Two Hurdles Away

Tim Dilena

November 23, 2024

Theologian John Calvin said, “To know God as the Master and Bestower of all good things, who invites us to request them of Him, and still not go to Him and ask of Him — this would be of as little profit as for a man to neglect a treasure, buried and hidden in the earth, after it had been pointed out to him and he had the map.”

Jesus gave us a map, and it’s called prayer. We read in scripture, “Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea,” it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.’” (Matthew 21:21-22, ESV).

There are only two hurdles, though, to get over when we start praying in order to receive from God.

Hurdle #1: Asking
Statistics suggest the average Christian spends three to seven minutes a day in prayer. Our asking is limited today. If asking is what gets us to receive, we are not even asking very well. F. B. Meyer said it like this: “The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.” Let’s make a commitment to fight busyness and get to prayer.

Hurdle #2: Believing
There is a difference between believing someone and believing in someone. The first one deals with existence. The second deals with character and who they are. Suppose you tell a friend you have faith in her. What does that mean? First, you are sure the person you are talking to actually exist; they’re not a fraud. Second, you are convinced that you can believe what she says and trust in her character. Believing in prayer is trusting who God said he is.

Faith honors God, and God honors faith. Faith in God will not get you everything you want, but it will get you everything God wants you to have.

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