“For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

Prayer

Verses 25-26 speak of our mindset as we come to pray, if we have anything against anyone. These two verses follow directly from Peter being surprised that the fig tree which Jesus cursed that morning had withered, and Jesus responded by stating our need to “have faith in God”.
So, these verses are about how when we come to him in prayer; we need to be fully trusting in God, with no doubting. It’s not about rules of how to get what we want in prayer, but about the nature of a faithful relationship with God.

Faith

Can you imagine being in conversation with someone who clearly did not believe you when you told them who you are, and what you do? Yet at the same time they wanted a huge favour?
I recall people who appeared to not believe me when I spoke from my personal experience; they decided it could not happen because it was outside of their knowledge or experience. It created instant distance and distrust. And that can happen if we come before God with a focus on our doubts about him.

Faith is our relationship with God from our heart, not our calculating head. When we realise He is infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, and merciful, then we can come to Him knowing that the desires of a faithful heart will be answered in the best possible way, which may be far better than what we can imagine. And answered in the best timing; the KJV says, “shall come to pass” instead of “will be done”, showing it will be in God’s good time.

Nothing is too hard for God. If his answer involves physically moving mountains, it will be done, we can fully trust in him to answer our prayer. In Revelation 6:14 we learn that every mountain and island will be moved out of their places. And if it involves moving mountains of ignorance and rebellion against him, that is also in his power. It may involve moving the mountain of our desires to align with His.

Desires of our heart

It’s not about testing God to see if we can use his power to get what we want, it’s about having a truly faithful relationship with him. When we come to God fully trusting in him, He will not only give us the desires of our heart, but He will fill our hearts with the desires of His heart. His Holy Spirit changes us to be more like Jesus, and fills us with his Spirit, and our heartfelt desires become elevated to the level that He has planned for us, and they will be answered.

I can think of many of my very personal prayers that have been answered in God’s perfect plan. But there are also examples where I have learnt after the event of how people were praying for me.

When we do not look at the doubts in our heart, but simply believe and trust in Him, it will come to pass.