BELIEVING AND RECEIVING

Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be (granted) you. Mark 11:24 (NASB)

It is easier to believe the translations of this passage with the words “you receive them” than with the words “you have received them.” However, according to the Greek New Testament, the translation of the NASB is correct.

How can a person believe he has received something from God when he asks for it?

The most certain answer to that question is that a person can know when He was directed by the Holy Spirit to ask for it. This is what praying in the Spirit is all about. Someone has said, “Our prayers should begin in heaven.”

One is filled with the Spirit when he experiences the spiritual crucifixion of his flesh which is the only opposition to a believer being filled with the Spirit (Galatians 5:17).

Romans 8:27 says, “Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

Just as the Holy Spirit prays according to the will of the Father, Spirit-filled believers can do the same under the guidance of the Spirit.

When a believer prays in this manner, he knows he has prayed according to the will of the Father and knows he has received what he asks for (1 John 5:14-15).