YOUR FAITH AND YOUR PRAYER - PART 1

MONDAY 25 OCTOBER 2021

Some Christians don't believe when they pray because they don't think anything has happened, probably because they assume that no change has taken place immediately but with God, something is always happening. When it comes to prayer, we must make up our minds that the only option we have is to receive what is already given or made available in Christ and this happens as we pray. Now its either that God will answer according to your expectations or His Spirit groans to condition your spirit to bring your prayer into harmony with His will.

Reference: James 1:6-7 New King James Version (NKJV) "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord."

When you hear any Christian complain, 'But I prayed and I didn't get result', such statement expresses doubt, meaning that they never had faith in their prayer. The Bible says in Mark 11: 23-24 (NLT), "I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, 'May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours."

Considering the above Scriptures, the one who prayed and later complained that he didn't get any result, doubted in his heart after prayer. Once you pray, the first step is to believe that you received what you asked for in prayer, even before the result shows up in your life. When you do so, you must act according to your belief. By this, I mean, start giving thanks for what you've received until it shows up in the seen realm. If you walk by sight, and are waiting to see the results first before you believe that your prayer has been answered, then you are demonstrating a "wavering" faith, and you can miss your answer because God is a Spirit, and so, without faith, its impossible to please Him with your attitude concerning your prayer (see Hebrews 11:6 NKJV).

You can possibly see the instant manifestation of the answer to your prayers. However when it doesn't manifest instantly, what you do with the time between your prayer and the manifestation of the answer in the natural realm is important because it may seem like a waiting period. This means that your attitude, confession and actions can make the difference. If you truly believe that God answered your prayer, then be hawk-eyed about what comes out of your mouth. Maintain a positive confession regarding what you prayed for, give thanks in advance for answered prayer, and be expectant, acting in line with visualised answer, which you already received by faith.

Remember this: Sometimes, a waiting period could appear as dry condition because the answer is yet to manifest in the natural, but this is when you must be positive about the answer you received. The answer can be likened to growing seed or crop, which means water is extremely vital for germination of seeds under dry conditions. Since water is needed, irrigation must be observed, and our irrigation in the context of this topic will mean "positive confession and attitude".

By maintaining such confession, something is happening although you can't see them. Therefore, don't make any mistake of thinking that because you haven't seen the tangible evidence of the answer immediately, that nothing happened. Effectual prayer is a precious seed awaiting harvests of answer, but many a time, instead of allowing our prayer to germinate by refusing to doubt, we abruptly truncate the process of germination with negative words and unbelief and then, we end up wondering why we didn't get our desired results.

To the one who doubts after prayer, from today, change your words, attitude and response toward prayer because the Bible says that you must ask in faith, without doubting, knowing that he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind and that man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Stay tuned for part 2. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - John 16:24; Philippians 4:6-7; 1 Peter 3:12; 1 John 5:14-15.

Guided Prayer: Thank you Father for the truth with regard to asking and receiving in faith all the blessings you've made available in Christ. By continual enlightenment from your Word and finding grace to help in time of prayer, I thankfully receive the answers to my requests and always abound in the blessings by faith in Jesus' Name, Amen!