Standing in Truth

Standing in Truth

Sharon and I have been working our way through the Gospels since the beginning of the year,
We have been enriched and blessed as we have been digging deeper into the understanding of Jesus teachings.

Often we read scripture and miss precious truths just by simply overlooking words or phrases which don’t seem to be very significant.

During last week as we continued reading and studying Marks Gospel,
a phrase was highlighted for me which I have overlooked many times.

Mark 11 : 25
Jesus makes a profound statement which can be easily overlooked
“And when you stand praying”.
At first glance this phrase doesnt seem very significant.

The question which arose
Was Jesus saying that if we want prayer answers that the only acceptable prayer position is we must be standing up on our feet?

When we study scripture, we discover that when people prayed, sometimes they stood up, some times they knelt down, sometimes they sat, other times they lay face down flat on the ground.

So Jesus could not mean that when we pray we must be physically standing.
So then what did he mean?
Understanding Jesus way of teaching lessons to his disciples helps us understand what this is all about.

Often Jesus would demonstrate something practically and then afterwards teach spiritual principles to his followers.

An example was the feeding of the crowds with the bread and fish,
Jesus first demonstrated through the miracles of multiplication,
Then taught the disciples that they would always have enough if they trusted him.
So Jesus methodology
He gave practical demonstrations to teach powerful spiritual principles.

Which when applied correctly bring desired results

So lets understand what Jesus is up too this time.
Mark 11 : 15 - 19 Thanks to Paul and Jenny
Jesus and his followers arrive in Jerusalem, they go into the temple,
What he sees disturbs him greatly
People are buying and selling animals, others are changing money, and the the temple courts had become a shortcut for people to carry their goods through.
Jesus response to what he sees
He drives out the people who were using the temple for private business purposes.
He throws the tables of the money changers over and turns over the seats of those selling doves.
He stops the people from carrying anything through the temple.
The reason Jesus does this is explained to us by his teaching
The temple was a place of worship
The temple was the place where people were supposed to bring their sacrifices to God
This sacred temple had been turned into a Den of thieves, for business

People no longer raised animals like lambs and doves to bring to the temple for sacrifice
Some clever people had made a business out of selling animals to those wanting to make sacrifices.
The only currency accepted at the temple to buy a sacrificial animal was Jewish money.
So anyone bringing other currency to buy sacrifices, first of all had to exchange the currency they had for Jewish currency.

The religious leaders of the day, were profiting from this business

When he had finished clearing out the temple
Mark 11 : 17
So what was Jesus doing?
Have you ever heard the saying that we should take a stand for something?
Or we should stand our ground?

This means, if we believe strongly in something, we should defend what we believe in the strongest way possible.

That’s exactly what Jesus had just done,

Against strong opposition, Jesus fearlessly took a strong stand against what was happening in the temple.

This is the second time that he had gone into the temple to clear it out
In Johns Gospel right at the beginning of his ministry he had gone into the temple to cleanse it

John 2 : 15

John 2 : 17
These scriptures clearly inform us of the zeal which Jesus had regarding keeping the sacred temple Holy.
The scourge which he made was not used like a whip against the people, it was symbolic of the authority which he was exercising while clearing out the temple.
He made a strong stand against what was going on in the temple and exerted his God given authority against this practice.

Notice their is no record of one person opposing Jesus as he was clearing the temple.
He was outnumbered hopelessly by the amount of people in the temple.
But his stand against what was happening, gave him this great victory.


Jesus later teaches the disciples the powerful spiritual principle behind his actions in the Temple.
When you stand praying
What is he teaching ?
When you pray
Take a stand, make your intentions clear for the truth which you believe in strongly.
Paul expounds on Jesus statement
Ephesians 6 ; 10

Paul here paints a full picture for us of why we need to stand
He says
Take your stand
stand your ground
Stand firm then
He uses the analogy of a Roman soldier to describe how we should be dressed when we come to prayer.
We have an enemy who desires our destruction
If we are not standing our ground
We are loosing ground
Standing in prayer means
Standing in truth God’s word is Truth
Being in right standing with God / in right relationship with him
Standing our ground
Standing under the authority of God
Standing in the Spiritual authority which is God given
Standing in a position of humility,
Standing in the promises of God
Standing in Faith
Jesus helps us to understand right standing with the example by saying if you have anything against others forgive it.
Jesus says

Mark 11 : 25

Jesus is using this example to teach a principle
If you have anything against anyone

We all know this
We cannot take a strong stand on a slippery slope.

Having something against another person is a slippery slope,
Un-forgiveness, Un-godliness is a slippery slope
Envy, Anger and pride, deceit, and offenses, are slippery slopes
We cannot stand firm footed on a slippery slope
Which means we have no spiritual authority
Jesus encouragement helps us
Mark 11 : 23

Mountains are obstacles which are standing in our way of progress.
Asking God for Forgiveness is sometimes like a mountain to us
We have been hurt, humiliated, sometimes crushed
God’s forgiveness and his help overcome the mountains in our hearts
Standing in a position of humility enables us to recognize these mountains
When we recognize the mountain,
holding something against another
Being angry, envious, prideful, deceitful, offenses against others stop us
When we ask for forgiveness these things will move
Because We will be standing in righteousness, standing strong
Authority is restored

If we pray in this way
No matter how big the mountain is, it will move.

Mark 11 : 24

The context here does not mean that we can ask for anything not in his will for us and we will receive it
This does not mean we have the right to make demands, our prayers are to be righteous, they can only be righteous when we ourselves are in right standing with God.

In the time of Jesus a physical temple stood in the middle of Jerusalem a Holy consecrated building
Today that temple has been replaced

1 Corinthians 3 : 16
We singular and together are now the temple of God
We should guard this temple and clear it out, the way Jesus cleared the temple in Jerusalem
We should be filled with the Zeal of the Lord to keep this temple Holy and sanctified
Drive out the un Godly practices in our lives.


Stand in truth
Be filled with zeal for righteousness

Take your stand
Stand your ground
Stand firm
And see the mountains move