In the course of over twenty years in ministry, there has been one thing that has been said to me over and over: I THOUGHT I was believing God, but I guess I wasn’t.  That leads me to ask, What convinced you that you weren’t actually believing? Time after time the response has always been the same; they weren’t seeing any tangible results. So….does that mean because you aren’t seeing any results that nothing is happening?  Let’s explore that today.
Now this may be a good example to start with. We will read a couple examples of the Lord Jesus speaking to a fig tree, the first in Matthew 21:

Mat 21:18  Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.
Mat 21:19  And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
Mat 21:20  And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!
Mat 21:21  Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
Mat 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

And here is an account in Mark 11 of the same event:
Mar 11:11  And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.
Mar 11:12  And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:
Mar 11:13  And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
Mar 11:14  And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
Mar 11:15  And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
Mar 11:16  And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
Mar 11:17  And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Mar 11:18  And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.
Mar 11:19  And when even was come, he went out of the city.
Mar 11:20  And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
Mar 11:21  And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
Mar 11:22  And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
Mar 11:23 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.
Mar 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Mar 11:25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Mar 11:26  But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

Here is something noteworthy the Holy Spirit impressed upon me, evidenced by the account in Mark; although the tree died the moment Jesus cursed it, the disciples didn’t see the manifestation of that until the next morning when they passed the same way again.  This is important!  Suppose you cut a rose off and put it in a vase of water.  Why do you suppose in a couple days the rose is withered and dead?  It’s because it actually died the moment it was cut off from its source of life, the rose bush.  Now the water in the vase prolonged its appearance of life for a short while, but its fate was already sealed.  Imagine taking a chain saw and cutting a living tree down.  It is laying on the ground with all the leaves appearing just as it had before you cut it down.  So is it still alive?  No, it’s cut off from its roots and it cannot live.  Come back and look in a day and you’ll see the leaves withered and falling off.  In a few more days, it’s quite clear the tree is no longer alive.

The Lord Jesus said virtually the same thing in both accounts by two different people, Matthew stated, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
Mark put it like this: 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.

What is the key here that the Lord Jesus emphasized?  YOU MUST BELIEVE!  Now, that doesn’t mean “I hope so” or “I wish”.  It means you have spoken and it’s done as you said.  Have you ever said, “That scared me to death”?  Are you dead? Then you didn’t BELIEVE, and that means you will give account in the judgment for those words, for the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 12:34-37,
Mat 12:34  O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Mat 12:35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
Mat 12:36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
Mat 12:37  For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

So, is the Lord Jesus telling you to go around cursing fig trees to see if you are believing?  No, but Jesus doesn’t lie, so if you are really believing, the evidence WILL come forth, and by the same token, if you’re NOT believing, nothing changes.  I realize the fig tree is a strange case, yet Jesus chose to use it to teach His disciples something about faith and believing.  It even said in Matthew 21:19 “ he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. Jesus was AWARE it was not time for it to bear figs yet he cursed the tree, but for what purpose?  It was to show that the Word of God works even in cases where we would not normally think it would apply.  So the tree became an example. It can just as easily be cancer, or sickness, or the mountain of poverty, or any other “mountain” in your path right now. The words of the Lord Jesus in Mark 11:23-24 seem pretty far-fetched to most people, but not to me.  When I was dying of cancer in 1993, I took the Lord Jesus at His word, literally.  I mean, why not?  either it works, or it doesn’t, either God is telling us the truth, or He isn’t.  Everything in the Bible stands or falls together.  If I can’t believe Psalm 103:2-3 or Isaiah 53:5, or Mark 11:23, then I can’t believe John 3:16-17 either. Do you see where I’m going?

People read God’s word and think “I’ll try this”, and halfway apply the directions, meaning, I hope this will work.  No, sorry, it won’t work unless you do it exactly like the Lord Jesus said.  You don’t “TRY” the Word of God; you DO it.  Can you see the difference between these two following statements?  “try to ride a bicycle” and “ride a bicycle”.  The first one shows an attempt, maybe successful, maybe not.  The second one shows accomplishment.  So it is with the Word of God.  You don’t TRY it, you DO it.  And the desired results will always follow.

If you THINK you are believing, but not seeing results, then you’re not believing, simple as that.  I’m helping you here.  Lose the doubt, or you’ll do without.  It’s not YOUR power that will move the mountain out of your life; it’s the power of God. He isn’t limited by our puny strength, but He is limited by our puny belief. So often we are locked out of the blessings of God for our unbelief.  God wants you to have perfect health, even as it was in the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God.  He told them  NOT to eat the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, but they chose to do it their way, not believing the Word of God when He told them in the day they eat thereof they would surely die.  We do the same thing even today, God says thus-and-thus, and we don’t take Him at His Word and we suffer the consequences.  We even have the nerve to blame God for our disobedience and unbelief.

There have been those I’ve prayed for to be healed, and they died anyway, and then someone would say God didn’t keep His Word concerning healing.  But didn’t He?  Didn’t the Lord Jesus give us Mark 11:23-24 AS A PROMISE AND A WARNING?  I used to really beat myself up if someone didn’t get healed, until the LORD showed me several examples of Jesus telling someone “Be it unto you according to YOUR faith”.  I realize it isn’t all about MY faith, but also about the other person’s faith as well. Let’s read a few:

Mat 17:15  Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
Mat 17:16  And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
Mat 17:17  Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
Mat 17:18  And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
Mat 17:19  Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
Mat 17:20  And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Mat 17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
Luk_8:25  And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.

So you see, you have a part in this “believing unto manifestation”, it’s not all on God.  He is supplying all you need to succeed, but He can’t make you use it.  If you want your mountain to move, He will supply the power, but you must supply the “BELIEVE”.  It’s somewhat like driving a car: the car has the power to move you where you want to go, but YOU must get in, start it and put it in gear and drive it away. Or you can leave it parked and just look at it, and waste its potential.  your choice.