I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.
Mark 11:24 NLT
It’s easy to note the lack of guarantees in life, but are we missing something? Is this our biggest blind spot as humans? Mark 11:24 seems clear that anything can be guaranteed, as long as we pray and believe. So, why aren’t we getting what we want all the time? Why does it still seem like there are no guarantees in life?
Prayer is Complex
Prayer seems simple, and maybe it actually is. We ask God for something, we believe we’ve received it, and then we go about our business. But how does that work? What if I pray for world peace, as I’m sure thousands upon thousands of people already have? Are these questions rooted in doubt, therefore breaking my faith in the power of prayer from the start?
Prayer is something I’ve always wrestled with, and I know I’m not alone. Yes, Mark 11:24 makes it sound quite simple, but we humans have a tendency to overcomplicate things. We have very little faith and a strong desire for things to happen on our timeline, not God’s. We also try desperately to figure everything out. It is unsettling to engage with an activity in which we have no idea how it actually works.
I’m no expert on the topic of prayer, but I do know that it’s a complicated thing to grasp. I also know that the kingdom of God is best understood by children (Luke 18:16), so perhaps I make prayer complicated when there’s really nothing to it but faith.
Talking to God
One of the most overwhelming aspects of prayer is that we’re directly addressing God, the all-powerful creator of heaven and earth. What a thought. It’s almost impossible for us to grasp that we have a direct line of communication to the most powerful being in the entire universe, whenever we need it. We don’t have to dial a number or have an internet connection. All we have to do is talk and He’s listening.
Not only is God listening, He’s willing to help us out. Mark 11:24 says we can pray for anything and then believe that we’ve received it. The most powerful being in the entire universe is taking requests! Your requests! That’s wild. Almost too wild to believe.
But that’s exactly what we’re supposed to do. Believe.
Having Faith
Hebrews 11:1 says, “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” That sounds like prayer to me; hoping and believing in something that we asked God to do. The Bible doesn’t tell us that what we pray for will happen immediately, or even in the way that our mind is picturing. In fact, there are few specifics about how God will make our prayers come to be. The only thing we know based on Mark 11:24 is that we need to believe. We must have faith.
Again, this sounds simple, but everyone knows how difficult it is to have faith, especially when we’re impatient or desperate. We’re needy people and many times when we pray we want something to happen at a specific time or in a specific way. Is this how prayer works?
It isn’t our job to work the details of our prayer requests. If we have everything figured out then why do we need God’s help? Are we really expecting the most powerful being in the universe to simply carry out our wishes? No. We’re lifting up our needs and concerns and believing that God will take care of them in His way on His timeline. Our job is to have faith in the process and faith that our needs will be met.
The Power of Prayer
Without faith our prayer life is going nowhere fast. Not only are we not following God’s simple instructions within Mark 11:24, but we’re not taking advantage of the power of prayer. Having faith means we’re confident in what we hope for. It means we’re sure of what we don’t see. What happens if we have faith and we pray bold prayers? Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? We’re tapping into the most powerful being in the universe, why would we pray for things that we ourselves can handle?
Mark 11:24 doesn’t say anything about limiting what we pray for. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. It says ask for anything. No limits. No restrictions. Ask for whatever you want. The only trick is you actually have to believe.