If one asks for success and prepares for failure, he will get the situation he has prepared for. For example: A man came to me asking me to speak the word that a certain debt would be wiped out.
I found he spent his time planning what he would say to the man when he did not pay his bill, thereby neutralizing my words. He should have seen himself paying the debt.
We have a wonderful illustration of this in the bible, relating to the three kings who were in the desert, without water for their men and horses. They consulted the prophet Elisha, who gave them this astonishing message:
“Thus saith the Lord—Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain, yet make this valley full of ditches.”
Man must prepare for the thing he has asked for, when there isn’t the slightest sign of it in sight.
It is needless to say that the ditches dug by the three kings in the desert were filled to over-flowing. (Read, II Kings.)