"And when even was come, he went out of the city. And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses."
Today's lesson gives us the promise and assurance that if we prayerfully ask God for ANYTHING while having absolute faith that He will deliver, we are guaranteed to receive whatever we ask.
Jesus gave us explicit directions as to how we should pray in Matthew 6:6, "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
For some unknown reason, every religious group I know of practices some form of open, public prayer. Most even have someone "lead" prayer. Jesus directly told His disciples not to pray publicly, and used the hypocritical Pharisees as an example of how not to pray.
When you carefully consider the undeniable effect of public prayer, you'll find it can serve no other purpose than to draw attention to the person doing the praying, just like it did with the Pharisees. One CANNOT "lead" prayer without drawing attention to him/herself. We should be praying to get God's attention, ONLY!
Also, if a group were all praying at the same time (while being "led" in prayer), the person speaking would be a great distraction to the others who were trying to pray. We don't need to hear the prayers of others, we couldn't answer them if we wanted to. ONLY God can answer prayers.
Jesus made another very important point when He said, "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses."
I do NOT mean to leave the impression that Christians should not praise God publicly (that's praising, not praying to), or offer thanks to God publicly (offering thanks is not praying, it simply demonstrates your gratitude). I earnestly encourage everyone to publicly proclaim God to all who will listen and to thank Him loudly for His grace and uncountable blessings.
I believe that if we wrongfully pray, or if we pray without having total faith in God through Jesus Christ, our prayers will NOT be answered. On the other hand, if we humbly pray IN PRIVATE and pray in the forgiving manner Jesus described, and if we have perfect faith in God to deliver on His promise, our prayers, no matter what they are for, will be answered.~
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