prayer and faith

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Mark 11:24

I believe prayer is a powerful way to experience God at work. I pray daily, though definitely not as consistently, as I should. And faith must be at the root of regular prayer. Why else ask of God unless you trust in Him to answer? A prayer without belief is just a superstition. I take Jesus’ words here at face value. I must believe God will grant what I ask in true faith with motives that honor and trust Him.

There are some clarifications on how prayer and faith work in this promise from Jesus. In the immediate context it is clear that vindictive prayers from unforgiving hearts are ineffective. Jesus makes confession of the sin of unforgiveness crucial to receiving the Father’s forgiveness (Mark 11:25). In fact, that seems to be the primary focus of this teaching on prayer. Faith leads us to seek God’s forgiveness AND to forgive others who have wronged us as we bring our requests to God. So effective prayer does gospel work first and foremost.

We must also remember that confession of sin checks our motives. We can “ask amiss” for selfish reasons (James 4:3) and that would not be a prayer of faith. Our hearts instead should pray for God’s will to be done (1 John 5:14). Even Jesus Himself, agonizing in Gethsemane, framed His most personal prayer requests in surrender to the Father’s will (Mark 14:36).

With our hearts at peace with others, our motives aligned with Christ’s rule, and our desire most for God’s will to be done, we can pray in faith. And God hears us, whatever we ask. He longs to give what is good to His children! And so we are not surprised that God delights in answering prayers in this way.