What Is “Therefore” There For in Mark 11:24?

Mark 11:23-24:
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

These two verses appear to deal with unrelated concepts – the first talks about speaking to something without praying, and the second talks about receiving something in prayer without speaking to anything.  So why is the word therefore at the beginning of verse 24?

The connection is that both verses talk about speaking and believing.  In the first case, you speak to something, believing that a certain result will occur.  In the second, you speak by praying, believing that a certain result will occur.  (Heaven does not honor “unspoken prayer requests” – if you’re not saying anything, you’re not praying anything!)  In both cases, you believe that your words will come to pass.  You can believe that what you say will happen when you say, “Sickness, get out of my body in the name of Jesus,” and you can believe what you say will happen when you say, “I receive healing for this sickness right now in the name of Jesus.”   In both cases, you SAY something based on what you believe.

In verse 23, Jesus didn’t say that you have what you believe; He said that you have what you believe and say.  In verse 24, you also believe that you receive by saying something – it’s when you PRAY, which involves speech.  Jesus didn’t just say, “believe you receive;” He said, “believe you receive when you PRAY.”  So the two verses are connected by this common theme of believing and speaking.