Believing ye shall receive

Mat 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
Mat 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.


Is this the truth? It has to be true there is no doubt about it whatsoever. So, why haven't mountains been moved- cast right into the sea? Are there NONE who have faith? Our Lord speaks so much in parables and we know this to be true don't we? We have to know this. Jesus didn't expect all his Apostles, and disciples then and now to test their faith by pushing mountains into the sea. If this was what was meant then there would at least have been several mountains pushed into the sea and I have a feeling we would have heard something written about that by the disciples. The point here is Jesus revealed power, Jesus gave a lesson. The fig tree was unproductive. There was an expectation of produce on that tree and none was found. The tree didn't produce and Jesus desires production, Jesus desires fruit to be produced not only in trees but in all of us. So what did Jesus mean by telling the apostles they could do the same? They could take something unproductive and rebuke it, cause it to wither? The power was there to reveal the truth of a matter. Couldn't Jesus have just as readily caused the tree to produce figs? Yes. The point our Savior wanted to make was that WHATSOEVER we SHALL ASK in prayer, BELIEVING, we will receive.


If ALL is to the glory of God then what we ask will be for HIS will to be done, not ours and if we believe that His will- will be done- it will be done.


That's why we cannot pray for OUR will to be done. We can't pray selfishly, we have to pray for God and His will and when we ask anything according to HIS will and believe, then it will be done.


If it is God's will that a mountain be removed into the sea, then it will be done.


Do we need a mountain to move into the sea? I know I don't right now but if someday I do, I know that if I pray for God's will to be done that a mountain be moved into the sea and it really is GOD'S will for this- it WILL happen! We get into so much trouble when we want our own will to be done. We pray for things we will and expect them to be answered because God said they would be if we believe.


People love to throw this up into the faces of Christians, this verse…


Mat 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.


Saying- didn't we ask for such and such to be healed? Didn't we believe? Didn't we have faith? Obviously we didn't have the faith we needed, or… God's word isn't true. This is how some people believe and they would have us doubt ourselves and God because what we want, and what we really pray for believing, doesn't happen.


Ultimately it has to be God's will we pray for and believe in Him knowing that HE sees the eternal picture. He knows whether or not healing someone we love will be best in the grand scheme of eternal life. I've said it before and I'm going to keep on saying it because it's pure TRUTH in our Savior.


When we read these verses…


Mat 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
Mat 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.


We do so knowing that He's already taught us to pray- 'Thy will be done'.


Jesus even prayed that way…


Luk 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.


Jesus wanted the cup He had to drink from to be removed- the cup being His brutalization and death at the hands of His accusers. He wanted not to have to endure torture and a horrific death but did His Father will that? No. Why? Because God the Father KNEW that the sacrifice had to be made, God knew this was the plan of salvation that had to be followed, a plan that the WORD who became flesh agreed upon before the world began should man sin… and man sinned. This was the way things had to be. God's will had to be done then and it has to be done NOW, and it must be done FOREVER.


So when Jesus told us that we could move mountains if we believe, that whatsoever we asked in prayer and believe we would receive, it was with the understanding that in prayer we would ask for God's will to be done, NOT OURS! We have to ask and believe that God's will IS being done even when what we *want* isn't done, but God's will *IS* done- it's this we must believe - fully, wholly in God!


When we are in doubt, when we pray for someone we love to be healed, to live, to feel no pain, to stay safe, to find love, to find happiness…all these things no matter what they may be and no matter HOW pure and righteous our request may seem… have to be prayed first and foremost that God's will be done. We have to believe in God, not our ability to pray so wonderfully, so beautifully that God can't help but hear and answer us. Our faith has to be IN God and God alone! Jesus wants us to pray, Jesus wants us to ask for things so we can receive them as God's will now and throughout our lives here and forever.


God's will now and always!!!


In His LOVE!


Amen.