Hope for Healing, Faith for Living Podcast

Jesus and his disciples were walking by a tree which Jesus had spoken to and cursed the day before. 

Mark 11: 20-25 ESV

20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received[c] it, and it will be yours. 25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

Jesus had acted in faith speaking to a tree and now he was using that event to teach his disciples truths about how to operate in faith.

He actually speaks of two ways to use faith. One was speaking words of faith, believing what you are saying would come to pass. The other was praying and asking God in faith, believing you have received what you prayed for, and then it will be yours.

For one, you believe what you say is going to come to pass even if there is no physical evidence of it yet. The other, you believe you have received it, again, even if there’s no physical evidence of it yet, and once you do believe you have received it, it will be yours. 

Both ways require believing before we see it.  When speaking words of faith to cause change, we have to believe it will happen. When praying in faith asking of God, we have to believe we have received it, and we will. 

For now, I want to focus on the asking part.

Remember 

1 John 5:14-15 ESV

14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

When we ask, we are to ask according to his will. We are to ask for what we know is his will for us according to the revealed will of God found in his Word. 

This is how we have confidence toward God, we are asking for what he has already revealed as his will for us.

Where people struggle is, they have yet to go to the Word to find out what God’s will is. 

Now there is a time when we are praying to find out God’s will but that’s now what we do if his will is already revealed. His revealed will is there for us to ask him for and receive.  Asking, believing we receive, is the prerequisite for having. 

How can you believe you have received it if you are not sure it’s God’s will for you to have it? You can’t. That’s why when you pray this way, asking and receiving, you have to know what you are praying for is His will for you.

Once you know it’s his will, then you have confidence. All the promises God has made come with a yes, and that yes is Christ Jesus. Remember we read that in 2 Corinthians 1:20

God requires us to believe we have received what we have come to him in prayer asking for, then we will have it. When do we believe we have received it? When we asked for it. 

We have to pay attention to the instructions God has given us in his Word for what to pray for and how to pray.

Blessings,

Tim  Dumas