Quite a bit of running today, Father, but a pretty productive day! Thank You for the wisdom and patience You provide. Thank You for being ever present and Your protection as well!
Mark 11:21-26 (<<click to read the passage)
Many years ago, when I was in Jr. High School my class traveled to the Great Smokie Mountains for a multi-day trip. I’m ashamed to admit it but I was not very wise or considerate at that time – though I guess many in that age bracket struggle with similar things.
I had exhausted the funds given me for the trip and on the last morning, a friend’s mother generously offered to buy me breakfast. I was a growing boy so I jumped at the opportunity! First of all, I was unwise in the use of the resources I had been given and I was inconsiderate in the fact that instead of ordering a moderate meal, I went over the top a little too much.
In this portion of Mark 11, Jesus says in verse 24, “I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.” From our worldly perspective that sounds like an open-ended wish list granter! But…not so fast!
Read the same verse from the Amplified Bible,
“For this reason I am telling you, whatever things you ask for in prayer [in accordance with God’s will], believe [with confident trust] that you have received them, and they will be given to you.”
That first bracketed phrase – and I’ve highlighted it – sets the record straight. My study Bible* points out that “Jesus, our example, prayed, “Everything is possible for you…Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
That passage? It is from Mark 14:36 where Jesus is agonizing in the garden, knowing that pain, suffering, and death are soon to be upon Him. The entire verse reads,
“Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
God is gracious and He is generous as well but we need to make sure we check ourselves and focus on God’s interests and not ours. May we pray as Jesus prayed not just in the difficult times but all the time. “Everything is possible for you…Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation
June 25th, 2019, Tues, 9:30 pm
