Jesus gave the most profound teaching on the subject of faith. In Mark 11:24, He said, “Therefore I say unto you, what things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

In this scripture, he showed us how to pray and how to receive answers at the same time. However, too many Christians have stayed on one side of that scripture all their life – they’ve only learnt to pray, but haven’t learnt to receive. They believe in praying alone, and that will not change anything. We need to know what to do to receive the answers to our prayers.

The Principle Of Receiving

Jesus said, “...what things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, BELIEVE THAT YE RECEIVE THEM, AND YE SHALL HAVE THEM.” Jesus is teaching us how to receive in the latter part of this scripture. He’s showing us the principle of receiving.

In Matthew 7:8 He said, “Everyone that asks receive.” In John 15:16, He lets us know we’re chosen and ordained to receive answers when we pray: “I have chosen you, and ordained you … that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.”

Jesus never lied to anyone. He was always clear and succinct in His communication and never evasive. He said what He meant and meant what He said.

What then is the problem with many folks? Why aren’t they receiving? Prayer is of no use if there’s no receiving. Praying without receiving is religion and religion gives you nothing. So many people have come into Christianity with a religious mindset. They see prayer as an hour or a time of religious monologue; they spend a lot of time exerting themselves in prayer. But at the end of the day, they get frustrated because they aren’t receiving answers.

When you pray, God answers. Therefore all you need do is believe that you’ve receive whatever it is you asked for. God answers when you pray, but you do the receiving. There’s a faith attitude that determines whether you receive answers to your prayer or not.

Let suppose you’ve prayed and asked God for a particular thing. If you believe the words or Jesus, after praying, you ought to rejoice immediately, congratulating yourself and declaring “Wow! Thank you Jesus! Glory to God, I’ve got what I asked for!”

Even though you request is not seen with your physical eyes, you should act like you’ve already received it right from the moment you prayed. That’s what Jesus said. That’s the principle of receiving – you start acting and demonstrating your faith by rejoicing and giving God praise for you miracle.

Don’t Complain, Just Receive!

Prayer is not an avenue to remind God about your needs and complain about all the things that are troubling you. Unfortunately, that’s what many folks do. Jesus said when you pray, believe! He didn’t say complain. He said believe. Believe what? That you’ve received! He went further to say “If you believe that you’ve received, that things will show up – it will become yours.” So after praying, because you know you have received, begin to rejoice.

When you understand this truth I’m sharing with you, you’ll stop trying to get God to give you anything or do something for you. You really can’t try to get Him to do anything for you anyway, since He’s already done everything He ever needed to do for you. That’s why He said “all things are yours” (1 Corinthians 3:21). All God expects from you now is that you receive all things. Receive all that He says belongs to you in His Word. When you receive God’s Word of blessing into your spirit, it will certainly produce the blessing that it talks about in your life.

Maybe you’ve been praying to God for a child, a new job, or anything at all. After a while, you might begin to wonder or ask questions like “Should I keep asking or should I just believe that I’ve received?” No, don’t believe you’ve received. Just receive! Once you’ve received something, you no longer need to believe that you’ve received it. It becomes yours the moment you receive it and you know it.