Only Believe - Robin Shope & John Friedman

"Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done." Matthew 21:21

It starts right after Christmas, our list of resolutions for the New Year. Here it is, New Years day and I didn’t make any resolutions this year because I can never keep them. Are you like me, or do you keep turning over new leaves until you look like Sherwood Forest? It’s the first week of 2010—a different day for me, because I am bypassing the websites and books that declare they know the mystery ingredients to be thin, youthful looking and prosperous.

My answer is found in the midst of the most popular book in the world, the Bible.

Some may wonder how a Biblical passage can make the difference between discarding a New Year’s resolution a few days into January and actually seeing change beginning in yourself during that same few days after the New Year. Remember, quite often the answers to our problems are right under our noses.

We become so obsessed with looking around for answers, asking friends or professionals for advice, and paying for outsiders to help, that we forget we have the power inside ourselves. When we finally get that hard to find answer, we smack our foreheads and remind ourselves we knew the answer all along; we just didn't see it.

It’s found in Matthew—the story of Jesus and the fig tree. While in the presence of his disciples Jesus caused a fig tree to wither and die. His disciples asked about this power and Jesus told them they too had the power to make changes.

"Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea, it will be done. And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and believing, you will receive."

The answer to making your resolutions happen is having faith, believing it will happen…and it will! Believing requires thoughtful prayer and hope that something will happen. Athletes would say this is like "having some skin in the game." That means more than just thinking your resolution for the New Year, more than just speaking it to a friend. It means having the commitment of faith in the outcome. Prayer is the instrument of belief that your resolution will be victorious. Praying for it engages more than your tongue and your mind, it engages your being. It commits your whole self to making your resolution come to pass. Stay positive. Jesus said, “Do not doubt.”

There is a popular self-help book that talks about “seeing it and believing it.” However, God requires the opposite of us; He says to believe it and then you will see it. Jesus gave us this advice two millennia ago. Go ahead and make your resolution to accomplish something positive today, then start to work. Remember, faith and prayer go hand in hand. Join a partnership with the Heavenly Father. Believing makes it so. Remember Jesus' words, "And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and believing, you will receive."


Robin Shope is the Special Education Coordinator for a county juvenile justice system for at-risk kids. She has authored a number of articles and six novels. She and her husband are former missionaries and have been married for 32 years, with two grown children.


John Friedman is a businessman living near Lake Michigan. His love of writing survived the legal writing classes taught in law school where they specialized in teaching him to write page-long sentences that made little sense except to other lawyers. John lives in Chicago running a rigid container distribution business, Northern Container.