How do you pray? Do you expect that what you pray for will be answered? Or are you just sending out feelers to see what comes back? Most of the time, we are not assured in our hearts or our minds, if we are honest, what the outcome of the praying will be. Of course, we want what we want now. We are impatient and demanding. Why hasn’t God acted on our demand? We are told that God has his own timing. But what if God is looking at the quality of our spirit as we pray?
In this part of Mark, we get a lesson in prayer. Jesus had cursed a fig tree that bore no fruit. The next day the disciples recognize this tree and it is withered. While the disciples are amazed, Jesus tells them: “I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Well, that certainly takes commitment. Commitment of the heart and a real gut belief that what you pray for, God can do, will do, wants to do. It will be in His timing if it is to happen, but nevertheless, there it is: it can happen, God will answer our call. He is listening.
Jesus adds something else when he says: “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." This is the part that we would prefer not to hear, because it puts the onus on us. There is an ‘aha moment” here showing us that there is more to it then just asking God to deliver the goods. We need to have a reverent, clean heart that is willing to forgive and has forgiven. Just maybe all that stuff we are holding in and not repenting, does make a difference. We are not perfect after all. Here is where we have to confront the situation. We need Jesus to intercede. Maybe we do need help in praying.
Once again it comes down to that hard thing we are asked to do. Forgive. God is watching us. No secrets are hidden from Him. His eyes are on us and they are the eyes of a Father who loves His children. Ever watchful. Waiting for our hearts to understand.
Laurie Erdman
2 comments:
I think this is one of the areas of the Christian life that I have struggled the most with over my lifetime. There is a feeling of being presumptuous that comes over me when it comes to praying and then believing a particular thing will occur.
I know in my heart that God 'can' do what I am praying for...but when it comes to the need to "really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart", then I struggle. For example, when I think of the times that I prayed for our son to have victory over his health and developmental issues, was I praying really believing it would happen, or was I actually praying that I hoped it would be in God's will that he could be healed? And if it was the latter, is that somehow "wrong"?
Praying and believing that something WILL happen feels to me like bossing God around, as if I know what what is best for me and those around me. Clearly, when God answers "no" or "not now" to my requests, His wisdom is greater than mine in that particular situation. If I harbor "doubt in my heart" about something I pray for, it is certainly not in God's ability to answer me, but rather in not knowing His will.
So...I wrestle with this issue. Maybe this is something that, as Christians, we won't understand until we meet Him face to face.
Thanks, Laurie, for challenging us to believe.
And thank you, Karen, for acknowledging it's tough. I, too, have that fear of bossing God around. Perhaps even our prayers are focused too much on our circumstances. We want everything to turn out well as quickly as possible, even though the Bible teaches us again and again that life in this broken world will be hard.
Could it be that our faith is not measured or manifested so much by the circumstances we face, but in how we face those circumstances? We should, of course, continue to ask God to reveal himself in the midst of our circumstances, since we know he cares about our needs. But is it enough to have faith that God will do exactly what is best for us regardless of how our circumstances turn out? Is that a big enough challenge for us by itself?
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