Faith Power

“Jesus replied to them, ‘Have faith in God. I assure you: If anyone says to this mountain, “Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, all the things you pray and ask for – believe that you have received them, and you will have them.” (Mark 11:22-24 CSB)

Two little boys were talking. They both read the text above in Sunday School, so one said that he was going to ask God to move the mountain behind his house into the sea. The next day, the other little boy saw him at school and asked him how it went. The boy replied, “Well, I prayed before I went to bed, but the mountain was still there this morning. I knew God wouldn’t do it.”

Is it possible that Jesus really meant what He said in this text? A lot of people pray for a lot of things that do not happen. They muster up as much faith and determination within themselves as possible, but still God does not do what they ask. So, why not?

The simple answer is: 1) God is not willing, or 2) we do not really believe in our “heart” that He will, or 3) there is unforgiveness in our hearts that keeps God from blessing us (read the rest of the paragraph in Mark 11).

Sometimes we pray for things that we feel we need or are in our best interests or the best interests of others, but in reality what we are praying for may actually NOT be in our or their best interests, because only God knows what is or is not. So, we must first seek the will of God.

If we are convinced that we have understood the will of God, and if what we understand is in agreement with the teachings of His word, and we pray for this to take place, and believe in our hearts that God is going to do this, then He will. We need also to remember that God is a loving Father who loves His children and who will give good gifts to us. We ask, and we trust.

We must be aware also, though, that if there is a degree of unforgiveness in our hearts, we cannot expect God to bless us or respond to our prayers. The word tells us that when we pray, if we have anything against someone, we must first forgive him or her, so that God will also then forgive us. That is a pre-condition for God’s responding to our prayers.

Lord, in our union with Your Spirit, may we seek your will, believe in our hearts that You will give what we ask for, and seek You with a heart cleansed of sin. Amen.