Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Mark 1:40-42 Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean." Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.
"IF YOU ARE WILLING..."
Had the leper asked anyone but Jesus to heal him, it would have been considered to be an outrageous request. "Do you know what you’re asking?" But Jesus did not reply this way, because with God all things are possible. Like the leper, we can ask anything of God because we know that with God all things are possible.
There is nothing too big, or too small for that matter, that God cannot do for us. The apostle tells us to, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God..." (Philippians 4:6). And don't be afraid that your request is too minor for God to deal with. After all, Jesus tells us that God has numbered the very hairs of our head, and that if God takes care of the little birds in nature, surely He will take care of you, His own child (Matthew 10:30).
Note also how the leper prays. He does not demand that Jesus make him clean. He says, "If You are willing, You can make me clean." So also, when we pray, we know that our request will be granted if it is according to God's will.
When we ask another person for help, we understand that they will help us--first of all, if they are able, and second, if they are willing. Of course that is assuming that they heard us in the first place. We have already seen that God can help us because He can do all things. But does He always hear us when we pray? Jesus tells us that, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you" (John 16:23). The answer from God's own Word is that God hears every prayer that is offered in faith, as again Jesus says, "...all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive" (Matthew 21:22). So no matter what our request, we know that God hears us who are His children through faith in Christ.
