<p>11:24<em> Therefore I say to you: All things, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you will receive them- and you shall have them- </em>This evidently has some context and limitations, because there is no reason to think that we literally receive whatever we ask. Even the Lord didn't. The context is the ability to change, the ability to accept paradigm shifts, to have the courage to preach; the mindset which can cope with a previous worldview coming to an end. This is exactly why people are so unwilling to change cherished beliefs and practices- because their conservatism is more powerful in their own minds than God's word. We need to accept we have this problem, and rejoice that whatever we ask for in this psychological and at times practical battle will indeed be granted to us.</p><p>The experience of answered prayer inspires us to pray yet more. &quot;What things soever ye desire, believe that ye did receive them, and ye shall have them&quot; (Mk. 11:24 Gk.) can be read as meaning that we should remember how we received things in the past, and therefore we should have faith that the things we now desire really will be likewise granted. It is for this reason that the prayers recorded in the Psalms constantly look back to previous experiences of answered prayer as a motivation for faith and Hope: Ps. 3:4,5; 44:1-4; 61:5; 63:7; 66:18-20; 77:4-16; 86:13; 94:5,7-19; 116:1; 120:1,2; 126:1,4; 140:6,7. Jeremiah likewise (Lam. 3:55,56). And even the fact other believers had received answers to prayer inspired David's faith in prayer (Ps. 74:11-15; 106).<br />The close link between thought and prayer is developed in the Lord&rsquo;s teaching in Mk. 11:23,24: &ldquo;Truly I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he says comes to pass; he shall have it. Therefore I say unto you, All things you pray and ask for, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them&rdquo;. Our self-talk is to be fantasy about the fulfilment of our prayers. Yet how often do we hit &lsquo;send&rsquo; on our requests to God, like scribbling off a postcard, and hardly think again about them?</p><p>Even in His mortal life, the Lord was eager to as it were close the gap between Himself and His followers, so that they didn't feel He was an unattainable, distant icon to admire, but rather a true friend, leader, King and example to realistically follow. Thus when He cursed the fig tree, having prayed about it and firmly believing that what He had asked would surely come about, Peter marvelled: &quot;Master, behold, the fig tree you cursed is withered&quot;. The Lord replies by urging Peter to &quot;Have faith in God. For truly I tell you, <em>whosoever</em> (and this is the stress, surely) shall say unto this mountain (far bigger than a fig tree) , Be removed be cast into the sea (a far greater miracle than withering a fig tree overnight), and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says will come to pass (referring to how the words of Jesus to the fig tree were effectively His prayer to God about it); he shall <em>whatever</em> he says. Therefore I say unto <em>you</em>, Whatever <em>you</em> desire (just as I desired the withering of the fig tree), when <em>you</em> pray, believe that you receive them, and <em>you</em> shall have them (just as I did regarding the fig tree)&quot; (Mk. 11:21-24). Peter's amazement at the power of the Lord's prayers was therefore turned back on him- '<em>You too</em> can do what I just did, and actually greater things are possible for you than what I just did'. That was the message here- and He repeated it in the upper room, in encouraging them that &quot;Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do&quot; (Jn. 14:12).</p>