It will be yours
Mark 11:24 - Focus your prayer on things that glorify God, not your whims. Make those requests specific and with the faithful expectation that God will make it happen.
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“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Mark 11:24 NIV
Believing (although many people on this planet do not have faith in God) is relatively easy. It is understanding Christianity that takes a lifetime, and even then we will go to our Maker with only a vague knowledge of all He has made and done for us. Mark 11 is another chapter of the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus tries to hammer some of the basics into His disciples shortly before His trial, torture, crucifixion, and resurrection in and around Jerusalem.
Whenever I see a “therefore” in the Bible, I know that I should study the verses preceding that word. In this particular situation, Jesus cursed a fig tree outside of Bethany as it provided no fruit to refresh Him on the journey to Jerusalem. After emptying the temple courts of vendors and moneychangers, which infuriates the “chief priests and teachers of the law,” Jesus and the disciples head back to Bethany for the night.
It is at this point that Peter notices the fig tree Jesus cursed has “withered from the roots,” with the implied meaning that it is dead from the roots up. The disciples are amazed by this, and Jesus seizes the opportunity to teach a lesson about faith and prayer. In Mark 11:22-23, He says:
““Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.”
… and that is followed by our verse for today. Precept Austin quotes New Testament Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest on the transition between these verses:
"The word “faith,” therefore, indicates the logical connection between the contents of verse 23 and this verse. The idea is that since faith is the criterion of success in spiritual matters, therefore faith should be the constant attitude of the mind when one prays." (Wuest)
Verse 24 has been misunderstood and misinterpreted, probably since the Gospel of Mark was first written. It’s quite easy to read this and think “Wow, if I pray for a $4.3 million Bugatti Bolide hypercar and believe that I have received it, it will appear in my garage!” No. That’s not what Jesus is telling His disciples here.
20th Century English Bible teacher Arthur Pink wrote this eloquent explanation, quoted on Precept Austin:
BY THE words “believe that ye receive them:” we understand, expect God to give them to you. But it is at this point that so many of God’s people fail oftenest in their prayer lives. There are three chief things to be attended to in prayer.
First, make sure that you are asking for something that is in accordance with God’s Word: see 1 John 5:14. But right here, the devil will foil you unless you are upon your guard. He will come as an angel of light and preach a sermon to you on God’s holy will. O yes, the devil is quite capable even of that! It is our privilege and duty to know what God’s will is! “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:17). It is the revealed will of God which is in view in these passages, for with His “secret” will, we have nothing to do; that is none of our business. God’s revealed will is made known in His Word. Fix this in your mind; never allow Satan inject a thought (Eph. 4:27) to shake you thereon, that everything God has commanded you to do, every precept and exhortation addressed to you, is “God’s will” for you, and is to be turned into prayer for enabling grace. It is God’s will that you should be “sanctified” (1 Thess. 4:2), that you should “rejoice” (Phil. 4:4), that you should “make your calling and election sure” (2 Pet. 1:10), that you should “grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord” (2 Pet. 3:18).
Second, having made sure that what you are praying for is according to God’s revealed will, then plead His promises, such as Matthew 7:7, Philippians 4:19, etc. Plead them in the name of Christ, asking God to give you the “desires of thine heart” (Ps. 37:4) for Christ’s sake, that He may be honored in and by a Godly walk from you, and that His people may be helped and encouraged by your example. Those are pleas which God cannot deny.
Third, and this is what we would earnestly and lovingly press upon the Christian reader: Expect God to do what you have asked. Unless there is an expectancy, faith is not fully in exercise. It is this expecting from Him which honours and pleases God, and which always draws down from Him answers of peace. There may be some difficulty, problem, trial, looming ahead of you, which assumes the proportions of a mountain. Never mind that: do not let it depress, discourage, or dismay you. Praise God it stands written in the eternal Word of Truth, “Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith and doubt not … ye shall say unto this mountain be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; It shall be done” (Matthew 21:21). Notice carefully, it is not “If thou doubt not and have faith,” but “if ye have faith” and then (while you are awaiting God’s answer) “doubt not,” but continue the fulfillment of His promise. When you first get down on your knees, beg God in the name of Christ and for His own glory’s sake, to work in you by His Spirit that expectancy of faith which will not take “NO” from Him; which reverently, but confidently says, “I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me” (Gen. 32:26). That is what honours God, that is what pleases Him, that is what obtains answers from Him.
Let’s summarize this:
You can expect God to give you what you pray for, but
make sure you’re asking for something in accordance with God’s Word (which, by the way, does not mention a Bugatti Bolide anywhere…), then
plead His promises in the name of Christ, asking God for what your heart truly desires and what will help and encourage His people, and then
expect God to do what you have asked, as He will be pleased with your faith.
I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but I do find myself shaking my head at intercessory prayer requests for “a better car,” “a job with more pay and better hours,” “that I will do well at my dance tournament,” and so on. Are those things in accordance with God’s Word? Do those things honor God, and do they help and encourage His people as a whole? Most likely, the answer to these questions is no, which is why those prayers may go unanswered.
We’ll end today’s devotional with another commentary pulled from Precept Austin, which provides some wonderful advice for praying and getting results. This is from David C. Egnar of Our Daily Bread Ministries:
Lots of things are easier to do when they’re bite-size. If you have a major task to get done, for example, it helps to divide it into smaller units and tackle them one at a time. This is true whether you are redecorating the house, packing for a vacation, or directing a church project.
Rosalind Rinker suggests that the same is true of prayer. She found that when she made very general, all-inclusive requests of God, it seemed that nothing happened. But when she began making specific, bite-size requests, she saw results.
She recommends that we make our requests very specific, and ask for what we really believe is according to God’s will. Rinker adds that as we see God’s answers to relatively small requests, we will find that we are asking for bigger needs with a greater degree of faith.
Have you been praying general, world-encompassing prayers without seeing results? It’s wiser to ask for something smaller and more specific and really believe that it will be answered. For example, if you’ve been asking God to destroy all the pornography in the world, it would be better to pray that the convenience store on the corner would stop selling it. Then ask God what you can do to help bring that about.
Let’s begin making bite-size requests! — David C. Egner (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
Focus your prayer on things that glorify God, not your whims. Make those requests specific and with the faithful expectation that God will make it happen.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear God, I come to you with faith, believing that whatever I ask for in prayer, I have already received it. Help me to trust in Your promises and align my desires with Your will. AMEN.