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.”
We can only believe that God will perform that which He has promised in His word or by His Spirit, for as we have already established God watches over “His” word to perform it. And so for saints to attempt to exercise faith for something that God has not promised is presumption and foolishness. The faith of God that we have received is reliant on the word of God, for the scripture declares that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). And so without the word of God, or more specifically the promises of God, we have no foundation for our faith. When our Lord Jesus taught us regarding the prayer of faith as quoted in the above passage of scripture, it seems as if the only condition required to receive from God is faith and nothing else. The scripture teaches us however that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established (Matthew 18:16). And so when we examine other scriptures that teach on this same subject we see that there is a further condition that must be met other than just faith alone.
John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above we see that when our Lord taught on the same subject of prayer, that He taught us that in order for us to receive from God there is another condition that must be met other than faith alone. The condition is that we are to abide in Jesus and His words are to abide in us, for in this passage Jesus directly linked that condition to receiving the answer to our prayers. So why would Jesus put this condition in place? The answer is because when we abide in His word and have His word abiding in us then our desires that we ask for will be in accordance to His word.
Michael E.B. Maher
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