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Having Our Prayers Answered

Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Matthew 21:21-22 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.21.21-22.NIV

These words of God have often confused His disciples. They appear to promise our ability to have whatever we want if we only have enough faith and pray. We feel bad about ourselves and God over the number of things we have prayed for, thinking we believe in God to do, only to come up empty. Our experience tells us this is not a promise to achieve our self-indulgences, yet the words seem to indicate otherwise. The context, too, is no help, for it is the conclusion of Jesus cursing a tree with no fruit. We know satan tempted the Lord Jesus to turn stones into bread when He was hungry, but He refused because God’s priority is not our self-sufficiency but dependence upon Him. Likewise, when tempted to throw Himself off the temple so that He could experience God’s care, He refused because He would not tempt God to care for Him by testing Him and demanding He do something to show Himself caring. So, too, these examples are our examples for tempering our expectations of this passage. To make ourselves self-sufficient or to demand God show Himself is not to be like Jesus and is not the means to see God answer our prayers. The Apostle John teaches us that prayer, according to God’s will, is heard by Him and will be answered by Him. This happens but in God’s timing and His way, which often is not what we desire. Our role as children of God is to trust the good Father to supply our needs and care for our lives as we prioritize His kingdom and righteousness. As His servants, we trust His will be done on earth as it is in heaven, even if that means we never get what we want. We must focus on seeing His will be done and not our own, for He is good, and His reward will be great for those who remain faithful even unto death

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