Mark 11:24 Therefore I say to you, What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them. In other places the promise is considerably qualified, We shall receive, not whatever we ask, but the Holy Spirit, i.e., we are to spread out our case, our needs, our desires, before God, for that is the way to come into close relations with Him; He will do the rest. The answer shall be the gift we ask for, and our demand shall be the needful link in the chain of causes which brings us and our heart's desire together; in other words, the answer shall be the "Holy Spirit," who shall mould our wills into accord and illuminated acquiescence with His good will. In any case, prayer is seen to be the ways and means of bringing us into communication with One who is above all, and over all, and through all. Direct demands are the most obvious, simple, childlike forms of prayer; but the spiritual value of prayer is, after all, not this — to get exactly what we want, when we want it, like the magic ring in the fairy tale; but this — to bring the human into close relation with the Divine. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. |
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