BELIEF IN PRAYER

Mark 11:24  For this reason I say to you, All things that you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and you will have them.

From man's point of view, prayer and petition are things of the present, and "you will have them" is a thing of the future. There is a gap of time between "pray and ask" and "you will have them." When I pray to God for the healing of a disease, for the salvation of a sinner, or for the accomplishment of a work, I do not know when the disease will be healed, when the person will be saved, or when the work will be accomplished. In man's eyes, answers to prayer belong to the future. But the Lord Jesus' word here is very unusual. He is speaking of genuine faith. "All things that you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and you will have them."

 In our mind, we often misread the word "have" in the phrase "believe that you have received them." We often change it to "believe that you will receive them, and you will have them," or we change it to "believe that you can receive them . . ." or "believe that you are going to receive them. . . ." But once so changed, it is no longer of faith. Only one faith is genuine faith  the faith that believes that "God is." The Lord's Word does not say "going to receive" but "have received them." I believe that I have received them now.  God recognizes your faith as righteousness (Rom 4:3) which is imputed to you (Rom 4:22).  God hears the prayers of the righteous (in Him) and grants them if within His will.  At that point its a done deal  the matter is granted, but only as long as this faith is maintained, but if it becomes wishy-washy or doubleminded (James 1:6,8), it interrupts that which should have happened for God then takes His hand off providing the result.  Take into consideration that for God to grant any of your prayers, God balances this out with the prayers of all others (just a few million or so) and with the overall will of God towards His purposes and in resolving all matters in consonance with the end time fulfillment of prophecy.  The complexity of all this is only a matter which can be understood by God and would stagger our wildest imagination.  This combined with possible demonic interference on your mind makes the granting of your prayers even more so complex.  So you can see that the immediate fulfillment of your prayers is granted as long as you believe you have them granted and continue to do so, nothing wavering, no double mindedness, until and after they are granted.  But sometimes the answer is no for oftimes would we ask amiss that our desires may be fulfilled in absence of the denial of oneself in following Christ (James 4:3; Matt 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23) or our prayers are not otherwise in consonance with Gods will.

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