Praying and Believing

03.04.12

Mark 11.24 24 Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. NASB

If you don’t believe, don’t pray – that seems to me to be about the substance of what the Lord was saying. If God is trustworthy and cares about us as He claims, then by all means, pray; but if He isn’t, and doesn’t, then don’t pray. As a matter of fact, if He isn’t trustworthy and caring, then go find some other god, because He’s not worth having as God if He isn’t worthy of our trust.

And then there is the question, are we trustworthy of God’s attention? Wait! Don’t answer that! Or at least don’t answer until you think it through a little. The problem with us is we aren’t trustworthy and caring – at least we aren’t other than our ability to be selective in our trust and care; and even then it’s iffy at best. To ask God for something is to believe in the first place that He can and will bestow that for which we have asked; anything less than that is unbelief.

Relationship with the Lord takes our trust and care to a whole new level. Without these two foundational principles our relationship with Him is going to be very rocky. Unfortunately, relationships that are on-again, off-again are probably those from which we need to shy away. With the Lord, it’s either all or nothing.

So, asking God for something is to believe He has not only the wherewithal to give us what we ask for, but also the love to give it. Now then, we may ask for the wrong thing, but that isn’t for us to determine – God can sort that out. Ours is to ask and believe; His is to answer according to His infinite wisdom and our need. So then part of the equation is to trust that in His infinite wisdom, He’ll respond appropriately. If God is worth trusting to ask, He is worth trusting to deliver. Will I trust Him to deliver according to my need (which, by the way, He sees clearly).

Jesus isn’t telling us to rub the magic lamp – He’s telling us that our relationship with God through Him is to be that if unquestioning trust that God will lead us in the right direction and give us appropriately according to our need and His love for us. We can’t factor out His love. That’s why, when we pray, we address Him as Father. A father cares for his child. A father provides for his child. If human fathers do that as broken and as sinful as they are then what kind of response will we get from our Father in Heaven?

Jesus told His disciples (and us who believe) that God answers prayer and gives to us as our wise and loving Father. We need to believe that. If we don’t then we’re just wasting our time. Asking God for something is in its very action a statement of faith that one expects Him to answer…unless one prays vain prayers. If one prays in vain, then one believes in vain. And if one believes in vain, one doesn’t really believe at all.

But, as Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.” Belief is the issue here and real belief expects real answers and trusts that whatever is granted is best: sometimes yes, sometimes no, and sometimes wait; but above all, keep praying and believing!