Have faith in God. 23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. 25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
Mark 11:22-26 (KJV)
Hello can anyone decode this passage for me? I have done all this I forgave these people that I am referring to. I have prayed for them. I also received for the one that has the job that I so so desire. I am trying to take the high road on this. But nothing is happening and I feel more and more hopeless. I prayed and trusted that I shall receive what I ask for, but nope SOSDD is what I get. I have forgiven the people I was upset about. I am mad at Jesus for not fullfilling his promise to me. I need prayers from all who will pray for me. I can’t move that mountain can’t even move a dust bunny it seems. God Bless Scoob.
I really recommend reading the Book of Job. Suffering happens to God’s faithful, and sometimes it is His way of drawing them closer to Himself. You are relying on faith, persisting in what is right in spite of the darkness you are being afflicted with, and that is the way of sainthood. Being a saint doesn’t mean you don’t have any problems or don’t feel any pain. Saints suffer greater pain than the rest of us average Catholics. You are being drawn into union with Jesus Christ, who suffered on the Cross and cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
God has not forsaken you, but His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts. He says in Isaiah 55:9, “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my thoughts than your thoughts, and my ways than your ways.” Even one of Jesus’ requests of the Father was not answered. At the Passion, Jesus said, “if it is possible, take this cup from me, but not my will, but your will be done.” His desire to not be forced to endure such unimaginable torture was not answered, and He submitted, “not my will, but your will be done.” That is the situation you are facing, and at present, from what you have said I can see that you are saying the same words of Jesus. With Him, you have made a request of God that you deeply desire to see answered, in your heart, but you are submitting to follow Him even though He doesn’t answer in the way you want, and even when you are forced to endure pain as a result. With Jesus, you pray, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, yet you are trusting Him and following Him in His way in spite of the fact that it is not your way.
Regarding the meaning of the passage you brought up, Jesus promised to answer the prayers made in faith, but He was assuming in His statement that the prayer of faith would be in line with the will of God. If your prayer is not answered, it doesn’t mean you are faithless, but that God has something else in mind. Perhaps here and now, his desire is that you be made one with His Passion in obedience, as Jesus was. The Scripture says that Jesus was “made perfect through obedience.” He was, of course, always morally perfect, but He who reigned above all things learned obedience in His humanity by submitting to God’s will in His life and death.
God is lifting you up now, with His Son, who was lifted up on the Cross and scorned by crowds around Him.
One of the things you need to understand about the saints is that they have been through what you are now enduring, and that is most of the reason why they are saints. They prayed, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” and they also endured the same prayer you have been speaking in your posts in this thread, “Father, if it be possible, take this cup from me, but not my will but yours be done.” Their experience and yours are being fused and made one. They felt exactly as you are now feeling, and through persistence in Christ in spite of everything, they found the Lord, just as you will.
Which doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get the miracle you’re seeking right now, whatever it is. Key to the life of a saint is self-surrender, which I can see you are already practicing, in view of the fact that you forgave the people who hurt you badly. You are learning Jesus’ Passion experientially, just as it was forged in the lives of the saints. They heard Jesus’ call, “For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it.” And, “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Christ is bringing you into a very, very special union with Himself that many of us have not yet experienced in the way He has given you, the way of the Cross. What you are called to do, then, is to submit to His will and follow Him as He sees fit, in whatever way He leads.
Here’s a really good sermon by Pope John Paul II on this topic. He was familiar with suffering, as I expect you know. He was shot by a gunman and forgave him. Here’s his message about the Cross.
oldarchive.godspy.com/meditations/Deny-yourself-pick-up-your-cross-and-follow-Me-Meditation-by-Pope-John-Paul-II.cfm.html
. But myself, i can no longer really (enthusistically) love/like someone who is rude/spiteful/uncaring or whatever. I just began to figure that: they have no reason to act like that (that I can see) so why should I feel the need to deal with it (other than prayer)?