Chapter 6 - The Answered Prayer
So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast in to the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says, Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:22-24).
The word therefore in verse 24 is the key because that word ties the previous statement to the statement that follows. What is Jesus saying here? That you are going to have whatever you say. “That is why I say to you, what things so ever you desire when you pray, believe you receive, because you are going to have whatever you say.” Therefore, when you pray, believe you receive, because if you believe you receive when you pray, then after you have prayed, you will say, “I have.” If you do not believe you receive when you pray, then you will say, “I am going to “or “God is going to.” If you say, “God is going to,” you will have a God who is always “Going to” and never seems to manifest anything now!
Many Christians die in the wilderness of unbelief because they have a God who is always going to do something but never seems to manifest anything. Why? Because they are always saying, “He is going to” and “the Lord is about to work it out.” So you have a God who is always about to work things out – He never finishes anything. You have a God who is always “about to bless,” so you are always on the verge of a miracle and never get one. But when you begin to believe you receive, you cease to have a God who is going to do something, and you now have a God who has done; and because He has done, you do have. So believe you receive when you pray, not after.
Then New King James version says, “Whatever things you ask”; the King James says, “What thing soever ye desire.” As believer, our desire should be the will of God. Now, sometimes my desires and your desire are non in line with God’s desires, and that is why we have to wait until we know that our desire have lined up. How do you get there? By exercising faith and saying, “God’s desires are my desires.”
As believers, we are to desire the Word of God, or the will of God. The will of God is the Word of God. That is why it is called “a testament,” because it is the last will and testament of Yahweh for His people. So understand that if you constantly ignore going to church, what you are doing is willingly deciding to be absent from the reading of your will. If someone dies and leaves you and in heritance and you are not present at the reading of the will, you cannot contest whether what you are told is true or false because you do not have the information. So you better be there (a Bible-preaching and teaching church) when the will is read!
We could say it this way: When you pray the Word of God (which is the will of God, which should be what you desire) and believe that you receive the Word of God (which is the will of God, which should be what you desire), you shall have the Word of God (which is the will of God, which should be what you desire). “Therefore, I say to you, when you pray My word, which is My will, which should be what you desire, make sure that you pray My word in the language or tense of believing you receive, and you will have.” Therefore, if God’s promise says, “He will,” then my prayer of faith back to Him is not “He will,” but “He has” or “It is done!” So God says, “I will strengthen you,” and I say, “I am strengthened.”
If I ask God to meet my need, and from that moment I ask Him, when I pray, as I am still praying, I say, “Now, Father, I thank You that I receive this need met.” Therefore, right now, while I am still praying, I declare that this need is met in Jesus’ name, and I praise, worship and glorify Him that this is done. Amen! Now, the next time I go to pray, that need is something that I believe I have already received. So, I am not asking for that again; because if I ask for that again, then I am testifying to God that I did not believe I received when I prayed yesterday. Because if I believed I received when I prayed yesterday, then I am not going to ask for it again today. Thus, Jesus is saying, “You must get your praying in line with your saying, and you saying in line with your praying, because you will not get what you pray; you will get what you say.”
