What does Matthew 21:22 truly mean

[sport123]

What does Matthew 21:22 truly mean? Does it really mean we can have whatever we believe for. I guess you don't know if you really believe until you receive. Which can be quite frustrating and discouraging. Especially when you pray earnestly and believe for a long time. Also, sometimes you are going to have thoughts of doubt and several things are going to come your way that discourage you. And people say that hinders things coming to pass. Anyway, does this include all healings, wealth, success, companionship, etc... Trying to understand.

[darski]

Matthew 21: 22"And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

I think there is some fine print in there somewhere because it does not always work that way.

I once decided that I had not because I asked not... So I got the prayer group to agree with me in prayer that my son would show up the next Sunday morning in church. He didn't. I kept thinking (believing) right up until 12:10 that he would show up and it didn't happen. If you want someone else to be or do something, all terms and conditions change.

[Guest man]

What does Matthew 21:22 truly mean? Does it really mean we can have whatever we believe for. I guess you don't know if you really believe until you receive. Which can be quite frustrating and discouraging. Especially when you pray earnestly and believe for a long time. Also, sometimes you are going to have thoughts of doubt and several things are going to come your way that discourage you. And people say that hinders things coming to pass. Anyway, does this include all healings, wealth, success, companionship, etc... Trying to understand.

Doubt is our worst enemy.

It is doubt that keeps us from walking on water.

It is doubt that keeps us from healing the sick.

I can believe with all my heart and lay everything I have at the foot of the Cross, but that one little inkling of doubt is all it takes to tarnish the faith that I so desperately wish I had.

[darski]

Then why does anything happen when I have had clear doubts and prayed anyway.

I have seen great things happen because I prayed (for lack of anything better to do IYKWIM) even though I had my doubts that God would do anything.

ARe you saying it is the small doubt that stops it but the big doubt is ok?

Some things are just not going to happen. I have known delusional people who prayed in firm belief that God would cause someone to get a divorce so they could have this man (woman whtever) It does not say 'sane' belief it says belief.

There has to be a Whole Counsel of God thingy happening. Like I said, fine print.

Edited November 12, 2006 by darski

[Floatingaxe]

Matthew 21: 21-22...

Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

It has to do with faith. God is the giver of this kind of faith. Walking closely after Him in obedience to His Word, and in the Holy Spirit, this is the faith that is produced!

[darski]

And again I ask why has doubt been rewarded and faith not?

I know that WOF's like to blame the person so they can keep their little sand castle going a bit longer but the fact is that sometimes the answer to prayer is NO or No or no.

I have to assume that this did not translate well or some such thing because I have heard and had many stories of prayed and believed for things not happening.

[Guest man]

Then why does anything happen when I have had clear doubts and prayed anyway.

I have seen great things happen because I prayed (for lack of anything better to do IYKWIM) even though I had my doubts that God would do anything.

ARe you saying it is the small doubt that stops it but the big doubt is ok?

Some things are just not going to happen. I have known delusional people who prayed in firm belief that God would cause someone to get a divorce so they could have this man (woman whtever) It does not say 'sane' belief it says belief.

There has to be a Whole Counsel of God thingy happening. Like I said, fine print.

I never said prayers were never answered. He has given me many of the things I've asked for, although none of them being material.

He tells us that if we ask without doubting, we will receive whatever it is we asked for. If we had faith the size of a mustard seed, there would be nothing we couldn't do.

That is the faith I wish I had. I wish there was no doubt within my heart, but because there is, I will never be perfect in this life. All I can do is hope and pray that on the day I stand before the Lord, my doubting heart will not condemn me.

So yes, I believe doubt is one of my worst enemies. If there was no doubt, the world as we see it today, would not exist.

[Floatingaxe]

And again I ask why has doubt been rewarded and faith not?

I know that WOF's like to blame the person so they can keep their little sand castle going a bit longer but the fact is that sometimes the answer to prayer is NO or No or no.

I have to assume that this did not translate well or some such thing because I have heard and had many stories of prayed and believed for things not happening.

The thing is, when you are living in the will of God and in His Spirit, your desires and His line up. You don't ask outlandish things that are out of His will. You tend to make requests of God that fit in with what He is working in you already. If He is requiring you to have faith in something large in scope, then it is alright to have mustard-seed faith! He is still in it!

[Bolts]

Well....ummmm, I'm no theologian, but these are my thoughts on what transpassed in chapter 21 verses 18 thru to 22....

When Jesus went over to the fig tree to satisfy his hunger, the fig tree had no fruit....now further on in John 15:1 & 2, we read: I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. he cuts off every brach in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful.

Because the fig tree did not bear fruit, the Lord cursed it and passed judgement on it, which caused it to wither and die. What does this signify? it confirms Isaiah chapter four....

.... The disciples, wondering how this was done, were told: I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, go throw yourself into the sea and it will be done....

....a couple of chapters back in Matt 17: 20, the same line of questioning came up in the healing of a boy with a demon, Jesus says there:...because you have so little faith. If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you....the end result being Matt 21:22... if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.

Conclusion: Poverty and poverty mindedness was a way of life for these people, who were taken out of slavery and planted somewhere else to reproduce and grow. Moses was the manifested hope of the Israelites, who, became so use to their state that they didn't know any better. So when their prayer for freedom was answered and hope came, they didn't recognise it. What is it that the israelites were being asked to believe? Well, I believe that it is the same thing that God wants us to believe today: that Jesus is the Son of God.