Are You a Believer?

Mat 8:13  And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And the servant was healed in that hour

Mar 11:23  Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to pass; he shall have it. Mar 11:24  Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them

These two scripture verses I quoted above are very powerful tools in the toolbox of the believer. It is interesting to note that early Christians were called by the name "believer" and not 'christian'. In Mark 17:17 it is recorded as saying the following:"These signs will follow those who believe..." In our modern day rationalistic society where everything has to be proven according to scientific principles we have lost the simple art of believing. We now have the motto that "Seeing is believing".

I have often been asked by Christians that don't believe to explain how we can read the verse in Mark 11:23 literally. The bottom line request is "prove it". My answer is always the same. Prove that you have a brain. Have you ever seen your brain? Do you know for sure that you have a brain? You can make some logical deductions to the effect that you must have a brain, but having being in the people business most of my life, I can argue the point that most actions undertaken by rational people defies logic.

A biblical truth is "believing is seeing". Jesus said it on two separate occasions. As you believe so you will see. The world has turned this around to say that seeing is believing.
Ponder this - when you place an order online and pay for it online, you are often forced to wait for a couple of days for delivery. Despite this waiting period, you are totally convinced that you have acquired the new item you ordered.

When Jesus cursed the fig tree, the apostles were surprised the next day when it died. Jesus, was not at all surprised. In fact He was surprised at their reaction. of course the fig tree was dead. it had died the previous day when Jesus spoke to it! The death of the fig tree took place in the unseen realm, at the roots of the fig tree.

Like modern day Christians, the apostles were expecting an obvious change in the physical realm, something they could see immediately. When this never happened, they walked away not believing. The next day the fig tree was dead...and the apostles were surprised.
Do you pray and believe or are you just making a delightful noise not expecting any answers anyway...Thats probably why we are called Christians and not believers!!