Please think this through. Jesus says, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24). Some ancient manuscripts read, “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you are receiving it….” Whichever reading, we’re not dealing here with something that got goofed up in translation. Jesus clearly says that your prayer is answered immediately.
We usually think about prayer in time-bound ways. “I ask for something now and hope God will answer it in the future. Sometime down the road I’ll say, “Aha, finally, the answer to what I had prayed for!” But that’s not what Jesus teaches us. “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe…..” Believing is more than head knowledge; true faith knows but especially trusts what God has told us. It’s the way a child is with its parent. Pray to God in dependent, childlike trust, and you can know your Father is already answering. “Before they call, I will answer; while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).
Down the road, sometime in the future we’ll see what the Father did for His children. “And it will be yours.” We see God’s mercies to us in hindsight, just as Moses could only see God after God had passed by (Exodus 33:21-23). What are you praying for today? Are you praying in childlike trust? Then know that your petition is being answered now. Sometime in the future you’ll see how wisely your Father has answered you. “Thy heart, O Father, kindly bendeth its fervent love and favor unto me” (The Lutheran Hymnal, 21, 5).
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