“He says to me, “Put away doubting from you and do not hesitate to ask of YAHWEH, saying to yourself, ‘How can I ask of YAHWEH and receive from Him, seeing I have transgressed so much against Him?’ Do not thus reason with yourself, but with all your heart turn to YAHWEH and ask of Him without doubting, and you will know the multitude of His tender mercies; that He will never leave you, but fulfill the request of your soul…”
Firstly, you must be obedient to the commandments of the Torah for your prayer to even be heard. These transgressions spoken of are those done out of ignorance which the malach of repentance will mention later, not willful transgressions.
Proverbs 28:9
“He who closes his ears from hearing the Torah, even his PRAYER IS AN ABOMINATION.”
Mathew 21:21-22
“YESHUA answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, that if you have FAITH and no DOUBT, not only this miracle of the fig tree will you do but even if you say to this mountain, “Be removed and fall into the sea!’ it will happen. And everything you ask for in prayer and believe, you will receive.”
Mark 11:22-24
“And Simon remembered and said to Him, “Behold Rabbi, that fig tree which you cursed has dried up!” And YESHUA answered and said to them, “Let the faith of ELOHIIM be in you. For truly I say to you that he who says to this mountain. ‘Be lifted up and fall into the sea’ and does not come divided (indecisive or doubtful) in his heart but believes, that will happen. That thing which he said he will have. Because of this I say to you that everything that you pray for and ask for you believe that you will receive it, and it will be to you!”
Hebrews 11:6
“But, without faith, a man cannot please ELOHIM. For he that draws near to ELOHIM must believe His existence and that He will recompense those who seek Him.”
Shepherd of Hermas continued: “For He (YAHWEH) is not like men, who remember evils done against them; but He Himself remembers not evils, and has compassion on His own creature.”
1 Chronicles 21:9-19 (When David conducted the census)
“And David arose early in the morning, and the word of YAHWEH came to Gad, the prophet, saying, “Go and tell David, saying, “Thus says YAHWEH: I offer you three disasters; choose one of them, that I may do it to you.” So Gad the prophet came to David and said to him, “Thus says YAHWEH: choose for yourself either three years of famine in the land or three months to be defeated before your enemies while they shall pursue you and rule over you or else three days the sword of YAHWEH in Yisra’el. Now therefore advise what answer you will give to Him who sent me to you.” And David said to Gad, I am in a great distress; LET ME BE DELIVERED INTO THE HANDS OF YAHWEH; FOR HIS MERCIES ARE VERY GREAT; BUT LET ME NOT BE DELIVERED INTO THE HANDS OF MEN.” So YAHWEH sent pestilence upon Yisra’el; and there fell of Yisra’el seventy thousand men. And YAHWEH sent an malach (angel) to Jerusalem to destroy it; and as he was destroying it, YAHWEH saw and considered it and AVERTED THE DISASTER, and said to the malach that destroyed, “you have destroyed a great many, stay now your hand. And the malach of YAHWEH stood by the threshing floor of Onan the Jebusite.”
This matches what the malach of repentance said about YAHWEH having compassion on His own creature and David knew this, which is why he said “Let me fall into the hands of YAHWEH for His mercies are very great; but let me not be delivered into the hands of men.” And even after David’s selection, YAHWEH turned back His anger.
YAHWEH not remembering evils:
Jeremiah 31:34
“And they shall teach no more every man his brother and every man his neighbor, saying, “Know YAHWEH”; for they shall all know Me, from the youngest of them to the eldest of them, says YAHWEH; for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their transgressions NO MORE.”
Hebrews 8:11-12
“And one will not teach his son of the city nor his brother, nor say: You shall know your Master YAHWEH: because they will all know Me, from the youngest of them to the oldest. And I will forgive them their iniquity; and their transgressions will I remember NO MORE.”
Shepherd of Hermas continued: “Cleanse, therefore, your heart from all the vanities of this world, and from the words already mentioned, and ask of YAHWEH and you will receive all, and in none of your requests will you be denied which you make to YAHWEH without doubting.”
James 4:4 (Hebrew)
“O adulterer and adulteress, do you not now that whosoever loves this WORLD, he hates YAHWEH? So, whosoever wants to be a lover of THIS WORLD, he himself will be a hater of YAHWEH.”
1 John 2:15-17
“Love not the world nor anything in it; for whoever loves the world has not the love of the Father in him. For all that is in the world is the lust of the body and the lust of the eyes and the pride of the world, which are not from the Father but from the world itself. And the world is passing away, both it and the lust thereof; but he that does the pleasure of ELOHIM abides for ever.”
Shepherd of Hermas continued: “But if you doubt in your heart, you will receive none of your requests. For those who doubt regarding ELOHIM are double-souled, and obtain not one of their requests.”
James 1:6-8
“But if there is one among you who lacks wisdom, he must pray for it of YAHWEH, who gives to every man, and He Himself will also give it to him. But he must pray in faith, and not in DOUBTING; for whosever is doubtful, he is like a pair of balances on the sea. And this man must not think that he will receive anything from The Master. And he who is doubtful is without understanding in all his ways.”
In context James is speaking of wisdom here, but the same concept can be applied to anything you pray for that aligns with YAHWEH’s will for your life. If you doubt you will not receive it, just as YESHUA said.
Shepherd of Hermas continued: “But those who are perfect in faith ask everything, trusting in YAHWEH; and they obtain, because they ask nothing doubting, and not being double-souled. For every double-souled man, even if he repent, will with difficulty be saved. (Remember James 1:8 says that one who is doubtful is without understanding in all his ways) Cleanse your heart, therefore, from all doubt, and put on faith, because it is strong, and trust ELOHIM that you will obtain from Him all that you ask. And if at any time, after you have asked of YAHWEH, you are slower in obtaining your request [than you expected], do not doubt because you have not soon obtained the request of your soul; for invariably (in every case) it is on account of some temptation or some transgression of which you are IGNORANT that you are slower in obtaining your request.”
James 1:13-17
“But let no one say-when a temptation comes on him-“This comes from YAHWEH,” for YAHWEH does not tempt man with evil, and He is not tempted by anyone. Only, everyone is tempted when his desire overcomes him. And afterwards, if he accepts the desire it causes the transgression; but the transgression-when it is completed-causes the death. Do not go astray beloved brothers. Every good gift comes from above, from the light of the Father, and with Him there is no change, nor alteration of light and darkness.”
2 Baruch 54:19
“And Adam is therefore not the cause, except only for himself, but each of us has become our own Adam.”
In other words, we have nobody to blame for our actions except ourselves, each one of us has the ability to choose the blessing or the curse. So, if you don’t receive what you prayed for on account of a temptation that caused you to transgress then you cannot blame ELOHIM for that. As the malach of repentance says, still don’t doubt it just means the prayer has been delayed because of this, or if you did something unknowingly and some examples are in the Torah:
Leviticus 4:1-2, verse 13-14
“And YAHWEH spoke unto Moses, saying, speak to the children of Yisra’el, saying, “if a person shall transgress through IGNORANCE against any of the commandments of YAHWEH concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do any of them…” Verses 13-15 “And if the whole congregation of Yisra’el go wrong, and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly (unknowingly), and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of YAHWEH concerning things which should not be done and are guilty; when the transgression which they have committed against it is known, then the whole congregation shall offer a young bullock for the transgression and bring it before the tabernacle of the congregation.”
Leviticus 5:17-18
“And if any person transgresses and commits any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of YAHWEH; though HE DOES NOT KNOW THAT HE HAS TRANSGRESSED, YET HE IS GUILTY AND SHALL SUFFER FOR HIS INIQUITY. And he shall bring to the priest a ram of value without blemish out of the flocks for a trespass offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him for his IGNORANCE in erring, even though he KNEW IT NOT, and it shall be forgiven him.”
So, if you have done something that you are unaware of then its time to examine yourself to see why you have not obtained what you asked for, as YAHWEH is never to blame.
Shepherd of Hermas continued: “Wherefore do not cease to make the request of your soul, and you will obtain it. But if you grow weary and waver in your request, BLAME YOURSELF, and not Him who does not give to you. Consider this doubting state of mind, for it is wicked and senseless, and turns many away entirely from the faith, even though they be very strong.”
This happens when people believe they have strong faith, and they pray for something and they do not get it when they think they should received it. Then they begin to doubt whether ELOHIM exists or if He hears them, which causes them to fall away from the faith and blame ELOHIM as if He has forsaken them, when He is the One who has been carrying them the entire time. Don’t doubt, don’t waver, don’t give up, and don’t put a time limit on when you expect to receive something just focus on your faith.
Shepherd of Hermas continued: “For this doubting is the daughter of the devil, and acts exceedingly wickedly to the servants of ELOHIM. Despise, then, doubting, and gain the mastery over it in everything; clothing yourself with faith, which is strong and powerful. For faith promises all things, perfects all things; but doubt having no thorough faith in itself, fails in every work which it undertakes. You see, then,” says he, “that, faith is from above — from YAHWEH — and has great power; but doubt is an earthly spirit, coming from the devil, and has no power. Serve, then, that which has power, namely faith, and keep away from doubt, which has no power, and you will live to ELOHIM. And all will live to ELOHIM whose minds have been set on these things.”
Habakkuk 2:4
“For His soul does not delight in iniquity, but the righteous man shall live by faith.”
Mathew 8:5-10
“And when YESHUA entered Capernaum, a certain centurion approached Him and was beseeching Him, and he said, “My Master, my boy is lying at home and is paralyzed and seriously in pain.” YESHUA said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion answered and said, “My Master, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my boy will be healed. For I am also a man that is under authority, and there are under my hand soldiers, and I say to this one ‘go’ and he goes, and to the other ‘come’ and he comes, and to my servant to do this, and he does it.” And when YESHUA heard this, He was amazed and said to those that had come with Him; “I say truly to you that not even in Yisra’el have I found faith like this.”
When we come to ELOHIM in prayer let us remember to have this kind of faith, so that the things that we ask for that are in line with YAHWEH’s will for our lives will be obtained. HalleluYAHWEH!
As always may our Father YAHWEH bless you in YESHUA’s Name!