Early in the morning, as Jesus and his disciples were walking along, they saw the fig tree withered from the root up. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look how the fig tree you cursed has dried up.” Jesus responded to them, “Have faith in God! I assure you that whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea’—and doesn’t waver but believes that what is said will really happen—it will happen. Therefore I say to you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you will receive it, and it will be so for you. And whenever you stand up to pray, if you have something against anyone, forgive so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your wrongdoings.” (Mark 11:20-25, CEB)
When you pray, believe that you will receive it and you will receive it. Well, Jesus, I did that and I didn’t receive it. Does that mean that I didn’t really believe? Or did I have something against someone else and I wasn’t forgiven, and therefore I didn’t get what I asked for? These passages in the gospels on prayer are ones that can cause issues in my opinion. If you just have enough faith and believe hard enough, God will give you what you ask. And that just won’t happen.
I have never seen a person say to a mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea’ and it happened. But that doesn’t mean that person doesn’t have profound faith. Our faith is sufficient, and what God gives us is what we need. And what we need is way different usually from what we want.
Forgive others, and always show love and know that when you don’t get what you asked for it isn’t because you don’t have faith. It is because God loves you and will supply your needs. And even as I type that I think of those who are hungry or in need of medical attention and how they are still in need. Sometimes we humans get in the way. Pope Francis said, “You pray for God to feed the hungry, then you feed the hungry. That is how prayer works.” We will do greater things when we realize that God is calling us to love and have everything we do be because of love.
Loving People. Loving God.
aSacredRebel 