20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. 21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”
22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.
23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.
Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
There is no guarantee of answers to prayers without faith. Understand that faith can stand alone without prayer when it comes to getting results; but prayer cannot stand alone without faith. Jesus taught His disciples on the subject of faith in Mark 11:22, He said, “Have faith in God”. In other words, “have the God-kind of faith”, “Have faith like God”. Note that verse 23 of Mark 11 isn’t referring to prayer. It is a declaration of faith. It is faith speaking to and addressing situations. This is faith looking at a mountain standing in its way, and telling the mountain, “In the Name of Jesus, get out of my way!” That’s not prayer; that’s just an absolute, stand-alone faith in operation. So, faith will work and produce results without prayer. But prayer cannot produce results without faith. Prayer always needs faith to be operative and effective.
In verse 24 of Mark 11, the Lord Jesus flowed from the subject of faith in verse 23, the preceding verse, into teaching on the subject of prayer. He taught faith first in order that He might show the connection between faith and prayer, and the application of faith in prayer. He applied the principle of faith to prayer. “Therefore, I say unto you, what things soever you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them” Now, if you flip over that Scripture, then it reads “What things soever you desire when you pray, if you do not believe that you receive them when you pray, you shall not have them.” So, prayer can go on forever without getting results, if done in doubt or unbelief. This means that faith is important to get answers to prayers; it is what makes prayer effective and productive. Without faith, prayer is not a transaction, it’s just empty talk. The same principle is reiterated in 1 John 5:14; it says “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” Confidence, here, is faith. So, if you prayed and you did not know or believe in your heart that you actually received answers in prayer, that prayer is null and void. So, pray in faith and you will get awesome answers to your prayer.
MY SOLID FRONT (YOUR CONFESSION):
I declare that I have the Godkind of faith because I am a child of God. My prayers are always accompanied by faith. I believe that I receive when I pray; therefore, I get answers to my prayers. Hallelujah! Amen.
Further Meditation: Matthew 21:21-22; James 1:5-6.