My Favorite Verses - Vol V (Feb 17 to Jun 17)

Mark 11:24 … Believing to Receive
(04/13/2017)
“Whatever you ask for in prayer,
believe you are receiving it & it will be yours.”
~ Jesus (Mark 11:24)
Most similar verses in the Gospels have the phrase “in my name” attached to
them (see John 14:13-14, Matthew 18:20, Matthew 21:22, Luke 11:9 et al) –
intimating that the prayer in question must be a selfless one to be “heard” and
thereafter fulfilled; that the prayer must resonate with the all-Loving nature of the
message of Jesus‟ ministry and the name of Christ himself – “Emmanuel”, a
name which means “God is within us” (see Matthew 1:23) … That having been
said, it is important to note that this particular phrase is missing here – and also
that we are dealing with the Gospel of Mark; the original Gospel – the Gospel
that was penned first, and the Gospel from which Matthew & Luke took most of
their subsequent inspiration. And so it is that we look to the Gospel of Mark
itself to see how its author felt about prayer – seeing first & foremost the
admonition of Jesus read in Mark 11:25, and admonition which noted that
“whenever you stand praying, first forgive, if you have anything against anyone,
so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” As
such, we see that praying for Jesus is not a selfish tool at all, but rather a method
of seeking atonement for past wrongs …
The second telling mention of prayer in Mark comes near the end of that
Gospel, when we see Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane just prior to his
arrest and crucifixion. And here, in his time of greatest distress and greatest need,
do we see him praying for himself? Do we see him begging God for pleasure or
comfort or the avoidance of pain or the dismissal of his imminent suffering? No
– Instead we see him acknowledge that God could indeed have given him these
things (“for you all things are possible”) and we see him acknowledge that he was
indeed sorely tempted to ask for the same (“remove this cup from me”), and yet
immediately thereafter we see Jesus reaffirm his resolve to do God‟s will, not to
fulfill his own wishes (“yet not my will, but thine be done” – see Mark 14:36) …
And this is how we are to pray as well;
not to selfishly envision wealth or health
or pleasure or ease and then ask for the
same to be granted for ourselves, but
rather to envision serving those in need
and relieving the suffering of the
downtrodden, and then to ask that these
visions be fulfilled instead.
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