“You can get anything – anything you ask for in prayer – if you believe.” Matthew 21:22 [The Living Bible]

The Bible talks a lot about faith. What is faith?

My World Book dictionary says it’s, “a believing without proof; trust; confidence; belief in God or God’s promises.”

And Hebrews chapter 11 tells us what faith is. “It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead.” Hebrews 11:1 [The Living Bible] In fact, the whole chapter talks all about faith. Read it sometime. It is very interesting.

The morning after Jesus chased the merchants and money changers out of the temple He was walking along the road. He saw a fig tree and realized He was hungry. But the fig tree didn’t have any fruit on it.

Jesus talked to it. He said, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Matthew 21:19b [NKJV] And the tree withered away; it died.

His disciples were amazed as I’m sure we would have been if we had been there. Then Jesus told them something very surprising; to them and to us.

He said, “Truly, if you have faith, and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this Mount of Olives, ‘Move over into the ocean,’ and it will. You can get anything – anything you ask for in prayer- if you believe.”

Jesus said this and He never lies. So, does that mean I can make all kinds of things happen like magic by just saying the words?

Faith and receiving isn’t just saying the words and like magic it happens. Our prayer needs to come out of a close relationship with God. We need to spend time with God, in praying to Him and in reading the Bible, which is Him talking to us. We need to be in tune with Him. Then we know what and how to pray and have faith that He will answer.

The closer we get to God the better we know just exactly how to pray. We learn how He thinks and how He does things. Then we learn to know what His will is and what isn’t. We learn what pleases Him and what doesn’t.

It’s just like your relationship with your mom and dad. You know how they think. If you tell them everyone in school has the latest ‘whatever’ they will quiz you. They will say, “OK, tell me exactly who is everyone?” You know they will ask you that because it’s happened before. You know what your parents are like.

It’s the same in knowing God. When you get close to God, He gets close to you and you begin to think like He does.

“And we are sure of this that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will. And if we really know he is listening when we talk to him and make our requests, then we can be sure that he will answer us.” 1 John 5:14 [The Living Bible]

Memory Verse for this week:
“Happy are those whose hearts are pure, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8 [The Living Bible]

Going deeper as parents:

I’m sure that you, just like me, have many unanswered prayers, even when we have honestly put our faith in God to help us move the mountains in our lives. In my over fifty years of walking with God I have definitely learned that just praying in faith is not always the answer. It is a necessity though. We need to pray His will too.

I am a great fan of A.W. Tozer. In The Best of A.W. Tozer, Warren W. Wiersbe has compiled some favorite chapters from his books. These men stress that we need passion. He says that when we look in the Bible we see it was men and women with passion that God heard.

Moses was a man with passion for God and his people. He trembled on the mountain when God spoke with him. He threw himself before God and said ‘blot me out of your book, not the people of Israel.’

Daniel prayed three times a day even when he knew it was against the law and he would have to pay the consequences. It was after his long season of prayer and fasting that Gabriel told him God’s secrets of the centuries.

John, the apostle, exiled on the island of Patmos because of his Christian testimony, wept because no one could be found to open the seven-sealed book. One of the elders then told him that the Lion of the tribe of Judah had prevailed.

The psalmists wrote with deep emotions and the prophets showed their heavyheartedness. Paul cried when he thought of the many who were enemies of the cross of Jesus.

God listens to the man and woman who cares; someone who has a heart, a passion, for what and who he is praying for. When we come to God we also need reverence, a sense of the divine Presence, stillness, solemnity, wonder and a holy fear.

Ruth Willms

Author: The Lion Tree
http://ruthwillms.com
ruth.willms@gmail.com

Want to know more about how God can help you every day? Check out my new book The Lion Tree at http://ruthwillms.com

Look for my new unpublished story, An Anniversary Surprise, at http://ruthwillms.com