PRAYER (2)
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And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
Presently - at once; immediately.
The disciples marvelled how quickly the tree died. (They did not believe this could truly happen...
The fig tree encounter led to some instructions in prayer for the disciples.
Our text is the conclusion of the instructions on prayer from this incident in which a deceitful fig tree was cursed by our Lord.
THE (area · section · sector · zone) OF PRAYER
“All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer.”
Prayer is not limited to just a few items.
You would think so by the way we pray and for the things we pray for at church.
We pray for missionaries, church needs and the sick but Jesus is telling us here that we need and can pray for anything.
The next time you need a parking spot when you are shopping, pray about it, Jesus said it was permissible or you are allow to do so.
Grades
Promotions
Pray to find your keys.
Favor
Spending
Understanding
In fact if we prayed about everything we would not get in as much trouble as we do.
Our problem is not asking about too many things but not asking about enough things.
This is a great encouragement in our prayer life.
Nothing is too superfical or foolish to bring to the Lord in prayer.
No where in the Scripture are we ever taught to not to pray about some things.
If it is big enough to bother you, it is big enough to pray about.
The hymn writer (Joseph H, Scriven in What a Friend we Have in Jesus) had it right when he said ‘What a privilege to carry everything to God is prayer.’
THE REQUIREMENT FOR PRAYER
“Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing.”
There are two requirements here which we need to consider.
• Requesting
“Whatsoever ye shall ask.”
We often fail to take everything to God is prayer.
James said “ye have not because he ask not”
Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
So the hymn writer (Joseph H, Scriven in What a Friend We Have in Jesus) wisely said in rebuking this failure, ‘O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.’
Dr. John R. Rice wrote a book on prayer with ‘Asking and Receiving’ in the title.
We like the receiving part but often forget that ‘asking’ comes before ‘receiving.’
• Relying
“Believing.”
Most commentators emphasize the requirement as “faith” and leave out the asking part.
We need both.
Our text lays great stress on the ‘faith’ part.
I think it was Vance Havner who said our praying should be the prayer of faith, not faith in prayer.
It is faith in God.
Few of us can throw stones here for we have so little faith in God.
But “without faith it is impossible to please him”
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Not difficult, but impossible.
If we pray in faith we will pray for the right things in the right way.
THE RECEIVING IN PRAYER
“Ye shall receive.”
This is a great encouragement to pray.
And it is a great encouragement to meet the requirements to successful praying.
If we are short on the receiving end of things it is probably because we are short on meeting the requirements for successful prayer.
Prayer has many exciting promises, but we must meet the requirements.