How strong do you believe?
On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And his disciples heard it. In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. Then Peter remembered and said to him, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea”, and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. - Mark 11:12-14;20-24
It is odd that Jesus chose to curse a fig tree to demonstrate faith to his disciples, but it did make a strong statement. If you believe fully, he tells them, it will come to pass.
What we ask God for we must believe it has already happened. Our faith needs to be that strong, or the power to make it so will be diminished.
So, how do we make that work for us now, when we need God's help to combat this virus?
I am sure part of it is believing fully that what we are doing will keep us safe, and keep others safe. Every one of us has the power to do that, but we must truly believe it will make a difference, or we will fall short and the virus will win.
Think of all the people battling on the front lines in this war. They need our help, our faith and commitment to be able to do this without harm to themselves. We can help by praying for them and fully believing that our prayers will make a difference.
Hearing the numbers of people infected, people dying, we can lose faith. We can start to doubt that an end is near, that our prayers are helping. But as Jesus says, don't let doubt into your hearts.
Believe, with so much conviction that you know it is already done.
And before we know it, we will be through this.
So, let us pray.
More to come...