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“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:22-24

Why is it that some people seem to have the ability to pray for things and see those things come to pass while others pray and it seems like their prayers never get past the ceiling? The Bible is full of examples of great men and women of God who have prayed for personal or national healing and deliverance and seen great things happen.

Even in our world we hear of people who have prayed for miracles to happen in their lives and seen God work mightily in making things happen. Yet for many of us, while we ‘believe’ God CAN do anything, in those quiet times we confess to ourselves that ‘He won’t do those things in me.

There are many lessons we can learn from the story in the Gospel of Mark about faith, about prayer and about doubt. The fact of the matter is, if we believe God is who we say He is, and if we really believe that His power can accomplish anything, and then we have to believe that Jesus’ words are true. If we have the faith, we can move mountains.

When we pray for miracles to happen, one thing we must ask ourselves is this. “Who gets the glory for my answer?” Many times our prayers are self-seeking. That’s not necessarily the same as self-ish. Selfish can have a negative connotation. Self-seeking simply means that in reality, we want this miracle for us. It will make us feel better about ourselves, it will make others respect us more or it will in some way make my life easier.

There are many times in Jesus’ ministry when He made the statement that ‘this was done so My Father will be glorified’. Our Father in Heaven is more than willing and able to do ANYTHING we ask, but our motives must be in the right place. Everything we do in life should be with the desire to see God glorified and His name proclaimed to those in our world.

Secondly, when we pray for miracles we must remember that God has promised that He knows what is best for us. In one of Jesus’ teachings on prayer He asks this question: “If a child asks his father for bread would that father give him a stone?” The answer of course is, “NO, never!” We know that a loving father would never give his child something bad for him when he needs something good. But the opposite is also true. If we ask our Heavenly Father for something we honestly think will be good for us, but in the big picture it could be harmful, He won’t give it to us. He loves us to much to give us things that will hurt us.

Draw close to Jesus. Walk with him daily. Read His love letter to you. Pray believing that He CAN answer your prayers and trust Him to answer those prayers in the way that will be the best for you and bring glory to him.

PRAYER: Father God, I have to admit that there are many times when I’ve prayed and been disappointed in your response to me. There are so many things I’ve prayed for that haven’t happened and now, when I pray I doubt you will really answer. Forgive me for my lack of faith. Empower me with Your Spirit to pray believing you hear me and that even when I don’t get what I want, you will give me everything I need. Amen.