Mark 11:20-24, 22 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
The message in these few verses is the message of faith, that is “have faith in God”. Jesus in the next verse explains how faith works, that is if you have faith, you can tell this mountain to be moved and cast into the sea and it would happen, but is it automatic? You can have faith but if God does not want the mountain in the sea, your faith will not move it or make God move it. Then the question is raised, is vs 24 then a blank check to ask for anything? The answer is yes and no. If we are in Christ, we should be driven to have the mind of Christ, be imitators of Christ, be conformed to the image of Christ.
John 15:7-8 helped me understand Mark 11:24. Look at the starting point John 15:7-8 “if you abide in me and my words abide in you…“, the end result, “bearing fruit for the Father’s glory”. If we abide in Him, our will, our desires, our drives are conformed to His. And what He desires for us becomes our desires. His desire is that we bear fruit. If we ask for things in this blank check that will make us grow and bear fruit, more fruit and much fruit, He will do it, why, because “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; …”. The rest of our desires are filtered in the light of our abiding and bearing.