Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them (Mark 11:24).
The tenses must be right to receive from God. Faith believes that God has or God is presently working on your behalf. Faith is never future tense. If you’re waiting on some point in the future for God to do something for you, then you’re hoping and not believing. You’re in the future where hope is, and you’re not in the past and present where faith is. Don’t just hope and pray! Pray and believe God has answered your prayer!
Remember that God lives in the eternal now. He does not exist within the confines of time. When we act in faith, believing that right now we receive what we ask for from the Father, then we are actually leaving the confines of time, and are reaching into God’s eternal now to receive what already exists!
Everything we need exists in two realms; first the spiritual realm, and then the physical realm. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible (Hebrews 11:3). Everything we see came from the spiritual world into physical manifestation by God’s faith. So in the light of this, your healing already exists, your financial need being met already exists, your prayer answer already exists, your deliverance from the current circumstance already exists! Whatever you and I need already exists in the spiritual realm. When we believe we receive, we leave the physical, enter the spiritual, and our faith pulls what we need from God’s world (spiritual) into our world (physical).
Jesus is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). God told Joshua that he had already given Jericho into his hands while the walls still stood high (Joshua 6). Before raising Lazarus from the dead Jesus looked to heaven and prayed, Lord, I thank you that you have heard me (John 11). He put His prayer into the past tense. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham while he was yet childless. Jesus told the ten lepers to go offer the sacrifice that Moses said for lepers to offer after they were healed. The ten were healed as they went.
Make sure today that you believe that you receive what you need from the Lord. Act as though you believe you receive. Talk as though you believe you receive. Continue to believe you receive even though at the moment it may seem as though it’s not working.
Recently, I injured my back by improper lifting of some heavy equipment. The pain became unbearable. I went to the doctor to see what I had done so that I could pinpoint my faith in the right direction. An MRI revealed three displaced discs in my lower back. Walking, lying, sitting, or standing produced excruciating pain.
I prayed according to Mark 11:24, asking the Father to heal my back, and to cause the discs to move back into place. It took time (about 5 months), but I now am pain free. I can walk, sit, stand, and lay in bed without pain. God performed His word while I believed that I received healing for the displaced discs in my lower back. My responsibility during that time was to believe that God had answered my prayer, even when it looked and felt as though nothing had changed. Faith brought the healing for my displaced discs that existed in the spiritual realm into my physical body as I praise and thanked God daily for answering my prayer and for healing my back.
What is your need today? Reach out in believing prayer to our loving Father God, ask Him for what you need, and then believe that you receive the answer while it looks like nothing has changed. Let your confession be that God has heard and answered your prayer. Don’t talk about what you see and feel. Rather, talk about what you believe God has already done. If you do, God will perform His word, and your faith will bring the answer from the spiritual realm where it already exists into your physical world!