“Then Jesus said to the disciples, ‘Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, “May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,” and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.’” (Mark 11:22-25 NLT)
Have you ever tried to bargain with God? “God, if You’ll do this, I’ll do that.” Though I was not a soldier, I’ve heard it said that there are no atheists in foxholes. Whether that’s true, I suspect there were a lot of those kinds of prayers that left the lips of frightened soldiers in the midst of battle.
Do you not understand, if you’re a believer in the living Christ, you’re in the midst of a major battle between the forces of good and evil, and Satan takes no prisoners? His mission is to “steal, kill, and destroy” your life, not only on earth, but throughout eternity. If you’re not walking with Jesus, you’re serving Satan. It may not look like it or even feel like it, but it’s nonetheless true. How do I know that?
Jesus said in Matthew 11:30: “Anyone who isn’t with Me opposes Me, and anyone who isn’t working with Me is actually working against Me.” What’s my point?
Prayer is a conversation. Sometimes we make requests of God and sometimes He makes requests of us. Prayer is a multi-dimensional process between an earth bound, fallen person, and an all-knowing, all-loving, all compassionate, all-powerful, and just God. Is it safe to say there are things that He knows and understands that escape us?
Can that be one of the reasons it seems He’s not working when He really is? Could it be that our own fallibility and inability to fully comprehend who we are may be a factor in our lack of understanding who He is? But the reality is, I believe every prayer we pray is heard and taken to heart by God.
Jesus could speak the words in Mark 11 with full confidence because He knew beyond any shadow of doubt that if He’d asked the Lord to move a literal mountain into a literal sea, it would have happened, just as surely as when He said: “Lazarus, come out!” and Lazarus walked out of his tomb. And you may be thinking, “Sure, God the Father will always respond to Jesus. He’s His perfect, sinless Son.”
Yes, of course He will. But have you forgotten about Elijah and the prophets of Baal, when Elijah called out to God to send fire from heaven to burn up his offering? So, yes, absolutely God hears and answers prayer. And I can hear a thousand questions arise: “Then why didn’t He ___________ when I prayed?” Each of us have lifted prayers to the Lord and nothing happened, at least nothing we could humanly discern.
Can it be the work God is performing isn’t always FOR us, but WITHIN us? What’s God’s ultimate goal for each of His children? To be conformed to the likeness of His Son! In 2 Corinthians 4:4 Paul speaks of Satan, the god of this world, blinding unbelievers to the message that Jesus was and is the exact likeness of God.
Then in Romans 8:29 Paul explains that God’s plan for us is that we be conformed to the likeness of Jesus. So? So, that takes a lifetime, but will still not be accomplished until we get in His presence in heaven. So? So, there are things that God doesn’t immediately give answers to, in order to build our faith and enable us to become more like Christ.
This is too rich to stop now, so, let’s pick this up in tomorrow’s post.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 