The Long Run
“And all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” Matthew 21:22
Believing – Jesus said it, and He doesn’t lie. Yesterday we looked at the Hebrew idea of pleading prayer. It’s not prayer for the impatient or the self-reliant. If you want to experience pleading prayer, you have to be desperate. Those kinds of prayers God hears.
Now Jesus adds this one condition – believing. Notice first that this is an on-going action. It doesn’t stop when there is no apparent answer. It goes on and on and on until the answer comes. Daniel prayed every day until the answer arrived. Paul prayed again and again, waiting for God’s timing. So did David, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Jesus. Once we see that this kind of praying wears holes in the carpet, we realize that it is not appropriate for just anything. Yes, Jesus tells us that pleading prayer covers “all things,” but that doesn’t mean it covers everything. It covers those things that warrant worn out carpets, sore knees and tears.
That doesn’t mean we are not to pray about everything. God desires, and we need, communication about everything. After all, our shortsighted vision of the plan for life is just too restricted to know what really is happening. If you want to fit into the bigger picture, you better ask Someone Who can see the whole plan. So, pray without gaps (remember Thessalonians?). But not everything is worthy of pleading prayer.
The key is found in this Greek word, pisteuo. In the Greek New Testament, it means “to be firmly persuaded, to trust, in the context of confident expectation and hope.” But we already know that Jesus is speaking Hebrew (‘aman). This is a word about stability and confidence. It’s about things that can be relied upon; things that are solid as a rock. When you believe as a Hebrew, you act according to the character of God. Of course, that means that you must know the character of God. You must be immersed in God-thinking, God-doing and God-feeling. You must make the nouns of Exodus 34:6 your only measure of success. There is no point in wailing and weeping over wishes unless you are entirely anchored in godly actions. Do you want God to hear your pleading prayer? Then act like it. Do what He says without second thoughts. See the world as He sees the world. Feel the compassion that He feels. Speak as He speaks. Move to action as He moves to action. Then, no pleading prayer will ever be cast toward a leaden sky. God will send fire from heaven to lick the water around the altar.
Of course, if you’re going to make the nouns of Exodus 34:6 your life’s measure, a whole lot of things that you thought you needed to pray about might not be so important anymore. What will become priorities are the things that move God. All you have to do is look at what Jesus prayed about to see how this all works out.
Do you trust God? Are you staking your life on Him? Without contingency plans? Without regrets? Are you willing to pray over the things that God cares about? If you are, be prepared for answers. And keep praying until they come.
