So Jesus answered and said to them, “ Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
Mat 21:21-22
Over the last few weeks we have seen the fruitless fig tree as a representation of a religionist that looks great on the outside, but, because he hasn’t been born of the Spirit, he has no fruit of the Spirit. Such individuals are a burden on the church, always taking and never giving back. They can be a great source of grief for true believers, but Jesus says,”Don’t let them get you down!” You can handle the fig tree as well as the mountain, i.e. anything that is much greater, through the power of prayer! As we face the mountains of life, there are three basic reasons we don’t get the things we desire when we pray.
The first problem is highlighted by our text above: “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” When we ask in unbelief, we shouldn’t expect to get what we ask for! When James explains that a request for wisdom is a prayer God will answer, he clarifies that truth by stating, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord…” (Jam 1:6-7) Unbelief makes prayer ineffective!
The second reason we don’t receive the things we desire is because we never ask! Our need may be great and God may be poised to deliver us, but until were humbled enough to look beyond ourselves and seek Him, He will not give us our desire. “…you do not have because you do not ask.” (Jam 4:2) You may be suffering needlessly. Ask for what you desire! The Lord instructs us to “ask, and it will be given to you…” (Mat 7:7)
Lastly, even when we ask, we don’t always get what we desire. Why? “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (Jam 4:3) If we’re asking with the wrong motives–in other words, for our glory and not the Lord’s–we should not expect to have our prayers answered. We must pray desiring God’s will and not our own. “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” (1 Jn 5:14-15)
Christ is our pattern. When facing the horror of the cross, He didn’t look forward to the suffering, and yet He didn’t want deliverance if it was contrary to His Father’s will. Set your heart upon God’s desires, and you’ll find yourself praying that His will be done. Want what He wants, and you’ll find your prayers unhindered! “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” (Ps 37:4-5)
Jamie