January 6

 “All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Mark 11:24

We Christians often have a wrong concept of faith. The Lord says that he who believes that he has received shall receive, whereas we maintain that he who believes that he will receive shall have it.

Will you permit me to say something out of my own experience? It is that prayer may be divided into two parts. The first is praying without any promise until the promise is given. All prayers begin this way.

The second is praying from the point at which the promise is given until it is realized and the promise is fulfilled. Faith is not just saying that God will hear you; it is coming to the place where because God has promised, you can truthfully claim that he has already heard your prayer. So we may say that the first part is praying from no faith to faith; the second part is praising from faith to actual possession.