Mark 11:22 - 11:26

Have faith in God. Jesus answered. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believed that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you in your sins.

Those five verses are a very simple yet powerful plan to receiving our prayer requests. Don’t think simple means easy though. First it is easy to say we have faith, but when we really think about faith we find it isn’t so easy. Telling a mountain to throw itself in the sea leaves us with doubt in our mind. Why, because we really believe this is not possible! After all the physics we have learned, past experiences (never seeing this happen before) and all the world telling us it isn’t possible, leaves us with doubt in our minds no matter how hard we try to believe. Praying that I hold the winning lottery ticket or praying other selfish items is us trying to test God, meaning we still believe it won’t come true. The slightest doubt leaves faith incomplete.

Of course there is that last verse of forgiving others. How many times do we say the words of forgiveness for somebody in our prayers, but then the next day we see the person and anger fills us? That anger shows us that we never really forgave them! Saying the words alone does not give forgiveness, we must actually forgive them to a point that we have no negative feelings toward them.

Now your probably thinking “Why bother, I can never get rid of all doubt or truly forgive entirely.” Moving a mountain is an extreme and I believe only Jesus could have had such faith. But having faith on a smaller scale is eventually possible, and the more faith we have the more faith we will gain. So begin small, and you will grow in faith.

I was watching Joel Osteen on TV this weekend. (Joel’s ministry is listed in the TV guides as Lakewood Church) He was talking about the negative images we play in our head. Many of these images have been with us so long, they are buried in our subconscious. We must learn to replace them with positive images. What he was saying is so true. What is more is I can’ t think of a positive image today and expect it to replace the negative ones in my subconscious. I must continue forcing those positive thoughts and images day after day until it becomes natural to think positive. Then faith becomes easier and more and more prayers are answered. At the same time, as I become more positive, the forgiveness becomes more natural. Why? Because positive thoughts don’t leave room for holding grudges. We can’t be angry if we see the positive side of others actions.