You will receive what you ask for in prayer with faith.

Jesus teaches that whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.

Matthew 21:18-22 ¹⁸ In the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹ And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once. ²⁰ When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, "How did the fig tree wither at once?" ²¹ Jesus answered them, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' it will be done. ²² Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive."
This is one of those passages that I struggle with. Such passages have been used to prey on those in desperate need. I remember that my grandfather sent money to a prominent televangelist who in turned promised prayers would be offered that would heal him of a disease - a disease that eventually killed him. Such passages have also been used abusively to tell those whose prayer requests were not answered as requested that they didn't have enough faith. Neither of these scenarios work!!

Yet, I believe Jesus' words:  "Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith you will receive."  But the statement does raise the question, how do we ask "in prayer with faith?" 

• What is faith?  It isn't just believing that God exists or even that God has the power to do what we ask.  The words "faith" and "belief" are often interchanged in Bible translations and I think that is a mistake.  They aren't the same.  Faith goes way beyond belief.  Faith is putting our trust in God that what God does and wants is holy and good.  It is a commitment to follow anywhere God leads.  It is far more than just saying "yeah, I believe."
• What is faithful prayer?  Faithful prayer is more than just shouting out our needs to God - that is what infants do when they have a need.  Faithful prayer is an interactive relationship with God - that grows deeper and deeper as we desire it.  It is a commitment to follow God even when his plans are different from ours.  It is not like the relationship between an infant and its mother.  Instead, it is often described in scripture as the relationship between a wife and a husband where they constantly walk together seeking the best for the other.

So how do we ask in faithful prayer?  We need to be in a committed interactive relationship with God seeking God - God's way, God's desires, God's plan.  And that means we don 't use prayer and belief as a magic formulas to get what we want - it wouldn't work anyway.  Instead, we are committed to following God even when God leads us into painful places - even when God says no to our plans.  And in doing so, we discern what God wants and ask for it as agents of God... as loving, devoted wives would ask on behalf of their husbands.

Do we ignore Jesus' teaching that we will receive what we ask for in faithful prayer?  Or are our prayers more like infants crying out to their parent demanding that their needs be met?