“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:24 (NIV)

If I gave you a check today for a hundred dollars, would you wait to say thank you until you knew it would clear? Anyone who knows me would think, “This is a pretty good guy. I can trust that he has enough in his account to cover it. I’ll thank him right now.” You’d thank me first—and then you’d take the check to the bank.

God’s promises are better than any of our promises. Before you even receive what he has promised, you can say, “Thank you, God. I know that what you promised will happen. You’ll do what you say you will do.”

There’s a great example of this in God’s “faith hall of fame” in Hebrews 11. Remember how Joshua led the Israelites around Jericho, where the walls fell down? How did they fall down? Hebrews 11:30 says, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days” (NIV).

It says, “by faith.” The story goes like this: “The Lord said to Joshua, ‘I am putting into your hands Jericho, with its king and all its brave soldiers. You and your soldiers are to march around the city once a day for six days. Seven priests, each carrying a trumpet, are to go in front of the Covenant Box. On the seventh day you and your soldiers are to march around the city seven times while the priests blow the trumpets. Then they are to sound one long note. As soon as you hear it, all the people are to give a loud shout, and the city walls will collapse. Then the whole army will go straight into the city’” (Joshua 6:2-5 GNT).

And that’s exactly what happened. The Israelites followed God’s instructions, and the walls just fell. God did what he’d promised!

I’ve often thought, What if I’d been one of those people marching around the city for seven days? Some of them might have been looking at those walls, getting more and more worried, wondering how God could ever bring them down. But the Bible says, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell.” They thought about what God could do and thanked him in advance.

This is the kind of life Jesus wants you to live, the thanking-God-in-advance kind of life. Jesus talked about it in Mark 11:24: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (NIV). 

When you ask God for something, why even ask if you don’t believe? It’s an empty exercise.

Jesus said that if you pray and ask God for something, you should believe he’s going to do it. Thank him in advance for what only he can do. And then look for how he answers your prayer.