Scripture Reading: Gal. 2:20; Mark 11:21-22
Would you like to have the faith of George Müller? Do you think that this would be a great thing? In Mark 11:14 the Lord said to the fig-tree, "May no one eat fruit from you forever!" The tree died, and the next day Peter called the attention of the Lord to it, because he remembered what the Lord had said. The Lord replied, "Have faith in God" (v. 22), because that was the secret of that miracle. This sentence is not translated well. In Greek the word "God" is in the possessive case, so it should to be translated "have the faith of God." The Lord possessed the very faith of God and by that faith something was done. He felt the futility of asking people to believe in God so He emphasized that they must possess the very faith of God. The faith of God is the faith that God possesses in His own word. God creates by authority, not by power; God does not believe in the power of His word but in the authority of His word.
The Lord did not pray to God to curse the fig-tree. He did not pray to Him to put forth power, but He gave a command and authority was there. It is not that we have faith, but that God's very faith is in us. We have to believe that what we say will come to pass. "I live in faith, the faith in the Son of God" (Gal. 2:20). This is the meaning of having the life of the Lord in us. Nothing in the Scriptures is abstract. Something in Him is given to us. We believe that the Lord was our Substitute in the past, but do we believe that we live by substitution today? The Lord Himself is giving Himself to us. On earth He believed in the Father and today we can live by this very faith, not a similar faith. This does not mean that we are going to copy the Lord's faith but that we have the very same faith because of our resurrection life with the Lord. We are now living by His faith. The question is not whether we have faith, but whether we believe with that faith. Faith is like sight; believing is like seeing. The possession of sight enables us to see but does not guarantee that we will see. Faith is given to us, but we have to believe, to use it. Our attitude must be, "I can believe; I will believe!" We must see that the Christian life is not abstract. It is always a repetition of what the Lord has given us as a legacy. What is a legacy? It is something that we have done nothing for and which is left to us. The Lord's legacies are given to us. His peace, His faith, and everything that is His has been given to us. (Recorded by P.D.)
