When You Pray…..Believe

Mark 11:24(NKJV) ²⁴Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Last week we listened to the words of Jesus in Mark 11 as he told the disciples how powerful faith filled words could be. We saw that verse 24 begins with the word “therefore” which connects it to verse 23. The conclusion is that if words spoken to a natural mountain could actually move that mountain, what could words spoken with the same kind of faith in prayer to the Father do? The answer is anything that might be needed.

This week I want to look more closely at verse 24. The wording here is very interesting. Jesus tells them that they must believe that they have the answer to their prayer when they pray. This goes against the natural way of thinking for most of us. We tend to believe God actually answered the prayer when we see the result. Part of the problem is that we have been taught things like, “God moves in strange and mysterious ways his wonders to perform.” Although God often does things in ways we could not imagine, they are not strange and mysterious; they are according to the principles in his Word.

When I find a promise in the word of God and I bring that promise back to God in prayer, I need to believe when I pray that God is working on that request and it is mine now. This is not really so difficult to understand if we relate it to the modern way we do much of our business.

Christmas is just over the horizon and we will soon begin shopping for our 6 children and 13 grandchildren. When our children were small, this was a time when my wife and I could get away for lunch without the kids and not feel guilty. We were Christmas shopping! Of course the kids could not go! We would go to many different stores over a period of weeks looking for the things the children wanted at the best price. At the same time, we got to spend time together. It was a win, win situation.

Now things have changed. Our children are grown and we can go to lunch together any time we want. We still have two at home but they are in their 20’s so we often find ourselves eating all three meals alone together. For 25 years, we were never alone in the house.

We still have gifts to buy, but something else has changed as well. We no longer go from store to store in the cold and snow. We simply sit down at the computer and go from site to site in the comfort of our home. Not quite as romantic I know, but much warmer.

My wife does most of the shopping now. She will come to me and say “I got this for (and name a child or grandchild.)” She may describe the item or show me a picture. I will ask, “How much was it?” She will tell me the price, which is usually a good bargain. Now if I ask to see it she will say, “It’s not here yet, but it will be here before Christmas.” We have one son who lives out of state. Sometimes we have his and his children’s gifts wrapped and sent to them directly. We never do see those gifts. How do we know they will get them? How do we know the gifts we ordered will get to us by Christmas? We know because we trust the company with which we are doing business.

It is interesting what we say when we order something online. We say, “I bought a new computer.” We do not say, “I asked for a new computer but I don’t know if I will get it.” We tell people how excited we are that we got this new thing. We will describe it to people. We will think about what it can do. We imagine ourselves with the new thing. Why would we do that? We do not actually have the thing in our hands. We trust the company from which we bought it.

For most people today, online shopping is part of daily life. We know the system and we know that it works. I buy coffee online. I will order the coffee and in a few days, it comes to my doorstep. How do I know it will get there? How do I know it will be what I want? I know because the company is reputable and I have done this may times before. The coffee, or whatever I order, has gotten to my door many times and it is almost always what I ordered. I know and trust the vendor and the system.

When we pray, somehow we think the one we are praying to and the system he set up is less trustworthy than Amazon.com. We pray and wonder if almighty God will do what he said. We pray and the devil tells us that we are somehow not worthy to receive what we ask for. When I order something online, I make sure my accounts are in order and my payment method is valid. If it is, I know I will receive what I ask for. If you are born again and you base your request on the Word of God, your account is in order and your request is pre-paid!

In Mark 11:24, Jesus is using wording that is right out of modern life. When we ask God for something according to the Word, we need to believe at that moment that the request is ours. Sometimes online orders take a little longer to get to us than we think they should. If we trust the company, we just keep looking for the delivery. It is the same with the Lord. Sometimes things need to be worked out in us before we see the result. Sometimes circumstances or people need to be dealt with before we see the answer. The important thing is that God is good for his word and he will get the answer to us exactly when we need it.

When we pray, we should not be afraid to tell people what God is in the process of doing for us.

“How are things doing financially?”

“Well, there have been some challenges, but God is moving to meet my need.”

“How do you know that?”

“Philippians 4:19 says he will and I asked him to. I believe I receive my needs met.”

“How do you know it’s going to happen?”

“I asked the Father for it according to his word. How can it not happen?”

“Well what do you do now?”

“I thank God for meeting my need, listen for instructions from him on what I have to do to ‘pick it up’ and trust the Lord to be good for his word!”

To the natural mind, this seems extreme if we are talking about God, but completely reasonable if we are talking about the internet. Does that seem a little off to you?

One more thing we will do once we place our order is prepare for the product to come. I have purchased a number of computers this way. While I wait, I will prepare to transfer my information from one machine to the other. I may copy my files to some kind of removable media so I can easily copy them to the new machine. If it is a desktop model, I may clean up the space where it will go. I will prepare to move the old one out and bring the new one in. What am I doing? I am acting according to my order. Since I know the new one is coming, I prepare to receive it.

This week we want to look at the nature of corresponding actions. That is, the actions we take because we believe God will do what he said. In the mean time, think about what you need from God and consider the words of Jesus. When you pray, believe that God will do what he said. He is far more reliable than any online vendor is.