Ben Campbell Johnson Paraphrase - Mark 11:24 - 2020 "Receive Quest" Challenge (003)

Mark 11:24 Ben Campbell Johnson (BCJ)*
24 Because of this principle, when you discover your soul's deepest desires, state them in your prayers, and consider them to have occurred—they will!

I loved this heading: Desire and Prayer! Desire is another word quest for me because of some things I saw connecting it to prayer and receiving. I tried to find the source for what sparked the original curiosity and couldn't! I believe it was in the transcripts for a new CD or DVD being put together from some previously unreleased meetings of Brother Hagin.

There is much I can say concerning desire, but a brief mention of a few recent events might be interesting to reflect on. In each case, I was the recipient of something extremely specific that had a desire attached!

1. FLOPPY DISKS
   A week ago, my friend and I visited a junk shop full of random objects and thick dust. In the far back corner, a dismantled keyboard was on the bottom shelf of a display case: Ensoniq Mirage DSK. WHAT? I had forgotten about that keyboard! We had used it back in the 80s with "Party Conscious" (primarily for sampling recorded background vocals, if I recall). I had been looking for a sampler (and bought something I never figured out), and this is something I actually knew how to use! I wish I had time to share the whole story and the dear man I met. But the point of sharing this is that I started to daydream about that keyboard. The man said it might be possible out an old computer with a small floppy drive (must be connected to the mother board) and create a boot disk (with a taped half-capacity disk), then try installing that drive from the computer into the keyboard. The guy is game to try it! So I was totally daydreaming about it. Days later, a coworker pops out of the copy room with floppy disks in her hands, ready to throw them away: "We don't ever use these, do we?" OH MY GOODNESS! I piped up, "I can use them!"
2. CRACKERS
   This is a small one, but the same day as the disks, I had brought Christmas leftovers for my lunch and included a snack for the afternoon: the last bit of cream cheese and pepper jelly. But I had forgotten the crackers! That morning when I realized I had forgotten, I almost drove home over lunch to get them because it's SO delicious. All day I was desiring crackers. By mid afternoon, I was daydreaming of when I got home and could eat it! Lo and behold, when I walked into the kitchen to replenish my ice, I saw packets of crackers on the "giveaway table"! Haha! That works! I was thrilled! It would not have been notable in itself, but since "desire" has been a topic of interest, it got my attention: Two things happened in one day where I distinctly desired something and that specific "something" appeared!
3. MALLETS
   This weekend, my friend and I were at a flea market. As we were driving back, the conversation drifted toward something that made me think of what Danny Elfman used to do ages ago: tuck a miniature mallet behind his ear and "ping" things. He said hardware stores were the best. He would pick up items, tap them with the mallet, and if he liked the sound, he'd put them in the cart, buy them, and then sample them in his studio. I shared the story (this friend knows my desire to collect sounds) and initially the point to me was that I should not shy away from recording sounds that interest me despite what I think it looks like to others.  I was thinking about all the cool stuff we had just seen, and exclaimed how I should have been looking for mini mallets! To my surprise, my friend said he saw some (three, to be exact) at the first booth he bought things at. I went back that afternoon and sure enough they were there! I now have a wooden mallet small enough to fit in my purse. Actually, I had another idea after I bought that and actually found a second much tinier metal mallet at another booth, but it was 7 times as much. I didn't get it. But now I wish I had! In addition, the conversation with the guy at the booth may have connected me to someone who can make a metal "flying saucer" drum! What an adventure! (There's SO much more. I hope I can share the full story sometime.)

*Johnson, Ben Campbell. Matthew and Mark: A Relational Paraphrase. Waco, TX: Word Books, 1978.

The New English Bible - Mark 11:24 - 2020 "Receive Quest" Challenge (002)

Mark 11:24 The New English Bible (NEB)*
24 I tell you, then, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.

Believe—what a big word! Of course, the context is so important to the final point of receiving. It's not just verse 24. I like how the previous verse says, "has no inward doubts" and takes it even further: "but believes that what he says is happening."

Recently someone suggested I listen to Bruce Lipton. This verse makes me think of the "Biology of Belief" (one of the concepts from his research) and epigenetics. To me, it's the science side of God's design ... where we see the architecture behind the principles and powers God put in place.

*The New English Bible. Cambridge, Great Britain: Oxford University Press; Cambridge University Press, 1961.

King James & Wycliffe Bible Commentary - Mark 11:24 - 2020 "Receive Quest" Challenge (001)

Mark 11:24 King James Version (KJV) 
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Verse 24, The Wycliffe Bible Commentary
24. Believe. A present tense imperative, calling for persistent, continuing faith.
Receive. Superior manuscript evidence favors the aorist tense—you did receive. In other words, we are to keep on believing that God has already given us our request.

My white board has Mark 11:24 as one of the branches of receiving. I, too, honed in on "believe" and "receive" like Wycliffe (great minds think alike - LOL)! Actually, just the detail of what to do when is what is so helpful. "When ye pray" is when we do the believing. THEN - in prayer - believe you receive. The shall have is in the future.

BUT ALSO NOTICE: Wycliffe brings out what probably many "Word nerds" have discovered: The receiving mentioned here is a one-time fact. Once it is done, it is complete - sort of like when something happens now in the present tense, then you look back on it yesterday as past tense. But the believing mentioned is different. It is present tense, but it doesn't stop and go into past tense. It stays present tense.

I guess you could say it in two views: Believe that you receive when you pray (present) ... and continue to believe that you received when you prayed (past).

The New Testament and Wycliffe Bible Commentary. 1st ed. New York: The Iversen-Norman Associates, 1971.
The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Translated out of the original Greek and with former translations diligently compared and revised, Set forth in 1611 and commonly known as the King James Version.
Pfeiffer, Charles F., and Everett F. Harrison, eds. The Wycliffe Bible Commentary. 1st ed. Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1962.