Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
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NL Daily Devotion for Friday, March 1, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I personally dislike the notion of “manifesting” things. It’s become so popular in modern culture. Envision what you want and live as if you already have it and you will somehow cause it to come into existence. It smacks of wishful thinking and, quite frankly, of a life with no need for God. After all, if you can just will something into being by behaving as if it’s there, what need is there for the one who created all that is?
Yet isn’t this what Jesus seems to be talking about here? Honestly, I’ve never registered this verse (which I must have read a hundred times or more in my life). Jesus says to pray for what we want, then believe we have already received it and, voila!, we’ll get it. It’s a head-scratcher for me. But, then again, prayer is in general if I’m honest. In the past couple decades I have been advised/instructed to go ahead and pray for people and situations, but in the end, really to pray only for the knowledge of what God’s will is for me going forward. And it’s really helped me to focus on what God is calling me to do and be in the world, and away from what other people should or shouldn’t be doing or how the world would be so much better if only everyone thought or did as I do.
That being said, I recently decided to start dating, and I didn’t want to repeat former patterns, mistakes in judgment, self-compromise, etc. With the guidance of others, I very prayerfully made a list of what I wanted in a partner. I found passages in scripture to guide my discernment. I prayed for the courage to put myself out there on a dating site. I was told I would be lucky to get 7/10 items on my list. I accepted that, turned it over to God, and jumped in… Second person I dated. 10/10. Honestly the love of my life. Did I “manifest” this? Did I ask for it in prayer and then act as if I already had it? No. I prayed only for the knowledge of what God’s will was for me and took the actions that I (with help) discerned were in alignment. It’s not a magic spell or a guaranteed recipe. It just happened. But I thank God every day for it anyway.
How do I feel about the concept of “manifesting” good things in my life? How does this resonate (or not) with my feelings about prayer?