In order to best understand verses
like Mark 11:22-24,
it would be wise to do a quick review on other “prayer verses” to see what they
add to our understanding. This will help
us see some of the pitfalls in the “name it and claim it” interpretation of the
Mark verses and the dangers of isolating verses.
1 John 5:14-15: “This is the
confidence we have in approaching God: 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 what we asked of him.”
James 4:2-3:
“. . . You do not have, because you do not
ask God. When you ask, you do not
receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on
your pleasures.”
John 14:13-14: “And I will do
whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the
Father. You may ask me for anything in
my name, and I will do it.”
Yes, this last one sounds like the Mark 11 passage: Ask for anything and Jesus will do
it. Wow, that sounds great! What an awesome power - to be able to get
anything we ask for. But! I don’t think that’s what Jesus really meant.
I cannot just ask for what I want
and believe that my faith will make it happen.
Because it also says that it has to be in line with His Will. Sure, we can ask for whatever, but He “hears”
the things that are in line with His Will.
And when He hears the prayers that are in line with His Will, we can be
confident that He will do them.
And those verses also say that we
won’t get what we ask for if we have selfish motives, and that we have to ask in
Jesus’ name, for the glory of God.
But this is not a blank check.
We can’t just add “in Jesus’ name, Amen” to the ends of our prayers and
expect God to give us what we ask for.
So
what does it mean to pray in Jesus’ name?
I like to think of it this way.
Let’s say that I work for a company, and I go to an office supply store
to get some supplies that my boss wants.
Now, I am going there in his place - in his name - to get the things
that he wants. As long as it’s on his
list and in line with his needs and what he wants for his office, then it’s in
his name. (And if I don’t ask for it, I
won’t get it.) But as soon as I ask for
something off of the list - something that I want, that I think he
wants, or that’s out of line with what the office needs - I am asking in my own
name. And I can’t put it on his tab or
claim that it’s his will.
When we consider all of these verses
together, it weeds out a lot of the requests that we make. How many of our requests are in our own
names, for our own desires and purposes?
Even prayers for healing or blessings can come from our own desires and
our own thoughts of what we need. God
doesn’t promise to give us whatever we want, but He will give us what He wants
for us. And God often has important
things to teach us during the wait and during our struggles with unanswered
prayers - if only we will take our eyes off of our requests and put them on
Him.
We want to lead and have control by
our prayers, whereas true faith in God says, “Whatever happens, I still believe
in You. And I will follow where You
lead.” Our hope should not be in the
idea that God will eventually give us what we want if we just hang in there
long enough and drum up enough confidence in Him to do it. (Oh, how many times I fall into that!) Our hope should be in the fact that God is
here now and that He is working things out in His time and in His way, even if
they don’t match our time and way. It’s
not letting the darkness and confusion pull us away from God, but letting it
draw us even nearer to Him. When we have
learned to seek, desire, and enjoy Him more than what He can give us then we
will find peace, contentment, and joy, even in the hard times. Because our faith will be in Him, not in some
idea of who we think He should be and how He should act.
