Command the results

“And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it…And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots…And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” (Matthew 11:14-24)

Hello, my friend…

Today I want to cover, once again, a subject about which I have taught in the past; however, I feel it imperative to share this message with you again. When I taught school, I was instructed it takes at least seven repetitions for an idea to “stick” in the minds of those listening. This is only repetition two, so there may be more to come later.

I call your attention to the words of Jesus as He spoke to the tree. “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever.” Just nine words spoken under the direction of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Nine words. No long prayer, no spiritual contortions like we see ministers doing in today’s world. Just a simple command from the mouth of the Master.

What was the sum and substance of those words? For starters, I would remind you that it wasn’t a blatant curse, per se. Jesus didn’t command the tree to wither up and die from the roots. He didn’t stand and condemn the tree for bearing false witness (that it had fruit but only bore leaves). He didn’t call down fire from heaven to destroy the tree. He simply declared with authority the results He desired. And the tree responded to that command.

Jesus came to be an example to us. He came to show us the heart of the Father. He came to reveal to us what life looks like when someone is sold out to hearing the words of the Father, to walking in the authority of our heavenly King, of speaking and acting with the power of God in full operation. He later told His disciples, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore… ” (Matthew 28:18:19). In other words, if we have the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead living within us, He will quicken our mortal bodies…and we will do greater works than He did (if we remain in Christ and do His will). (taken from Romans 8:11 and John 14:12)

We can, sometimes, get so full of ourselves and so deceived by what we perceive to be our authority that we overrun the actual words of Jesus. We read in Jude 1:9 that even the archangel Michael didn’t accuse Satan of a thing (even though we know he is guilty); instead, said: “The Lord rebuke thee.” Yet we often see fellow believers getting into shouting fits, accusing Satan, condemning Satan, commanding him to go to the pit, etc. etc. It seems (now, this is just me talking) that they actually end up talking directly to Satan more than they concentrate on speaking the Word of God over the situation. I know I’ll probably take some blow back with that statement, but I want to encourage my fellow pastors and believers to conduct spiritual warfare in the same fashion as did Jesus. The Bible clearly shows us, example after example, that in our own power we are helpless against Satan. It is only through the power of Christ and the direction and anointing of the Holy Spirit that we can stand under attack and go forth to take back the souls of those taken hostage by him.

Jesus showed us in our text today to speak the desired outcome in our situations. It is not necessary for us to go into spiritual spasms, to pump ourselves up, to try to intimidate whatever is coming against us. All we need to do is find the will of God for our lives and walk in His will. Once that is established, anything that would attempt to hinder us or stop us, we simply turn it over to God and let Him handle it. I have found that He does it much better and more complete than I ever could even imagine. And, if in the course of praying for His direction, He directs us to speak to the situation, we should follow Jesus’ lead and speak what we desire and let it come to pass. After all, in the verses following we read Jesus’ teaching: “Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

Those aren’t my words. No modern preacher came up with them. They are the words of Jesus – echoing the will of our Father in heaven. I encourage you to begin doing this very thing. Start small if you need to, just to build your faith. The key is to start where you are and allow God to show Himself mighty on your behalf.

Be blessed.