Mark 11:24:

“For this reason I tell you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

I am reading this because, after speaking yesterday about the value of repetition—in which I was encouraging people not to say, “Because I asked once, I must not ask again, or else it is lack of faith”—this is the verse people will probably come to in order to negate everything I said.

Jesus is encouraging faith here, and in Luke 18, He highlighted the widow’s repeated coming as something commendable. But this verse is what some people use to say, “Ask once, then never ask again.”

“For this reason I tell you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

We believe we have received it. The reason we come to God is because of that belief. Hebrews says the one who approaches God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). We are told to come boldly to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

The challenge comes when we say, “Because this verse says this, it must also mean something else that it does not mention.” It is not mentioned here that you should not repeatedly ask for the same thing.

Remember, I have spoken against taking one part of Scripture and trying to use it to neutralize another part. This verse is not telling us “never come again”; it is telling us that every time you come, your attitude should be: believe that you have received it.

Someone will say, “If I have received it, why will I come again?” That is human thinking. That is the logic of man: “I have come, I have believed I received it; now I will just ‘confess’ and make it manifest.”

But Jesus is saying: you are not supposed to come to God without believing you will receive. You come with confident assurance. John says we know that we have the requests we have asked from Him because we ask according to His will (1 John 5:14–15). We know. We come with that knowing. We are not doubting; we are not treating prayer like a game. We come with complete certainty—and then we also come again tomorrow, with the same complete certainty that we have received it.

This is spiritual, not merely natural.

Then people start giving illustrations: “If you go to the bank and they give you a cheque, you don’t keep asking; you just hold on to the cheque.” And then all the “faith gymnastics” begin: “Don’t let anything shake your faith. Don’t pray again; just ‘stand.’”

It becomes too much work in the name of faith.

The faith is that you come again. You coming again. You coming again. That is the faith. Faith is not spooky—not some abstract idea floating in your head. It is not mainly about trying to make sure no alternative thought ever enters your mind. Yes, you should guard your heart, but the faith is not in your mental processes; the faith is in the power of God to work things out.

So we come with 1000% faith today to ask for that thing, and we come again with 1000% faith to ask again for that thing. We do not come doubting whether He will do it or not. We have assurance that if we ask anything in His name, He hears us (John 14:13–14; 1 John 5:14–15). But we still go; we still repeatedly go and pray.

Jesus says, “When you pray, say…” (Luke 11:2). He is already implying repetition inside prayer itself—“say” these things whenever you pray. The concept of prayer has repetition built into it. So faith cannot be against repetition. It cannot be against repetition. This verse cannot be talking against repetition.

The problem comes with our illustrations—when we begin to communicate naturalistic thinking that pushes people into passivity: “Don’t do anything after praying,” or, “Now you must sow a seed to make the prayer work,” or all sorts of extra requirements in the name of, “Just don’t ask again.”

It is a lot of stress.

God bless you. See you later.