“Can I ask you one more question?” the voice on the other end of the line asked. “Sure,” I replied. The caller was “asking for a friend” and wanted to know why God would not answer a prayer despite the promise of Mark 11:24. Thumbing through my Bible, I read the verse aloud: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (ESV) I told her that smarter people than I have been challenged by this verse, but I would offer her a few thoughts to convey to her “friend.”
We talked about how faith is actually a gift from God through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) The very act of salvation involves God giving us the measure of faith that leads to our salvation.
Paul also provided this insight when explaining spiritual gifts to the Corinthian believers: “to another faith by the same Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:9) In the context of this list of spiritual gifts, Paul is saying that there is an additional gift of faith that is imparted by the Spirit of God to certain individuals. I think of certain events in the Bible wherein God calls an individual to a larger-than-life task. Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a barbecue, calling down fire from heaven upon a water-logged sacrifice. He followed this up by telling King Ahab to make a run for town to beat the rain even though rain had been withheld at Elijah’s word for three and a half years.
From Abraham being called to leave for parts unknown to Moses challenging Pharaoh’s magicians to Joshua obeying the Lord’s command to circle Jericho seven times and then shout for the walls to fall, extraordinary faith is exemplified throughout Scripture. The point I want to make is that God imparts faith to His servants when He wants them to accomplish a God-glorifying work. He does not, however, feel obligated to respond to an individual who cites a Scripture as if it were a lottery ticket to claim a prize.
I’m a simple guy. Being a Marine infantryman would, in most people’s minds, not require the sharpest knife in the drawer. Fortunately, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:27) God’s Word has depths none of us will fathom in our lifetime, yet it is simple if we take it at face value.
Listen to the Psalmist as he relates a simple yet profound concept: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4) All too often, we want the “desires of our heart,” but we are not delighting ourselves in the Lord — and we come up empty every time.
The Apostle James tells us, “You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (James 4:2-3) I know from past experience that I can pray from a selfish perspective. Instead of praying, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done” (Matthew 6:10), I pray for my will and end up frustrated. But when I “delight myself in the Lord,” I find myself praying for the things in His will. And because of that, I have an assurance that He will answer. Why? Because His word confirms it:
“And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him.” (1 John 5:14-15)
Maybe you have a “friend” who wonders why their prayers aren’t being answered. Now you know. Go tell them.
What say ye, Man of Valor?
Semper Fidelis!
