As we studied this morning, the Prayer of Faith is different. It's not asking God to do whatever it is that I think might be a good idea; it's asking him to fulfill his promises. If God has promised that my life has been made new in Christ (Rom. 6:4), then I can pray in faith that he will help me live this new life. That is a prayer that God has promised to answer.
Praying the scriptures is one of the best ways I have found to pray the promises of God. I particularly enjoy praying the prayers of the New Testament epistles. Each week I send a form letter to those who visit our Sunday service. I have five different letters I send depending upon how many times someone has visited. In each letter I include a prayer from the New Testament and I pray that prayer before signing each letter. I pray those prayers in faith believing that God will do exactly what I ask, because I am praying based on his promises. An example would be from the book of Philippians, "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God" (1:9-11). I am confident that God will answer these prayers if the person is willing to receive God's help.
Develop the habit of asking God to do what he has promised to do and then watch as he answers your prayers. This can be a most enjoyable part of one's faith journey. Believe God's promises. Pray God's promises. Then, watch as God keeps his promises.
1 comment:
I’m sorry I missed this sermon Byron, because you know how much I love discussions of prayer!
Thanks be to our Abba Father for sending mentors like you into my life and life of other Christ-like seekers. If you were not as passionate about prayer my heart would also not be as passionate. Thank Byron, a thousand times, thank you! You have guided me deeper and deeper into this relationship I have with Christ.
I agree with your statement about, “making prayer work.” Formulas and methods seldom succeed. Prayer for me has been a complete expression of the heart. Love is the defining character of God and the developing character of a Christian. Thus prayer becomes the most beautiful and jubilant expression of love.
I pray that we all continue to journey deeper into a habit of prayer. Either through scripture, journaling, contemplation, meditation, or the most frequent, the out pouring of the heart- our sorrow, pain, despair, and also happiness and joy and pure love. Author Brennan Manning calls this type of “letting go” as a “Ruthless Trust!”
Let us all be ruthless in our faith!
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