Two Points in Time

Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them. -Matthew 11:24

We’re still talking about the prayer of faith—the kind of prayer that receives from God what legally belongs to you because of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. When you pray, believing you receive, you shall have what you pray for.

I always thought the prayer of faith and receiving from God involved just one point in time. I thought, Well, you’re supposed to pray and then look to see if anything happened. If it didn’t, tough luck—try again later. See if you can catch God in a better mood. That was the way my prayer life operated for a long time.

But this Scripture shows us that the prayer of faith includes two points in time. Jesus said, “When you pray, believe you receive your answer” –present tense. Then He said, “and you shall have it”—future tense.

When will you have it? After you believe you receive it. When do you believe you receive it? Before you have it.

“Well, I can’t believe it then, because I don’t have it.” But you have to believe it before you have it. “But how can I believe I have it when I don’t?” You believe you receive when you pray, and you shall have your answer. “Yes, but I don’t have it.” But you have to believe you receive first.

Some people get hung up on this key point. They put the cart before the horse. They want to pray and receive their answer before they believe they received it. But Jesus said, “When you pray, believe you receive, and you shall have what you pray for.”

The first step is to pray and believe we receive the answer. Then we go through the period of time that the Bible calls “walking by faith and not by sight.” (2 Cor.5:7.) Then our second step is to actually see our answer come into full manifestation.

CONFESSION:

When I need healing in my body, I ask God for it, believing I receive what He said is mine. Then I stand in faith until the healing manifests in my body. My Father is pleased when I believe and act on His Word.

From: A Devotional for Divine Health Prescription for a Miracle, Mark Brazee, 1999