Mark 11:24 “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”
In this section we want to discuss the importance of both receiving and giving thanks when we pray the prayer of faith. We have already looked at the passage of scripture quoted above, but we need to look at it again to help us understand the point that I want to address in this section, i.e. that we must receive and give thanks when we pray the prayer of faith. In this passage our Lord taught us to believe that we receive our request the moment we ask for it, and He went on to tell us that we would then receive it in the future. In other words we are to believe that we receive it before we see it materialize in the natural. That is exactly what faith is, for the scripture teaches us that faith is the evidence of things not yet seen (Hebrews 11:1).
Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; (7) and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
In the natural, when we receive something from someone, the natural response is to thank them for it. In the passage of scripture quoted above the apostle Paul teaches us to do that in the spirit as well, for He teaches us to make our requests known to God with thanksgiving. In other words, because we believe that God has granted us our request at the time we pray, i.e. before we see it manifested in the natural, we are to behave in the same manner as we would in the natural, and by faith give God thanks for that which we have received from Him. And so we see that when we pray the prayer of faith that we are to receive our request by faith and we are to thank God for granting us our request by faith.
Luke 17:12-19 “Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. (13) And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" (14) So, when He saw them, He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And so, it was that as they went, they were cleansed. (15) And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, (16) and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. (17) So, Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? (18) Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?" (19) And He said to him, "Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
In this section we are looking at the concept of receiving the answer to our prayers before we see it manifested in the natural, and we are also looking at the natural response of giving thanks to God when we receive by faith, i.e. before we see it manifested in the natural. In the above quoted example we see an account of the ten lepers who received their healing before it was manifested in the natural. We know that these men had asked in faith, for Jesus commented to the Samaritan leper that his faith had healed him. And so we see that in response to the request made by the ten lepers, Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priest. When Jesus said that, there was no physical change to their bodies, i.e. nothing had manifested in the natural. Nevertheless the lepers believed that they had received their healing and were quite prepared to go to the priest to show him that they were healed, based purely on the word that Jesus had spoken to them. The scripture then reveals to us what happened next, for it says that as they went they were cleansed. And so we see in this account what it means to receive when we pray. For the ten lepers received their healing by faith when they prayed and by faith they went to the priest to show him that they had been healed, even before anything was manifested in the natural. Sadly in this example none of the lepers gave thanks to the Lord for their healing even though they had received their healing by faith. Nevertheless one of the lepers did return to give the Lord thanks after his healing had been manifested in the natural. And so although we can look at this example to show us how to receive by faith, we cannot look at this example to show how to give thanks by faith. Nevertheless, as believers we are to do both, i.e. when we pray the prayer of faith we are to receive by faith and we are to give thanks by faith.
Michael E.B. Maher
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