Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Here the students of Jesus are amazed – Teacher, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!
Jesus isn’t surprised at all. Instead he shares with them the secret of his power. It is His faith.
He tells them – Have faith in God.
What would it be like to live life with that kind of faith? A faith that is more than a belief that God is powerful enough to work in our lives! But a faith that trusts God will work, is working!
Have we experienced this difference?
According to our Teacher, we can!
The Teacher wants His students to understand this. He tells them to believe in God and in the power of their prayers to Him.
Remarkably, He tells them to believe to the extent that what they ask for they have already received!
Over and over, in different settings and in various ways the Teacher has taught the same thing. He tells His students that if they really believe and ask according to the will of God, it will be done.
It will be yours, He says. This isn’t a maybe! Maybe isn’t faith!
Can we really become more like Jesus? We may try. We may even pray. But do we believe we have received it? Are becoming more like our Teacher?
Reminds me of Ephesians 2 when it talks of those dead in sin who God made alive in Christ. Verse 6 then says: And God raised us up with christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
ReplyDeleteSeated is past tense! Amazing to think about.
Do we believe that? Takes a bit of faith!
I wonder how much more effective we could be at becoming more like the Teacher as well as affecting the world around us if we had just a bit more faith.