Hopefully everyone had a chance to sing praises to the Lord expecting the Glory cloud to show up. This week we’re going to talk about faith and how to pray. If you missed last week’s post on praying as the temple, head over there and check it out!
Really quick from last week’s post. Not really the same, but same point! Always expect the Glory to show up. We have a better covenant, and if they could expect the Glory to show up and the Lord to speak, so much more can we!
Moses Meets with the Lord Exodus 33:7-11 NKJV
7Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. 8So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. 9And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. 10All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door. 11So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.
You won’t depart from the tabernacle easily either! Once you expect better than the old covenant, you’ll start to experience these things in your own prayer life. You might say, “Oh, but Christi, that’s Moses!! MOSES!” But Romans 2:11 says,
For there is no respect of persons with God.
That means if He did it for Moses, He will do it for you. The only reason that wasn’t available to everyone in the Old Testament is because the Holy Spirit, anointing, and ministry only fell on certain people. Now, because our spirits have been regenerated (born again), we’re reconciled to God (reversed Adam’s sin), and we’re all anointed (Holy Spirit firepower) for some type of ministry (stuff to do for God).
Let’s jump into this week post! Once you offered the sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 13:15-16), and the Glory is filling the room, invite the Holy Spirit to pray with you, to lead you, and guide you. Romans 8:26-27 tells us that He knows how to pray.
Before we get to forming our prayers, we’re going to take a look at what the Bible has to say concerning faith in Hebrews 11:6,
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
This scripture should be part of your foundation in how to approach God. If you don’t believe that God will reward a diligent seeker that is filled with faith, your prayers may not be answered. Think of it this way. Can you imagine telling your children, “I want to buy you Christmas gifts, because you spend time with me, seek my wisdom, think about me, and you trust me.” Your children reply, “I’ll ask but I ain’t getting nothing anyway. You never do anything for me.” How are you going to feel? God wants to bless us, and sometimes people look at Him and give him a good dose of emotional abuse. Often times people could miss receiving their answer, because they are unsure if “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” They don’t believe they’re worthy, it’s for someone else. We have to train ourselves with childlike faith to take the Lord at His word. We cannot quote this scripture to ourselves enough!
I know some people get upset at faith scriptures, but… we’re just going to look at the Word and take the Word as truth without theology, doctrine, commentary, this man’s opinion, and that man’s theatrics…personal philosophies … happy tingles, and whatever!
The author of Hebrews is telling us that to please God we must have faith. In what? That God is, or in our modern vernacular, “He’s real,” and we will receive the reward, the reward of what we’re asking! What a good God we serve! Let’s take a quick look at some kinds of faith we see in the Bible:
Faith
Made perfect faith – James 2:22
Most Holy faith – Jude 1:20
Great faith – Matthew 8:10
Strong faith – Romans 4:20
Rich faith – James 2:5
Full of faith – Acts 6:5
Sincere faith – 1 Timothy 1:5
Precious faith – 2 Peter 1:1
Weak faith – Romans 4:19
Shipwrecked faith – 1 Timothy 1:19
Faith is mentioned 304 times in the New Testament NKJV. It’s VERY important when it comes to prayer. We should never breeze over the matter of faith or take it lightly. Sometimes we can feel like we’re spinning our wheels and getting nowhere because of the condition of our faith.
A lot of people have been taught, if you’re not getting an answer to your prayer, keep asking. That leaves people with the impression that begging God might make Him change His mind. Not only are we not beggars, because of Jesus, but the Bible says His answers to the promises are “yes and amen!” Let’s look at that scripture:
2 Corinthians 1:20 NKJV
For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.
If your prayer has to do with a promise, He already told you the answer to your prayer almost 2,000 years before you asked. He promised you a yes and an amen (so be it) about His promises. That’s a double promise from the Almighty! That should stir up everyone’s faith and get everyone excited!
If you haven’t received an answer to your prayers, ask yourself an honest question, “Do I really believe God will reward me?” Maybe you need to relay the foundation that God is for you and wants to bless you in your life. Just making that adjustment, could mean receiving answered prayers. The Bible tells us to have faith like a child.You say ice cream if you’re good today, they expect ice cream if they were good or not! Right? You tell them there’s a surprise if they clean their room. They’ll throwing everything around in drawers, closets, or under the bed, and you better have that surprise ready! They’re great expecters and don’t consider their performance. If we could only go to God with the precious faith of a child, expecting the best rewards right now, without focusing on our performance, we would see miracles unhindered.
Why do we struggle? Bad teaching, considering everyone’s experience, doubts, and fear. Ask yourself this question, when you prayed for something that you didn’t receive from the Lord, how convinced were you that He would preform His promise? Think about it, what precent of surprised would you be? Two young Christians were having a conversation about visions in the Bible. The young lady insisted she would pee herself, if she had ever seen a vision or an angel. Both her and the young man continued the discussion and concluded they would violently shake and die of a heart attack if they had seen anything. They were convinced the extreme fear would kill them. While that’s a true and silly example, guess what those two aren’t getting! Anything miraculous! They’re afraid of God being too real.
Another Christian lady, that was not young, requested prayer for her leg and then said, “If God heals me, I’ll die of a heart attack! I’ll fall right off this chair and die.” Why? Shipwrecked faith. She actively expected absolutely nothing! It was sad, but slightly amusing watching the group of women surrounding her, looking at each other, and wondering if they should actually pray and possibly kill her. Finally one woman stepped up and prayed over the lady’s faith before praying over her leg. You could almost feel the tension in the room release.
It’s time we reconvince ourselves that God wants to reward our faith.
Let’s look at what the Bible says:
Romans 4:20-21 NKJV Talking about Abraham, Paul says,
20He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.
I always check myself before prayer and ask, “What can you believe for?” There are times I need my faith strengthened before I ask, and there are times I am full of faith and just ask. According to Abraham there were 4 things that he did to receive the promise, and I think it’s good if we check in ourselves to see if we are doing the same thing.
- Did not waver.
- Strengthened his faith.
- Giving glory to God.
- Fully convinced God was able to perform His promise.
“How can we strengthen in faith?” Is usually the big question!
Romans 10:17 NKJV
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The Greek puts it this way, “faith is from hearing.” You need a little faith, hear a little. You need a lot of faith, hear a lot! Note that silent reading isn’t hearing. Some people’s faith doesn’t properly grow, because they aren’t hearing with their ears. We decided to take this scripture metaphorically, but there isn’t anything in the Word to indicate it’s metaphorically other than our feelings. We feel silly reading or talking out lout to ourselves. There is something about the spoken Word that builds faith. The Word is likened to a sword, a sword wasn’t a secret sniper weapon or hidden in your clothes. The sword was out for everyone to see. To fight with a sword, you take it out and swing it around. When you hit something with a sword, it makes noise. Take the Word out and thrust, stab, chop, and slash away at what you’re fighting. In no time, you’ll start to see your faith grow. It has to grow, because it’s a Biblical law. Even the world understands the concept of spoken words…
“Head On – Apply Directly to the Forehead” (said 3x) —Annoying commercial of 2006. People swore by its effectiveness on headaches. The company later faced a lawsuit, because it was basically a placebo effect.
“If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.”—Adolf Hitler
Why did I add this? Don’t be offended. Hitler got ahold of the principle of the Biblical law of faith just like the Head On advertisers; faith comes by hearing. People who do not live for Christ sometimes get ahold of Biblical principles by some other means, preach/actively share the wisdom, and then live by it. Did you ever go into a coffee shop and the tip jar says, “Karma Jar?” They sometimes have an explanation that if you want good karma, you have to first give so you can receive many times over in the future. Sounds like someone got ahold of the Biblical law of sowing and reaping (seed, and harvest). You don’t have to be a Christian to reap what you sow. You don’t have to be a Christian to partake of the “faith comes by hearing” law. What are you hearing and is it often enough to completely believe it? Surround yourself with Words of faith from the Bible, people who are willing to believe scripture with you, and faith filled songs to see your faith grow quickly.
After you searched the Bible for scriptures, and read them to increase your faith, we’re ready to form prayers out of those scriptures.
Example of healing prayer:
Psalm 107:20
He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
Isaiah 53:5
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
Mark 5:34
And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”
Matthew 9:28-30
28“Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” 29Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” 30And their eyes were opened.
Psalm 91:16
With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.
Prayer: Father, I ask you to heal me of a heart problem in Jesus’ name. Jesus took stripes, the punishment for my healing, so I don’t have to pay the price. Thank you, Jesus, for paying the price for my healthy heart. Father, I believe You are able and willing to heal me. I thank You, Father, for sending Your word, healing me, and delivering me. You said, “With long life I will satisfy him,” so I thank You for satisfying me with a long life. I will go in peace and leave this heart problem in Your hands.
Thanksgiving: Thank you, Jehovah Rapha, the God that restores and heals. Thank you, Father, that I am a miracle in the making. Thank you, Jesus, for making me a testimony. Thank you, Holy Spirit, that You’re right here with me to lead me and guide me to the victory. Thank you, Elohim (God in 3 parts), that You love me. I love you, and welcome You into my life to work in me both to do Your will and good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).
You might think, this praying is too easy. Yes! Abraham only did 4 things; did not waver, strengthened his faith, gave glory to God, and as fully convinced God was able to perform His promise.
The Bible says, in Matthew 11:30 NKJV, For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. The original Hebrew says, My yoke is restful and My burden is easy. If you’re praying and not experiencing the restful and easy yoke, then you’re not hooked up with His yoke. His yoke isn’t hard work or mental gymnastics. There are times in my life where I had to remind myself of this.
Now, we rest by spending time with the Holy Spirit. But before I go any farther, I was refusing to write a sample prayer on healing when I knew in my heart that’s what the Holy Spirit wanted me to write. I didn’t want any fighting messages. For length’s sake, I will post about God’s Amazing Grace, in another post.
Since this post has gotten too long, next week we’ll talk about spending time with the Holy Spirit after prayer, and what you should do after you prayed in faith. Until next post, Lord, teach us to be powerful prayer warriors and very dangerous to all the works of darkness.
Christi
My Prayer Notebook 
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