October 19, 1990, was a monumental day in my life. I remember it like it was yesterday. You see, it was 10 days earlier I went to see Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer’s Night Dream’ with my future wife, Shannon, at Centenary College in Shreveport, LA. I can’t tell you a whole lot about the play, but I think there was a big mouse in it or maybe it was a donkey…but I can tell you what Shannon was wearing. I can tell you I was more concerned with impressing her by going to a Shakespearean play than the play itself. I remember this night so vividly because it was the kick-starter to what our family has become today.
It was just a measly 10 days later I had made up my mind that she was the one! The one I would spend the rest of my life with. I was smitten! I was in love! I just hoped that she knew the will of God for her life was me. (Cue the music soundtrack to Ever After) So, one humid Louisiana night, staring at the stars through the pine trees that stretched toward the heavens, I did it! I made the BIG ASK! I asked her to marry me…right there on an old wooden bench on her parent’s front porch. She said, “Yes!” I was in shock! I couldn’t believe it. I said, “No, really, I’m serious. I’m not kidding!” She said, “Me too!” Now, we have been married for 21 years and have 3 children together. And we stared into the moonlit night through the piney woods of NW Louisiana and lived happily ever after. (fade the music, fade to black)
I learned something that night on the front porch of a house in Louisiana. If you want something, you have to ask. Mark 11:24-25 says it this way,
I tell you, you can pray for anything and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins too.
Asking God in prayer for “anything” encompasses a whole spectrum of possible requests. Belief in God for what you ask is the key to the whole prayer request. It is called faith. Believing in the unseen. Trusting in the sight of your heart and reconciling that with your mind is not always the easiest thing for one to do. A pure heart is one of the requirements of making requests known to God. Why else would forgiveness of others be a stipulation in this passage? Because forgiveness is the very nature of God. Forgiveness is paramount to unlocking heaven. When we insert the key of forgiveness to the lock of sin, it frees us and it frees God to do His work in and through us.
Don’t be afraid to pray. Don’t be afraid to ask in your prayers. Be afraid NOT to pray. We can ask God for anything. We can ask for needs, wants, healing, forgiveness, compassion, etc. Belief that God will answer those requests need to accompany our prayers. Then it will be done! Forgive as God has forgiven. So, to make my 8th Grade math teacher, Miss Thompson, happy…I will express this in a formula.
ASK + BELIEF = YOURS
When we pray, forgive others and receive forgiveness from God, these elements make up the ability to receive God’s grace and have our sins wiped clean.
Will You make the BIG ASK?
What is your greatest need right now? What is your greatest desire?
Whom do you need to forgive? From what or from whom do you need forgiveness?
oneguyseyes 