“Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
– Mark 11:24
Wow, that’s quite a statement that leads to all kinds of questions, right? Like, “Whatever I ask for in prayer, if I just believe that I have received it, it will be mine?”
Mark 11:24 Teaches that we should Pray Believing God’s Word
How many times have we prayed for something and believed, as best as we could tell, we really believed that it would happen, but then it didn’t happen. So is there a problem with our faith and our belief, or how does this not lead to a name it claim it kind of theology that says, “Just say whatever you want; could be any number of things, including health or wealth, prosperity in this world. If you believe it, it will be yours,”?
Entire theologies and ministries have been based on that kind of claim, so how are we to understand Mark 11:24? Well, there’s a lot we could talk about here, but just to tie it with the whole premise of this podcast, Pray the Word, the way Jesus puts this in John 15 is, “If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you.”
The whole foundation for praying with faith is praying with trust in the Word of Jesus, praying with trust in what God wants in our lives. I’ve said on many occasions, and I was just talking with one of my sons about this this last week, the secret to success in prayer, and we could walk all over Scripture to see this, but it’s twofold; the secret to success in prayer is, number one, make your wants God’s wants, and then, number two, ask for whatever you want.
Make your wants God’s wants, then ask for whatever you want, and believe that it will be yours. Believe God’s Word. That’s the beauty of what Jesus is inviting us to in relationship with Him through prayer, to a confident praying according to His Word in such a way that we can know we have what we’ve asked for, and there are circumstances where we don’t know exactly what is God’s will; to heal us or someone else, or not, to change this circumstance or not.
But we know according to God’s Word, there are so many things we can ask for; for peace, for contentment, for strength, for joy, in the middle of whatever circumstances we are in, for sufficiency from God, and satisfaction in God, regardless of whether the healing comes or not.
Mark 11:24 Encourages Us to Pray for the Things God wants.
These are things we know God wants, and when we ask for them according to His Word, we can know we have them, and you might think, “Well, what good is that? I want to be healed. I want this circumstance to change,” and this is where we realize that far more than we need circumstances to change, and far more that we need physical healing, we need the peace, the strength, the hope, the joy, that supersedes circumstances, that supersedes physical conditions, that are only found in Jesus, and will last forever. So ask for these things, and know that you have them, believe that you have them. Make your wants God’s wants, then ask for whatever you want, believing that you have received it.
Oh, Jesus, teach us to pray like this with confidence in You and Your Word; not confidence in our wisdom to know what’s best in a certain situation, and You alone are all wise, and as Your children, we come to You with our desires for healing in our lives, or other people’s lives, for resolution of this or that circumstance, for redemption in this or that situation, and as we ask for these things, we ask for them with trust in You to work in whatever way is wisest for our good, for Your glory, and so we pray that You would make our wants Your wants, and that You would give us confidence to ask then for whatever we want according to Your Word.
So, God, amidst all kinds of specific things going on in our lives, we pray right now for wisdom according to Your Word, for joy according to Your Word, for peace according to Your Word, for patience according to Your Word, for Your provision in every way we need, in every way others need.
We ask for the spread of the gospel through our lives and our circumstances. We ask for Your glory to be made known through our lives and our circumstances. God, we know all of these things we’re asking for are according to Your Word, and,
Praying for the Bulang People
God, as we pray for unreached people in the world, we know what we’re asking is according to Your Word for the Bulang people of Myanmar, 15,000, this small people group in Myanmar, we know Your Word says You love them, You desire their salvation, You desire the spread of the gospel to them, and You’ve purchased them; You’ve paid the price for their salvation. So we pray, we ask You for the spread of the gospel to the Bulang, and we know that it will happen.
We ask that You would raise up laborers to spread the gospel to the Bulang, and billions of other people like them, and we know according to Your Word, Matthew 9:37-38, that You will send out laborers. We will have what we have asked. God, we pray You give us confidence in prayer. Help us to pray with faith, believing Mark 11:24, that whatever we ask for in prayer, according to Your Word and Your wants, we believe that we have received it, and we praise You that it will be ours. In Jesus’s name we pray, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
