"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." (Mark 11:24)

Having faith in God means believing that He exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). When our faith is pure, we live out this devotional’s verse: we believe that we have already gotten whatever we pray to God for.

When we have pure faith like this, we can often experience God’s many blessings and receive whatever we ask for, if it follows God’s will.

However, sometimes it seems like nothing happens when we pray and ask our Lord for something. Even after time has passed, we may feel everything is still the same.

But the Lord still wants us to believe that we have received what we have asked for. It may not seem like it makes sense. But this is where we walk by faith and not by sight.

Through faith, our prayers reach God, and His grace showers upon us abundantly. Pure faith says, “I believe that God is faithful and all-powerful. If what I ask for is what God wants, He will answer my prayer.”

But doubt shakes our pure faith. Doubt says, “I’m not sure that God is good.” Or, “This problem is too much for God to handle.”

Have you ever seen large waves in a stormy sea? Notice how the strong winds seem to throw the waves around? The Bible tells us that someone who doubts is like such a wave, being tossed to and fro by the wind, unable to be steady. It’s hard to stand strong in our faith when we doubt. That’s why the biggest barrier to our prayer is doubt.

Let’s overcome our doubts by having simple faith: “Since the Bible tells me that God loves me and will keep His promises, I will believe it.”

Perhaps you have asked your parents for a gift and they agreed. Even though you may not know where the gift is or when they'd give it to you, my guess is that you were already happy about it. This is a pure and simple faith: you trust your parents.

Let us also trust that our Heavenly Father would keep His promises too. Whether you ask for the Holy Spirit, for strength to keep God’s commandments, for God’s guidance in your life… believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

May the Lord help us to have simple faith, believing that we have received whatever we ask God for.

Family Altar

Use these discussion questions and our prayer as a guide for your family altar.

Parents can lead the prayer and invite their children to repeat after them or encourage their children to take the lead, making family altar time a shared journey of faith.

Discussion questions:

• What is one prayer request that God has answered for you?

• What is something we can pray about for you?

• Complete this sentence: Sometimes, I don’t believe that God …

Prayer in words:

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray. God, we praise You because You are good and kind. We are sorry that sometimes we doubt You, even though the Bible tells us so much about You. Give us pure and simple faith to always believe in You. Every day, You love us and take care of us just like You have promised. I want to trust in You all the days of my life. Amen.

_{Adapted from Hsieh, Ezra. “A Shepherd & His Sheep.” Living Bread, Word of Life Publishing House.}