For this reason I say to you, All things whatsoever ye pray for and ask, believe that ye receive it, and it shall come to pass for you.
The Lord speaks these words the morning after He cursed the barren fig tree. Peter had just pointed out that it withered from the roots. The promise that follows is very wide. It makes us ask what believing really means here.
The Setting: A Withered Tree and an Immovable Mountain
The disciples were a small group. They faced the whole religious establishment. The promise answers that helplessness.
The Lord teaches His disciples the great principle. It lets the weakest believer overcome the hardest difficulty and the cleverest opponent. On the surface, the men who opposed the Lord and His teaching held all the power. How then were a few poor fishermen to stand against the wisdom and power of men in high places? The Lord's answer is, "Have faith in God."
One writer looks past the promise itself to what would happen to Israel as a nation.
We may well see here a hidden promise about Israel. Israel was now only an obstacle in the path of faith, and as a nation it would disappear among the nations. But this promise applies in many ways. It would be quite wrong to limit it, except as the Lord Himself does. He makes His closing promise as full as He can. Nothing will be denied to faith. Yet it is no limit to insist that faith must be real faith.
The Width of the Promise
One writer weighs the two words that make the promise so broad.
"Whoever says … and does not doubt in his heart, but believes … it will be done for him." The whoever and the whatever make this a very sweeping statement. It almost takes our breath away. But it is connected with the prayer described in the next verse. In both these verses everything clearly hinges on the believing.
One writer refuses to set a limit where Scripture sets none. He applies the promise to everyday needs as well as spiritual ones.
I believe this is true of every spiritual blessing we need. And it is not limited to the spiritual. "Whatever you ask" sets no limit, and I refuse to add one where Scripture does not… The Lord often uses our daily needs to teach us. When faith prays to Him about them, we learn to pray and trust Him about the deeper spiritual needs.
Believing, Not Imagining
Everything turns on the word "believe." So we need to know what belief is.
Belief is faith. Faith is not something we produce ourselves. It is not make-believe or imagination. Verse 24 does not mean that if I can work myself up to imagine I receive what I ask for, then I do receive it… Faith is the God-given power in me that receives God's Word. Faith is the eye of the soul, which receives and appreciates divine light.
A Faith God Gives, Not a Promise to Test
One writer points to a confidence God Himself gives about one particular thing. He also warns against testing the promise.
Scripture recognises specific faith about a specific thing… This may be the special kind of faith the Lord means when He says, "whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (Mark 11:24). Genuine, divinely given faith, not mystical or imagined faith, is what is meant here. Many have tried this promise as an experiment, only to be disappointed… But God does not give His promises and the power of His Spirit for us to experiment with, or to use for our own private ends.
Praying With Our Will Left Out
One writer takes the verse as a rule for all prayer, not a blank cheque for our own wishes.
Mark 11:24 gives the principle on which we are to pray in every case… all prayer should be with faith. Praying in the Holy Spirit is now tied to Christ's words staying in us… As a rule, the Holy Spirit will keep those words in our mind, if our hearts are right.
The same writer allows both realities: that God may give a specific assurance, and that our own will can distort a request.
It is always right to bring what we ask to Him, subject to His will… And the answer will be more glorious and blessed than what we asked, even when it is not the answer we wanted. Let us trust His love, and it will not fall short. If He has given us faith to expect a specific answer, let us bless God for it. Only our own will must not come in… But where there is earnest faith, God will hear, though He may guard us against our own will in it.
Forgiveness Attached to Faith
One writer ties believing prayer to how we hold our feelings towards other people.
If I hold a grudge against anyone, I do not have a good conscience towards God… I must be "without anger" as much as "without doubting" if I want to receive good things from God's hand.
Summary
- Faith in God — what counts is who you trust, not how hard you try. "Have faith in God" is the Lord's answer to a handful of fishermen facing an immovable system.
- Faith receives — believing is not working yourself up to imagine an answer. It is the soul taking in what God has said.
- Faith is given — God grants a specific faith about a specific thing. The promise is not there for us to experiment with.
- Faith submits — "whatever" has no limit, but our own will must not come in. Where He assures us of a specific answer, bless Him for it.
- Faith forgives — believing prayer goes with a heart that holds no grudge: without anger, as much as without doubting.