An Unlimited Asset

An Unlimited Asset

You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it. Matthew 21:22

IMAGINE BEING ON A SCOUT TEAM sent from the front lines into enemy territory to find people and places held captive. You are told that the enemy employs a variety of tactics, and you should expect to recommend different solutions for each situation. But you are to seek out areas of need relentlessly and report them to home base. You are promised unlimited provision to address each situation, whether immediately or in follow-up operations. But none of your observations and requests will go unheeded. After all, you were given authority to recommend and requisition anything that would help. Your role is critical, and your requests are the key to freeing hostages, providing for needs, and restoring life. Headquarters has promised to back you up.

Sounds exhilarating, doesn’t it? A little dangerous perhaps, but it’s an irresistible opportunity to win battles and make a difference in a war-torn world. With the assurances you’ve been given, there’s no reason not to proceed. Yes, you may encounter resistance, but you’ll also overcome it. And many lives will be helped and saved in the process.

That’s essentially what Jesus promised his disciples. He told them to pray for anything—no limits other than an implied adherence to Kingdom values—and it would be done for them. They would have to pray with the expectation of answers—that’s faith—and with Jesus’ purposes in mind. But other than that, they were free to go about doing good, walking in spiritual power, preaching and teaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and setting souls free. His promise assured them of a constant link with headquarters and its unlimited resources.

We may need to grow in our understanding of that promise, but it still applies. Jesus didn’t mean it only for his closest followers in that generation. He meant it for all who would follow him in the centuries to come. Many people ignore this promise because they’ve tried it out and thought it “didn’t work.” But for those who keep pressing in, it does. God will teach us if we let him. And our prayers of faith will become powerful Kingdom assets in the undoing of powers of darkness.

Prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge to Satan.