Mark 11:20-25
“Therefore I say to
you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”
The real life application of this verse can very easily be
emphasized with this short story.
Once,
there was a persistent man whose biggest dream was to win the lottery. He desired this so dearly that it
became a staple in his daily prayers. “Please Lord! If you could PLEASE help me
choose the winning numbers, I would be the happiest person on earth!” He
prayed. But God did not answer his prayer. So he prayed it again the next day.
“PLEASE heavenly father! Help me to win the lottery!” he cried. But still there
was no answer to his prayer. Being a persistent man of faith, he continued this
prayer fervently for months on end. The same prayer was repeated over and over
again, every minute of everyday, to a point where God was fed up of hearing it,
so he came down and visited him while he was praying. “MY SON! You never cease
to ask that I help you win the lottery, and I desire to answer your prayer, but
PLEASE go and buy a lottery ticket first!”
Sometimes,
we take these promises of God at face value, only clinging on to the aspects
that make us happy, but ignoring the context in which these promises are made.
In Mark 11 we find a promise to receive the desires of our prayers, but it must
be understood that it is not simply the prayer that is required of us.
Some people will read this verse
and then treat prayer like a drive-thru fast food joint. Or like the man in the
story above, pray for break-thru and not do anything to help himself out of his
situation. We pray for higher test scores, yet do not study, we ask for healed
relationships, yet refuse to forgive, we pray for a new job or opportunity, but
we do nothing to find them. How can we expect God to come though for us when we
ourselves are too lazy to do anything about it?
And finally, the most common use of
this verse is when people pray for everything their heart desires, but their
hearts desire are not aligned with the desires the Lord has for them. The
context of this verse is that our relationship with Christ has changed us
inside and out.
If you have truly allowed God to change your life, then you allow Him
to alter the desires of your heart.
(:
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