Gifts and Talents

          When Jesus saw a fig tree he walked over to it to get some of it’s fruit. The tree had green leaves, and looked like it was bearing fruit. But, there was no fruit on the tree. Jesus said "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again." The fig tree looked the same after Jesus spoke against it. It looked like nothing had changed. The next day, when they were passing by that same fig tree, Peter saw that the tree had started to dry up. Peter said to Jesus “look the tree You cursed has withered away.” Jesus said to “have faith in God.”

      When we pray there are many times that we see nothing happening, so we ask God again, and pray for the same thing over, and over. Jesus said to “have faith in God. When we pray and ask God for the same thing over, and over, we are not using faith. We need to pray one time, and believe that God heard us and is taking action on our behalf, and thank Him for the answer.

      There was a 42 year old woman that the doctor said she had liver cancer, and there was nothing they could do. She weighed less than 100 pounds, and her skin was yellow. She and her husband prayed and asked God to heal her. The next day, she was no different. She did not ask God for healing, she and her husband had already asked for healing, now she thanked God that she was healed. She not only said if once, but many times each day, she thanked God for her healing. This went on day after day, for many days and months, with no change. She kept on thanking God for her healing, Gradually she started to look better and better. The weight started to come back. her skin started to look better an better. The day came that she was completely healed. That was 40 years ago; she is still healthy today.

      After we pray for anything, then we need to start thanking God for the answer. We turn from asking to thanking Him. That is what faith is all about. We thank Him before we see it. Faith is seeing the thing come to pass, We are looking for our future, not our past. We had a problem; now we are looking for it to come to pass. We have faith that God hears our prayers. We have faith that God will answer our prayers. We have faith that we will see our prayers answered. We have faith in our God.

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      New King James Version
Mark 11:12 ¶ 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.

      New King James Version - Mark 11:20 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.
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."

      New King James Version
Psalms 107:15 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!