In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 9, a woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind Jesus and touched the tassel on his cloak. She said to herself, "If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured." For her faith, Jesus cured her. Let's see how we can have our prayers answered. First of all, the woman really wanted to be healed by Jesus. Next, she firmly believed that Jesus could cure her. So we have a combination of desiring something strongly and believing that God can accomplish it for you. It would be nice to have God do everything we want him to do, but most of the time the strong desire is not there. For example, I accidentally cut my finger a little bit, and I could ask the Lord to heal me instantly. But as I am aware that the finger will heal itself in a few days, I just lack the strong desire to be healed instantly. It's a different case over two decades ago, when my oldest son was attacked by a virus and lay practically dying in emergency care, I went to him, made the cross on his forehead with my thumb and at the same time saying without hesitation (like giving a command), "Be healed in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." He got well enough on the 4th day to be sent home. I met the requirement of having a strong desire plus faith. I see that it was the Holy Spirit who prompted me to pray boldly. The same goes for wanting to be holy: we need to have the desire and believe, and let the Holy Spirit guide us.
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