Praying faith!
Verse for Today: Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Mark 11:24 – Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.
Prayer without faith is a mere ritual. Any prayer stemming from faith puts absolute trust in the object of prayer and expects answer without the shadow of doubt. So when we pray, God looks into our hearts to see the extent of faith we have in Him. When motives are right and focus is on the right person, it is honored by the Lord. We are challenged today to examine our faith to see whether we pray for the glory of God or not. So Jesus Christ admonishes us today to reexamine our prayers to see how it is linked with our faith. He wants our prayers to be important spiritual exercise which will demonstrate to God our faith in His ability to meet our needs. It also means that we know God and His commitment to His promises as we dare to ask. We must also pray according to God’s will and wait for God’s time to answer. Such prayers will be granted to us with certainty. This is why the Lord Jesus taught the disciples to pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. So it is more important that we pray after searching and knowing the will of God rather than asking the Lord to give to us whatever we feel like getting. As we pray, we should surrender all our petitions to the will of God and seek His face in meeting those needs. Sometimes the answer will come immediately, and at other times, it will take some time for it to be met until we are ready to receive it. But we should not allow doubt or confusion to emerge in our hearts as we pray. Our doubts and unbelief must be confessed and crucified as we go touch the Throne of Grace.
Dear friend, how is your prayer life? Are you praying regularly for various things or simply assuming that God will do whatever He wants any way? We have the privilege to pray for various things that we feel are important. But in all the things that we pray for, we must seek the will of God and put all our faith in God to grant it. The time table to answer is the Lord’s and we should show the spiritual maturity to wait until the Lord grants it in His infinite wisdom at His best time. The patience we demonstrate in waiting for it to be answered at the Lord’s best time shows how mature we are in our faith and in our relation with the Lord. Whatever we pray for will be given to us if it is the perfect will of God. There are a lot of things we can accomplish on our own, and after that we should not succumb to the temptation to claim that it was granted by the Lord. This is especially true about all matters which are forbidden by the Lord in His Word. Let us be careful not to seek the will of the Lord in such forbidden matters. When we pray and wait for the Lord’s time, it demonstrates our faith in the Lord to fulfill His perfect will in the matter. May He grant us the wisdom and control us with His Spirit so that we would know His will in all that we pray for and expect Him to answer at His time! Let us pray like Elijah, Nehemiah and Paul and be sure that our Lord would grant us our needs according to His riches in glory.
James 5:16 – The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Thought for Today
Prayers touch God’s heart where all His promises dwell which His children tap by faith.
Prayer for Today
Dear Lord Jesus: Draw me closer to You today to know Your heart for my needs and enable me to ask accordingly. Amen!
______________________________
Write for prayer support and counseling without cost or obligation to [email protected]
_____________________________
