By faith
“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
—Mark 11:22-25 NIV
The underlined verse (above) is the verse which is the focus of this devotional. It’s a verse that makes an amazing — almost unbelievable — promise. It appears to basically say: “Ask! Believe! Claim! And it will be yours!”
If true, that’s actually stunning.
To be clear, some have read it that way. They have asked, believed, and claimed. On occasion, they’ve received what they requested. Often times, they have not.
What are we to make of this?
To begin, one recognizes as soon as one reads the passage that verse 24 needs context. In other words, don’t read it by itself. Because, without a context, one could make this verse say anything one wanted it to say…
“God, I need patience and I need it now!”
I’ll ask God for a Ferrari, and based on this text, God will have to give it to me.
“I pray, mighty God, that you would heal my husband of his cancer…”
“God, you know that I need a top grade on this exam, or else…”
I’ll pray that I come out on top for the job promotion…
“Jesus, I’m asking you to teach my neighbor a lesson … a strong lesson…”
Clearly, we can’t read this text in isolation. Even verse 25 makes that clear. No sooner does Jesus make the statement in verse 24 than he adds that while we’re praying, we have to forgive (in verse 25). Other passages in the Bible support this assertion (see Matthew 11:11-12).
There are many other Bible passages that make clear that there are certain conditions that God places on prayer — things such as praying according to his will, being open to God’s correction, seeking to live in harmony with his will, and others (see Mark 14:36; John 15:7; 1 John 5:14-15).
So then what is Jesus saying? Maybe the words of New Testament scholar Grant Osborne from his book Mark will help:
This [verse] cannot mean that our faith tells God what to do, and that God is obligated to say yes to any request given in “faith without doubting.” God is sovereign, not we. This is a wisdom saying like in Proverbs, intended to provide a maxim that we must apply in light of all of scriptural teaching. Still, it does say that prayer has incredible power to do wondrous things.
In other words, just as no wise, loving parent always says yes to their child’s request, in the same way, God does not always say yes to us.
Having recognized that, we can also affirm that prayer matters. It matters deeply. It makes a difference. In fact, it often serves to align us more clearly with God’s will rather than getting God to align with our will.
It is also true that anyone who walks with Jesus every day experiences those times when we say, “Nothing explains what happened there other than the fact that God answers prayer.”
Keep praying. In His name. And God will change you. And in the process, mountains of doubt and fear and anger will crumble in the light of his work in and for and through you.
It happens. By faith.
—Randy Roberts, DMin, LMFT, is vice president for spiritual life and mission at Loma Linda University Health.
