Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, March 15, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
This is always a hard concept for me, if I’m honest. I remember when a friend of mine’s baby was born with a severe heart defect and wasn’t expected to live. She reflected on all the hundreds and hundreds of people who were praying for her child (she had connections to multiple churches and other communities). Was there some cosmic tipping point at which her son would be healed? Did some people lose out because they didn’t have enough Christian friends? In the end, her child died, even with all that prayer, even after periods of real hope. Did she not have enough faith? Did all the people praying for her not have enough faith?
Yet Jesus tells us that whatever we ask for in prayer with faith, we will receive. I knew a man who prayed for parking spots and when he found them was utterly convinced they were an answer to prayer. What are we to make of that in light of the story of my friend?
I don’t have an answer. All I know is that I believe (95% of the time…maybe) that God has my back. What does that look like? I never know until I see it happen. It’s almost always in retrospect, though I try to practice gratitude each day, which often reveals the ways in which God is showing up in real time. I still pray, but it’s seldom for anything specific—it’s too much of a setup for disappointment. Instead, I just ask for whatever it is I need to do whatever it is God is calling me to do. And maybe a little direction as to what that is.
What do I pray for? How do I think God answers prayer?
