Praying In Faith

I pray your life is a true testimony of faith in our Father's tender care. When we pray we should always speak of hope and be confident of God's answer! He always answers our prayers... it may not be the answer we want, or His answer may not come when we think it should, but our Father cares for us and will NEVER leave us nor FORSAKE us!

Hebrews 13:5 "...I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

Philippians 4:6 "In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication (petition) with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."

Sometimes the needs are so great and I feel so insignificant... but our God is the One who loves to answer prayer. He hears our "heart" and knows the needs of each person. If the very hairs on our head are numbered, and if an unimportant bird like the sparrow can not fall without His knowledge, how much more does He care for us and our small prayers!


Luke 12: 6-7 "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows."

Psa 4:3 "But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him."

Proverbs 15:8 " ...the prayer of the upright is His delight."

James 5:15 "...and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick..."

All prayer offered in faith should be with an unwavering confidence in God, a belief that He will do what is best for the person we're praying for, and we can commit our petition into His hands (We express our earnest wish, and then leave the case with him). The prayer of faith for healing should always be with a thought for it to be the will of God. That is, if God shall deem it best for that person's life and santification. It cannot be taken in the absolute and unconditional sense, for then, if this were true, the sick person would always recover, no matter how often he might be sick ...and he need never die.

There is a vast difference between salvation and santification. Our salvation is secure in Christ Jesus and what He did for us. Our Santification is our walk with God after we are saved. God always uses everything and every situation in our life to make us into the Christian He wants us to be in eternity. What we deem best for us is in the here and now (earthly). What God deems best for us is always for our eternal future (heavenly).

"If it be most for thy glory, and the eternal good of this man’s soul, let him be restored; if otherwise, Lord, pardon, purify him, and take him to thy glory." ~ Adam Clarke (1760–1832)

You may ask about what Jesus said in Matthew 21:22 "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."

This promise was a special one, given to the apostles ONLY in regard to working miracles. To them it was true, but it is manifest that we have no right to apply this promise to ourselves. It was desired especially for the apostles; nor have we a right to turn it from its original meaning. There are other promises in, abundance on which we "may" rely in prayer, with confident assurance that our prayers will be heard.

First of all we must pray in God's Will... when we pray apart from God's will we can not be assured our prayers will be answered.

1 John 5:14-15 "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to HIS WILL, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."

"This is the proper and the necessary limitation in all prayer. God has not promised to grant anything that shall be contrary to his will, and it could not be right that he should do it. We ought not to wish to receive anything that should be contrary to what he judges to be best. No man could hope for good who should esteem his own wishes to be a better guide than the will of God; and it is one of the most desirable of all arrangements that the promise of any blessing to be obtained by prayer should be limited and bounded by the will of God.

The expression, "according to his will," must limit the promise to what will be for the good of the whole. God presides over the universe: and though in him there is an infinite fulness, and he regards the wants of every individual throughout his immense empire, yet the interests of the whole, as well as of the individual, are to be consulted and regarded. In a family, it is conceivable that a child might ask for some favor whose bestowment would interfere materially with the rights of others, or be inconsistent with the good of the whole, and in such a case a just father would of course withhold it. With these necessary limitations the range of the promise in prayer is ample; and, with these limitations, it is true beyond a question that he does hear and answer prayer." ~Albert Barnes (1798–1870)

The main emphasis in 1John 14 and 15 is on God's will, not our own. When we communicate with God, we don't demand what we want; rather we discuss with Him what He wants for us. If we align our prayers to His Will, He will listen; and we can be certain He will give us a definite answer.

When we pray for His will to be made known in our lives, He will tell us. As Psalm 143:10 says, "Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground." Therefore, start praying with confidence!

Listen to these glorious words from 2 Timothy 4 which Paul wrote from prison right at the end of his life: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; and in the future there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” A special crown, a crown of righteousness will be given to every person who lives his life loving the appearing of the Lord। Will you receive that crown? Are you living your life yearning for the return of the Lord?

My friends, Jesus is coming soon, and I cry from the depths of my heart, “Maranatha!” Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

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"The Lord bless thee, and, keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace " ~ Numbers 6:24-26.

In His tender care always,
Dot

Acknowledgements

* A lot of my studies are done using my Life Application Study Bible (KJV) by Tyndale House Publishers and I heavily rely on the explanatory notes for each verse I use because I can not explain them better.

* I often rely on my New American Standard Bible by Thomas Nelson Publishers for double checking the meaning of the verses I used in the King James Version. Not that I think the NAS Bible is better than the KJV Bible, but it gives me more insight into some of the KJV Bible verses.

* Most of my studies are done using the E-Sword program from this site: http://www.e-sword.net/ I downloaded all their commentaries and bought others. The maps and teachers aids are so valuable that I can now do a study in half the time I took before. All the quotes from commentaries by great Theologians came from the E-Sword program.