Whatever You Ask for in Prayer

On the following day, when they came from Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.
Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written,
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”
And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.
In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
“Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.” Mark 11:12-25 

Whatever You Ask

The darkness of the world lifts occassionally
and we think we do not need to pray fervently
this is the time when terror and violence rage
the here and now of being on our knees.

The echo of the rapid fire gunshots
reverberate throughout the school halls
the innocents whose blood cannot be removed
is a mark on every face not to be ignored.

Busy with these daily chores and meetings
caught up with the screens and the mail
we are seldom in conversation with God
rarely do we cry out and ask believing.

This week calls us to our knees together
when murder was on the leaders' minds
when they plotted to kill the peasant King
who brought the love of God to the poor.

This is the season of our need for prayer
when we have colluded with our silence
when we have failed to ask and act
yet Jesus still walks this road for us.