To "believe that you receive them," requires a faith so pure that you believe you have already received whatever you ask for. By having such a pure faith, you can often experience God’s abundant blessings and receive whatever you ask for, if it is in accordance with God’s will. Jesus said "if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you" (Matthew 17:20).
Often times, nothing happens when we initially ask our Lord for something in prayer. After some time has lapsed, we find that circumstances have remained the same as they were before. Yet we ought to understand that our Lord wants us to believe that we "have received" it. This is where the difficulty lies: negating our own rationale and affirming Jesus' faithfulness and omnipotence.
Doubt is the greatest barrier to prayer. It can be likened to overpowering waves of the sea that are being tossed about by the wind. It can easily overwhelm our sense of pure faith and interfere with our determination in prayer. Metaphorically speaking, faith is the passport into the kingdom of God. It was the stairway that led to heaven in Jacob’s dream—with one end on earth and the other end stretching upward to heaven. Through this stairway of faith, our supplications are able to reach God, and God’s grace can shower down on us abundantly.
When we were children, we always rejoiced whenever our father promised to give us presents. Although we never knew where the presents were or when they would be given, in simple faith we trusted that our father would keep his promise.
May the Lord help us change and become like children. Children, with their innocence and unpretentiousness, are very simple. And with this simple faith, whatever we ask of the Lord, let us also believe that we have received it. And, in believing that we have received it, we can all receive God’s grace with a ceaseless vision of the glory of the Lord.
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