“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24)
This is one of the most misunderstood or rather one of the most misquoted verse in the Bible. Some books that I read will deduct the ‘whatever you ask in prayer’ and placed it with ‘whatever you want’. Take out the ‘Have faith in God…’ (v.22) from Jesus’s words and placed it with ‘Have faith in yourself’. And it became a well-receive philosophy of life: Have faith in yourself. Whatever you want, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Does it sound nice to hear? Does it easier for our mind to swallow? Does it go smooth in our modern life where god is a Sunday deity that needs to be entertained? It makes we feel in charge. I bet the whole world will convert to Christianity if Jesus preached this kind of sermon. But he doesn’t. He said that this can only be done only through prayer. But prayer seems so odd to do because unless prayer is entirely self-talk then other than that is totally crazy.
Someone texting me last night at hour 23:59:30 just before I finished my favorite cup of Nescafe coffee:
“(read till end). Hello. It’s Me, Jesus. I will be handling your problems today. I will be in control and will carry your burdens so your problems will be handled. Enjoy your day and know you are blessed. My child you are never alone. If you deny me on Earth, I will deny you in Heaven. If you’re not ashamed of me send to 15 including me. Watch what happens in thirty minutes! Be honest and send this to anyone who made you smile…”
This is nonsense. Kneeling had been replaced by texting. Prayers had been replaced by chain of messages. It shows that the world is desperate for blessing. The world is hunger for miracles. The world is in fear. People are afraid. They have ‘mountains’ in their life. They have burden that need to be remove. We are desperate. We need help. We need someone to gives the blessing. We need Father to provide all this. We need Mediator to communicate all this. But we are afraid to ask in prayer, afraid to seek His Providences in our need... afraid to knock on Heaven’s door.
“…whatever you ask in prayer…” requires faith in God. (We will look this through on Day 12) Andrew Murray writes ‘It is the ear which has heard God says what He will do and the eyes which has seen Him doing it. Therefore, where there is true faith it is impossible for the answer no to come.’ When we afraid to ask, we have invite fear to come. Faith is the opposite of fear. To pray we need faith, to have faith we need to pray. Prayer is the source of faith power. Start praying and God will give you faith. And once faith had been received, you’ll automatically want to pray. It’s a mystery, I know, but it’s the truth.
“…believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Believe is the key to received. This kind of ‘believe’ is not out of nothing. It is the kind of believe that is generated by faith in God. Give thanks before we see our prayer is answered.
This kind of prayer is not supposed that every prayer that we prayed will be received just like the way we like it to be. New Bible Commentary by IVP press comments: "Jesus was ‘thinking God’s thoughts after him’ and willing his Father’s will.” To know the will of God, we need to pray in faith. Once He reveals his thoughts, you will pray Father’s will be done and it will be yours. This is the kind of faith that takes. Do not afraid to ask, seek and knock. No more texting, start kneeling. No more chain of messages, start praying.
Have faith in God. Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
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