Why Answer To My Prayers Are Delayed?

Yesterday we went through the passage about the fig tree that Jesus cursed in Mark 11. Why did Jesus do that?  Because the tree did not bear fruit.
When Jesus cursed the tree, immediately the root dried up but the complete plant took one day to dry up.

There is a very important lesson that we need to learn from this. When we pray and proclaim in faith, it immediately starts the action but it takes time to come into its fulfilment. Every prayer that you prayed, every prophecy that you proclaimed is going to come into fulfilment soon.

Fig represents the Israelites. When Jesus cursed the fig tree, it was indirectly a warning to the Israelites.

John 15:6 
‘If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.’

There are many other instances where God compares the Israelites to a fig tree.

Isaiah 34:4 
‘All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.’

Joel 1:7-12

Amos 4:9
‘“Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, destroying them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.’

Mark 7:6-7 
‘He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain;  their teachings are merely human rules.’

The fig tree mentioned above has a lot of leaves but no fruit. Isaiah spoke about the people that honour God merely with their lips and not from their hearts.
Their hearts are away from the Lord. Their teachings are merely human rules. They have gone astray from God.

Luke 13:6-9  
‘Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

In the parable of the fig tree that grew in the vineyard, it was similar to the fig tree on the roadside that did not bear fruit. But here the man who took care of the fig tree pleaded with the owner to give the tree one more year to bear fruit.

All around the world there are many who call themselves Christians but who do not bear fruit for the kingdom of God. When you don’t bear fruit, the Word says that a time will come when the branch gets cut off and thrown into fire.

John 15:6
‘If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.’

God has a purpose behind everything he does. When you are given an assignment by God, he gives you a grace period too when you fail to do it.

Right after Jesus cursed the fig tree, he went to Jerusalem and began driving out those who were buying and selling in the temple courts.

Mark 11:15-17
‘On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers’

Jesus was extremely angry and took matters into his own hands. After he drove everyone who were selling doves, he started teaching there.

God expects fruitfulness from us. He has a purpose for each of us and wants to see us bearing fruit. There is a curse on fruitlessness.

Acts 10:38
‘how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.’

Moving forward in the book of Mark, we find Jesus teaching the disciples about faith.
Usually when a plant begins to die, first the leaves dry and fall off followed by the stems becoming weak and finally the root dries up. This process begins from the outside and goes all the way inside to the root.
Whereas when Jesus cursed the fig tree, the roots dried up first. The process started from the inside.
God treats the root cause of any and everything. When a person becomes a new creation in Christ, the change occurs from the inside or from the spirit first then the soul and then the body.

Mark 11:22-24
‘“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’

Summary
Jesus taught the disciples about having faith in God. He wants us to have an uncommon faith in him and to bear fruit for the kingdom of God.

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