BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Notice that Jesus spoke the desired end results to that tree and nothing else. Nine words. He never said another thing to it. As far as He was concerned, from that moment on, His act of faith was past tense and so was the tree. When He finished speaking to it, He turned His back on it, went to the temple, drove out the money-changers, and then preached there all day. “And when even was come, he went out of the city” (verse 19). On the way back to Bethany, when Jesus and the disciples passed by the fig tree, 12 hours after He’d spoken to it, it looked just the same. If there had been any visible change, Peter would have said something. (Peter was like I used to be—always the first person to open his mouth in any situation.) Now, this is vitally important to understand: The process of faith was already working, but it doesn’t work from the outside in; it works from the inside out. That’s why we can’t evaluate its effectiveness by what we can feel or see. If we speak words of faith and then say, “It doesn’t look to me like anything is happening,” we disconnect from faith and abort the process. We have to learn better than that. We have to train ourselves to be more like Jesus, to say only what the Father tells us to say…and then keep our mouths shut. Have Faith in God The next morning, Peter finally saw what he’d been watching for ever since Jesus had spoken to that tree. “As they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God” (verses 20-22). Most religious people today would absolutely faint over such an answer. They’d expect Jesus to say something like this: “Now boys, just wait a minute here. Don’t you be trying this kind of thing. I’m the Son of God, you understand? I can operate this way but I don’t want you to be out there talking to fig trees and all that kind of stuff. You’ll fall flat on your faces and give this ministry a bad reputation. Don’t you get mixed up in that blab it, grab it, tree-killing stuff.” But that’s not what He said. He said, “Have faith in God.” With those words, He not only commanded His disciples to do what He did, He offered them the faith with which to do it. Then He went on and taught them how the process works: “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” (verse 23). It strikes me as significant that Jesus gave us just 10 words to say to the mountain. He kept the command simple. He told us to speak the end result, then turn around and walk off, expecting our words to come to pass. “But how do I find out exactly what words to say to my particular situation?” you might ask. You do it the same way Jesus did. You spend some time getting quiet, praying and fellowshiping with The LORD over the situation. You draw near to the One Hebrews 3:1 refers to as the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. Ask Him about the situation. Say, “LORD, it seems to me that the desired end result here is such and such. Is that correct?” Then check your spirit for the answer. Listen on the inside of you to hear what He says. When you start doing this, you’re going to find out how easy it is to hear the voice of God because, as His child, that’s what you’re supposed to be doing. If He says, Yes, that’s right, then go ahead and speak the command of faith. If He says no, then stand on James 1:5 for wisdom. Say, “LORD, I thank You for Your wisdom about what I should say to that tree. I’ll speak only Your words to it. I may not speak them today. I may not speak them tomorrow or next week. I’m not going to say anything to it until I hear from heaven.” “But what if I’m facing an emergency?” you might say. All the more reason to listen to God. You can spout multitudes of the wrong words in the middle of an emergency and nothing will happen. One word from The LORD, on the other hand, changes everything. When Jesus, your High Priest, tells you what to say, as far as heaven is concerned, as far as all the angels are concerned, and as far as all the demons of hell are concerned, it’s as if Jesus Himself is speaking—and when He speaks, He gets results. If you don’t believe it, ask the fig tree. Keep It Simple, Sweetheart I’ve found in my own life that when The LORD tells me what to say, He sticks with His New Testament pattern. He keeps it simple. If my mind goes off in all directions and comes up with a massive string of words, I ignore them and keep waiting on God until I get the insight He’s endeavoring to get across to me. It’s astounding how few words He needs to get the job done. I’ve seen Him prove that again and again over the years. I remember a time early in my ministry when I was preaching in the Northern plains of West Texas. We were in a small building and a woman brought her teenage daughter up front for prayer. “Brother Copeland, she’s been having epileptic seizures,” she said, “and we believe it’s time for her to be healed. Would you minister to her?” 34 : BVOV

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