Chapter 2 - Believe You Receive Them

Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots, And Peter remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:20-22, emphasis added).

In the original Greek, it is translated, “Have the God-Kind Faith.”

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. Therefore I say to you whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them (Mark 11:23-24, emphasis added).

Get this: The Bible says in Mark 11:24, “Therefore I say to you whatever things you ask when you pray, believe you receive them, and you will have them.” It says “when you pray.” Not when you see, but believe you receive when you pray. You may be wondering why this is. If I pray and I believe I receive, then the moment after I pray, I say, “I have.” Remember, Bible Faith is conviction or persuasion plus corresponding action. When you declare that you have what you just prayed for, that is a form of corresponding action. He says when you pray; believe you receive, because if you believe you receive when you pray, right after you pray, you say “I have.” And if you say, “I have,” then what you say will come to pass.

I want to pay attention to this. Jesus after exemplifying this to His disciples, tells them to have “the God-Kind of Faith.” Within a 24-hour period after Jesus spoke to this fig tree, it was dried up from the roots. They were coming in one day Bethany to Jerusalem. He saw the fig tree, spoke to it, they did their ministry for a day in Jerusalem and went back to Bethany. It was night then, so they could not see the fig tree. Then the next morning, as they got back up and were going back into Jerusalem, peter said, “Master! The fig tree you cursed has withered away.” Within 24 hours! See, the God-Kind of Faith can change a situation within 24 hours!


Notes to Remember

"When we pray, we must believe we receive. The moment after we pray, we say, 'I have.'"