I was discussing with a friend this word from Jesus:

Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,” it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive. (Matthew 21.21, 22, NKJV)

“Whatever things you ask in prayer…” It’s a tough one. It’s been over 2,000 years, and I haven’t heard of a single mountain being cast into the sea. People – faithful, devout, believing people – have asked for all kinds of things and not always received them. Healing comes to mind. Even J.P. Moreland who wrote A Simple Guide to Experience Miracles: Instruction and Inspiration for Living Supernaturally in Christ and prays for healing all the time said that only about 20% of the folks he prays for are healed.

So what did Jesus mean? Some people have built an entire ministry and philosophy of life around “whatever things you ask for…” It’s called “Positive Confessionalism” or “Name it and Claim it” or “The Prosperity Gospel,” which many of us think is heresy.

So I still don’t know exactly what Jesus meant. I think there is power that most of us don’t avail ourselves of, but I don’t think that power is unlimited as the name it and claim it folks might teach.

Here’s one way to think about it. Suppose it’s literally true, 100% of the time. That I could ask for whatever I want and receive it. Would I want to live in such a world? Not in my current state! It would feel like I was in charge, and I’d really rather have God be in charge, wouldn’t you?

Garrison Keillor, the great storyteller, was spinning a tale about some people in “Lake Woebegone Minnesota, my hometown,” when he uttered this gem. I first heard it over 40 years ago and haven’t forgotten it:

Lucky? Some people are lucky not to get what they want, but to get what they have, which, after they’ve had it, they may be lucky enough to know it’s what they would have wanted had they known about it. – Garrison Keillor, Prairie Home Companion, sometime in the 1980s.

Read it again. God may not give us what we ask for because he’s giving us something better!

I need one more day on this…stay tuned for thoughts on these prayer principles:

Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. (John 16.24, NIV)

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. (1 John 5.14, 15, NIV)