The Importance of FAITH in PRAYER

How many times do we pray for something with absolutely no expectation or confidence that it’s going to come to pass?

 

Maybe for you it’s rare, for me it’s relatively common. Usually it depends on the seriousness of the request and my mood.

 

I realize that the heart of prayer is communication and relationship with God (not a vending machine), but He also set prayer up as a way for us to ask Him for things. I’m talking about the ‘asking for things’ part of prayer, praying for specific outcomes, not relational communication with God. That’s another article.

 

When it comes to specifically asking God for things, sometimes I have a ton of faith and other times not so much. Sometimes I pray like I’m going to open my eyes and BAM!, its there. Other times I pray and don’t even bother opening my eyes until I’m already out of the room and I don’t bother looking back.

 

Faith.

 

I guess we better define our terms before we get too far into this. To me, FAITH means confidence. Confidence is being ‘more sure that it’s going to happen’. Notice that faith ISN’T FACT. Once it’s a fact, it’s no longer faith. There needs to still be a question whether or not it will indeed occur, for faith to be in effect. Extreme confidence means that you are going to operate as if it’s a sure thing, before it’s a sure thing. Therefore faith is operating as if it’s so before it’s actually…so.

 

We operate on faith every day. When we go through a busy intersection, our faith is in full effect. We are confident that all the other cars will stop on their red light, as we go flying through on our green. Is it possible that they won’t stop? Sure, but we have faith that they will. Why? Because they usually do. Most of the time, every day, we observe cars stopping at red lights and the intersection is working just fine. That consistent outcome increases our faith that it will happen the same next time.

 

But when I pray, a good amount of the time what I’m praying for doesn’t happen. I would say that from my perspective maybe 2 out of 10 of my prayer requests appear answered. How am I supposed to have faith/confidence in that statistical pattern?

 

Yet, James tells us,…

 

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” James 1:5-8

 

Dang. I guess that’s me, even though I think I have more faith in the Lord than the average bear. Maybe we are all in trouble here.

 

I’m so thankful that the Bible records failures as well as victories in the lives of the early saints. We aren’t the only ones who struggle with praying with faith and expecting an answer. Consider the following story (which reads like a comedy,…okay, a dark-comedy):

 

“About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. ² He killed James the brother of John with the sword, ³ and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also….⁴ And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. ⁵ So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. ⁶ Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping…And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands…And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision…and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. ¹¹ When Peter came to himself, …he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. ¹³ And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. ¹⁵ They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” ¹⁶ But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. ¹⁷ But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.” Ac 12:1–17

 

What was the group of disciples doing? Praying. Praying for what? Peter’s release. What happened? Peter was released. When he showed up, what happened? They didn’t believe it (even after evidence to the contrary).

 

Thank goodness I’m not the only Christian-yahoo on this planet.

 

Faith is NOT hope. Hope is more like a wish. Hope is, ‘wow, it would be really great if things continue to go like this and it all turns out.’  Or, ‘I sure hope that when I die, I die peacefully in his sleep like my grandfather, not screaming like the rest of the passengers in his car.’ Hope means: 1.) you not only don’t have control over the outcome, but 2.) you don’t really have enough evidence to be fully confident in it yet either. Hope shifts into confidence with evidence-faith. There needs to be a reason why you have faith in something. Faith is hope that you can confidently trust in (Heb 11:1).

 

Let me say it again, FAITH is CONFIDENCE.

 

Confidence in what? In whatever.

 

When you sit on a chair you have faith that it will hold you up. When you jump in the water at a full dive, you have faith that it’s not going to turn into a solid. When you fall back into the hands of your teammates in a team-bonding retreat, you have faith they won’t drop you. Faith is faith, whether it’s in a system, a thing or a person.

 

So, when it comes to prayer, what are we supposed to have faith in?

 

A System? – Is it a system that if we do it right, it will always work out to our advantage?

 

A Thing? – a force that we can manipulate with our mind if we focus hard enough?

 

A Person? – who has demonstrated that they are trustworthy?

 

Yes…kind of…

 

It’s my personal opinion that prayer is both about a Person and a System set up by that Person. I’m not a big fan of viewing prayer as manipulation of a thing with our mind (no offense to Yoda). Prayer is both relational and systematic. I believe that God is in charge of what happens in this universe; therefore ultimately He’s in charge of anything to do with prayer. At the same time I believe that just as God put into motion a system like gravity that operates consistently, so too do I believe that He gave His children power and authority to operate in His Name, which is a type of ‘system’ that we are supposed to utilize wisely. I don’t have time nor space to give you my super-matrix on how I think that prayer works, so I’m going to finish up focusing only on the issue of faith.

 

Let me highlight a biblical example of faith:

• “When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, ⁶ “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” ⁷ And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸ But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” ¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.” Mt 8:5–10

 

What happened here? There was a serious need and a man asked Jesus to help (praying in person). Jesus said that He would go and perform the healing, but before He could go, the man said, ‘you don’t even need to come to my house. I believe that you are powerful enough to just say a word and it will happen. I think that your authority works like mine. I tell my men what to do and they do it. You tell the world what to do and it does it. I’m confident that You can heal right here, right now.’

 

He didn’t know for sure that Jesus could do that, but he really thought He could. He was almost sure that He could. Jesus may not have. That was another option on the table. This guy knew that there were plenty of reasons why the answer could have been no, but from what he saw and knew, it was highly likely that Jesus could and would do the very thing that he was asking him for.

 

Jesus was blown away. This guy’s confidence level was off the charts.

 

Obviously he knew enough about Jesus’ nature that he could have that type of confidence, but I doubt that he had seen multiple miracles (Romans had less access to Jesus, than Jews). Yet, there was something about Jesus that instilled powerful faith in this man. There was something believable, trustworthy, awe-inspiring. What does being around Jesus inspire in you?

 

Why should we have faith in God? – The Bible seems to say, ‘you need to have faith in God. He demands it, expects it, has earned it. He’s trustworthy’, it says. ‘You can lean on Him, go to Him, cry out to Him’. Why?

• Because He Consistently Takes Care of Us - “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Mt 6:25–33
• Because He Consistently Protects Us - “And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. ²⁴ And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. ²⁵ And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” ²⁶ And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” Mt 8:23–26
• Because He’s Consistently There For Us - “And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” ³¹ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³² And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³ And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” Mt 14:28–33
• Because He’s Done it Before and Can Do It Again - “When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. ⁶ Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ⁷ And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” ⁸ But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? ⁹ Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? ¹⁰ Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? ¹¹ How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹² Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Mt 16:5–12

 

God is good. We need to begin there. God is our Father; that’s critical to remember. God is All-Powerful. This means that we have access to (the eye, the ear, the heart of) The God of the Universe who loves us and wants the best for us. It means that He’s able to do anything He wants to do for us. It means that He listens to our requests and He determines the best outcome for His children. He knows what’s good and bad for us and the timing that makes it so. He is not our Butler. He is not an aspirin. He is not a vending machine. He is our Father, a good, smart, caring Father. So we can trust in His character and His outcomes.

 

Why should we have faith in His “System”? – But there’s also a system that He put into place by which His children are to manage/steward the world around them. God’s people (the local church) is His extension into this world to make it ‘here on earth as it is in heaven.’ Just as God gave dominion to Adam and Eve (who gave it away to Satan, but Jesus got it back on the cross) to manage the Garden and bend it to the will of God, so too are we here to bend this world to the will of God. He gives us power to do so through His anointing as we operate in the authority of His Name.

 

Notice the attitude and method of each of the following stories. There is no request to the Father, but only action. There is a confidence that the power has been already bestowed to the people by God, before the event, so that they would be the ones to steward it’s usage.

 

• “As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹ And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” ²² And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. ²³ Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mk 11:20–24
• “Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. ² And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. ³ Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. ⁴ And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” ⁵ And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶ But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” ⁷ And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. ⁸ And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. ⁹ And all the people saw him walking and praising God, ¹⁰ and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. ¹¹ While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. ¹² And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? ¹³ The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. ¹⁴ But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵ and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. ¹⁶ And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.” Ac 3:1–16

 

Of course all the power for miracles and healing comes from God. There is no other power on earth that can do that (although Satan and his team have access to some of God’s stuff too). No one is pretending that it was simply inherent in mankind to do something like that. It’s always attached to God.

 

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing…⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples…¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” John 15:4-5, 7-8, 16

 

Just because we know that the ultimate power is in the Lord doesn’t mean there isn’t responsibility to use what we’ve been given. He’s given us lots of stuff that we still need to exercise to make it useful. God gave us love but we must be loving. God gave us children but we still need to care of them. You and I would never be able to problem solve if God didn’t give us a high-level brain. Instead of waiting for God to use our brain, it’s wise and proper to make good use of it since He already gave it to us with a purpose to be used.

 

God gave us prayer, power and authority. It’s time we use them wisely (Jn 15:14-17).

 

What types of prayers should we have faith for? – I keep digging myself a hole that demands I get broader and broader into the whole sphere of prayer, and I don’t want to do that. But I think that it’s helpful to ask this one last general question. What types of prayer should we be confident about? There are some prayers that God tends to answer more than others. So what are they? How do we ‘up’ our percentage of effectiveness in our prayers or the exercise of our power and authority in Jesus’ name?

 

• Children of God - Children of God have more contact and more intimacy with God who provides all things, so there’s a huge difference in the percentage of prayers answered of believers versus unbelievers. It’s a relationship thing. (Jn 15:5, 10)
• Humility - We know that selfish prayers are going to be rarely answered (Jn 15:12-13, 17). The prayers of the humble get heard (Lk 18:9-14)
• Intimacy - Prayer that comes from a close, personal relationship to the Father rather than ones who seek to manipulate God as a show, tends to be answered more often (Mt 6:5-8; Lk 5:16).
• Passionate - Prayers that come from the heart with intensity and meaning tend to receive more rapid response (Mt 9:37-38).
• His Will - Prayer that submits to the ultimate will of the Lord (for outcome) is the type of heart prayer that the Father leans into (Mt 26:36-42; Acts 1:24-26).
• Unselfish - Prayers that come from forgiving, loving and unselfish hearts are heard more readily (Mk 11:25)
• Confidence - Confident prayers that focus more on the power of God than the size of the problem are effective, as well as those who breakthrough by passion (Mk 11:22-24; Lk 6:12; 18:1-8).
• In the Spirit - Prayers in the in the Spirit are like a direct route to heaven (Eph 6:18-20; Jude 20).
• Spiritual Discipline - Sometimes God wants to move through anointing with oil or fasting (James 5:13-15)
• God’s Ideas - And of course, prayers that were completely God’s idea in the first place are 100% (Acts 8:14-19; 9:10-12)

 

Simply Put - Prayers that begin at the right place, with the right intent, with the right alignment are pleasing in His sight (Lk 11:2-4; Mt 6:9-13). Here’s a simple process to refocus alignment, based on the Lord’s Prayer:

• Begin with who He is & what He can do (Father);
• Worship (Hallowed be Your Name);
• Aligned in humility (Your will; not mine);
• Requesting with an honest heart (Daily bread);
• A forgiving spirit (Forgive us as we forgive others);
• seeking His direction and plans (lead us not…)
• and leaning on His power (deliver us from evil),
• wrapped in praise and thanksgiving and worship (thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever and ever, Amen – cf. Acts 16:25),
• and sprinkled with faith,

 

Such prayers tend to get answered every time. Read Acts 4:23-31 to see how it looks in practice.

 

What’s the Bottom Line?

We need to align our hearts with His, pray for an increase in our faith, but continue to use the faith that we do have, realizing that just a little confidence, to go to the Master of the Universe knowing that He’s a good Father and great King, goes a long way. I wonder whether instead of lamenting our lack of faith, we should focus on growing it and in the meantime use the faith we have.

 

Oh, and the Holy Spirit fixes a bunch of the messed up parts along the way (Romans 8:26), thank goodness.