Believe to Receive, Disbelieve to Deceive

UV 2188/10000 Believe to Receive, Disbelieve to Deceive
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Mark 11 v 24

The fulfilment of a promise depends on the character , ability and decision of the person making the promise. When Jesus makes a promise, the promise is guaranteed to be fulfilled for He is truthful, faithful and able to fulfil the promises He makes to the believer. Unlike Gautama Buddha, Jesus did not teach that all desire is evil and that cessation of desire is nirvana or salvation. Rather, He taught that desire is natural and legitimate. He does not set a limit on the kind of things we can desire. He taught that His Father in heaven desires to give good things to His children. The only condition He spoke of is that one needs to pray with belief or faith. The intention of Jesus is the expansion of faith. We need to see ourselves receiving that which we ask of the Lord in prayer. Seeing in faith is believing. Our physical eyes may not perceive that which we pray for . But the inner eye, the eye of the heart, the eye of faith, the spirit will discern it even before we receive it in reality.

Faith is the way God sees things. He saw a tiny, vulnerable nameless baby in a basket of reeds floating dangerously down the river Nile as the future leader, deliverer of the enslaved nation Israel. The slavery of Israel in Egypt is a metaphor for the slavery to sin, disease, death that every human is born into to this day. Everyone needs redemption and a redeemer. We cannot save ourselves. Hence, the baby was given a name Moses. He was raised in the house of Pharaoh in the land of Egypt to lead, serve, deliver the enslaved people of the house of Jacob- Israel. The Lord wants to teach every manger leader or manager how to look into the future- future perfect. Promises of God are not intended to gratify our every desire but to satisfy our every need. The promises are aimed not to enjoy our lives on earth and drive in deeper stakes but it is aimed at the redemption of our souls. He desires that we develop the character and patience to wait till we receive the answer to our prayers, no matter how long it takes. When we disbelieve the promises of the Lord or His word, we are making Him out to be a liar. When we disbelieve the words of Jesus, we deceive ourselves more than anybody else. Every miracle performed by Jesus as recorded in the gospels is intended to expand our faith to enable us to believe that He is able to do that which He promises. Nothing is impossible or impractical for Him.

It does not however mean that we have God’s permission to ask whatever hits our mind. The word “desire” in this context means what we need. The Lord is not to be tested. He does not pander to our every whim and fancy. We need to ask in the name of Jesus, implying that we have not earned the right to ask by our own merit but as we are children of God by faith in Jesus. We need to model our prayers on Jesus, the way He asked the Father: “yet not my will but Yours be done.”

Prateep V Philip