Mat 21:22 And all things, whatever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.

Alternative version: And all that you might go as far as ask for in prayer with confidence, you can take.

This verse is about much more than getting gifts from God. It is about gaining understanding. The meaning is hidden because of the way the word lambanô, which is translated as "receive," when it actually means the opposite, that is, to take. Interestingly enough, it is more often translated as "receive" in the Gospels, which suggests a passive role on our parts in our relationship with God. In the original Greek, Christ seems to be saying something very differently.

First, the verse does NOT say that God gives us everything we ask for. Explaining this has been a problem for generations of preachers, but the meaning is much clearer in the Greek. In Greek, the "all" is tempered by the idea of what might possibly happen and by the depth of our faith in it happening. See below to see what is in the Greek that is actually omitted in English.

Christ is saying that God only gives us the opportunities. We must see and take advantage of those opportunities. The word translated as "take" means both to sieze something and to see something. In the later sense, we might say in English that it is your "take" on a situation or what you take away from a situation.

Christ is saying that our main limitation is our lack of faith. It is our ability to believe that allows us to see. We can see and take as far as our belief lets us.

The activity of prayer is designed both to deepen our belief and to open our eyes to what is possible. God gives us all the opportunities to have our dreams come true. It is only through prayer that we realize what those dreams should be and what our opportunities are. And it is only through prayer that we see how we might take advantage of those opportunities.


"Whatever" is from an, which is a particle that doesn't occur in English, but which indicates something that might occur under the proper fortuitous circumstances.

There is a Greek word that is untranslated after "whatever." It is hosos, which means "as great as," "as much as," and "how much."

"Ask" is from aiteô, which means "to ask," "to demand," "to beg," and "to ask for one's own use."

"Prayer" is from proseuchê, which means both a prayer made in a place of worship and the place of worship itself.

"Believing" is from pisteuô, which means "to trust in," "to rely one," and "to put your faith in" a person.

"Shall recieve" is from lambanô, which means "to take," "to seize," "to catch," "to apprehend with the senses," "to receive," "to accept," and "to conceive."