Pray Without Doubting

Pray Without Doubting

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.

Matthew 21:22

Before you pray, check to see whether you believe or doubt that you will be heard. If you are doubting or uncertain, or if you are merely trying a prayer to see what happens, your prayer won’t be worth anything. For you aren’t keeping your heart steady but letting it wobble back and forth. As a result, God cannot give anything to this kind of heart, just as you cannot give something to a person who doesn’t hold her hand still.

Imagine how you would feel if a person had earnestly asked you for something but then said to you, “I don’t really believe you will give it to me,” even though you had promised that you would beforehand. You would think he was mocking you by his request. You would take back everything you had promised and perhaps even punish him on top of it.

How can it please God when we do the same to him when we pray? God assures us that when we ask him for something, he will give it to us. By doubting him, we call him a liar and contradict our own prayers. By not believing him, we insult God’s truthfulness, the same truthfulness we rely on when we pray. This is why we say the little word Amen at the end of our prayers. We use it to express our firm, heartfelt faith. It’s like saying, “O God, I have no doubt that you will give me what I ask for in prayer.”