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Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be done to you.” Matthew 9:29
D.L. MOODY
I remember a man telling me he preached for a number of years without any result. He used to say to his wife as they went to church, that he knew the people would not believe anything he said; and there was no blessing. At last, he saw his error; he asked God to help him and took courage, and then the blessing came.
“According to your faith be it unto you.” This man had expected nothing, and he got just what he expected. Let us expect that God is going to use us. Let us have courage and go forward, looking to God to do great things.
ERWIN LUTZER
Sometimes we are puzzled by the promises of the New Testament. We might think God has over-promised, after all we read, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (1 John 5: 14–15). We are tempted to become cynical because we often don’t see our requests answered.
But are these and similar passages a carte blanche promise to ask for anything and get it? No. Even here we see a limitation: We are heard because we ask according to His will. We know God’s sovereign will reigns supreme. Think of Jesus in Gethsemane, asking to be delivered and yet willingly praying “not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).
My point: Let us not become cynical about prayer. There are plenty of promises we can insist upon in all circumstances and at all times. And let us heed the words of Moody who said that if we expect nothing, we get nothing.
PRAYER
Father, I trust you to carry your good work to completion.REFLECTION QUESTIONS
What does Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane teach us? How does He submit to the will of God?
Do your prayers reflect a genuine expectation that God can and will work according to His purposes?