what I say. I don’t have to be smart. I don’t have to have special words of knowledge or other vital tools used by the Holy Spirit. I only have to hear my own words to know what I believe.
What do I believe about the topic of prayer? Do I truly believe the Word when it says, “Ask and you will receive”? What about “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, He will do it that your joy might be full”? Do I believe that?
The answer is found in the way I pray and in my reaction when I’m finished praying. If I’m still filled with fear or trepidation after I make my request to the Lord, I don’t believe in my heart that God will do whatever I ask Him in Jesus’ name.
If I’m not expectant to receive my need met, I don’t believe I will receive. That isn’t a fun fact to realize, but it is where change begins. Knowing my own heart is the change agent in my life. It is the same for all of us.
I once had a friend who was adored by her husband. She knew it. He had proven himself trustworthy and faithful over the years. Her heart was secure that she didn’t have to continually “measure up” in order for her husband to love her. BUT, every time he was late coming home, where most of us would fear an accident, her mind instantly went to “He’s cheating on me”.
Why did that happen? When she was younger, she had been in a relationship where the man she loved had cheated on her. That pain made its way into her mind and hid out there … for decades. Her heart knew the truth. Her husband was faithful. Her mind was operating in the past. It could have caused a rift in her marriage had she allowed her mind to speak what her heart knew to be false.
That’s why I’m very thankful that Mark 11:22-24 says I will have what I say, not what I think. Proverbs says “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” That’s a huge comfort. Our hearts are not continually flitting from place to place like our thoughts!
Where I live we’ve had lots of heavy rains, so the ditches in front of my property run full and bring environmental trash down with the water. Our minds can do that, sending old messages and experiences like trash in a ditch, to our understanding.
Like a net grabs that garbage out of the ditch, we must grab those thoughts and pull them from our mind.We have to clean up the trash. But trash removed causes no pollution, so our heart beliefs don’t have to be affected by our minds.
Since there are at least two of us who have struggled in our belief system (that father in the Bible account and me), let’s expand this to more of us. When our words tell us what we believe, when we see that change needs to come, how does it happen?
We do like the father of the sick son that Jesus encountered. We ask God, Who already knows everything about us, to help us believe. Help us to grow in our faith and make us mature in Him. Like Jesus did not refuse His help to the father when he acknowledged “I’m trying to believe, help me”, neither will our Father refuse us.
God answers our prayers, whether they are for our health, our children, wisdom, or help with forgiveness. Whatever we have need of, the promise is there. Philippians 4:19 says that our God will supply all our need, according to His riches because of what Jesus has done.
The Bible word there is ‘need’. Singular. Not a list of “yes” “no” or “maybe” situations. God said He will supply it all.
Listen to what you say. Do you need a change? Grab a net!
For His Glory 