A Study in Prayer and Trust - Part 1

Tip! It opens the door for salvations. (Act 2:42) "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers".

PRAYER does not stand alone. It is not an isolated duty or an independent principle. It lives in association with other Christian duties, prayer is married to other principles, and it is a partner with other graces. But to faith, prayer is indissolubly joined. Faith gives prayer its color and tone, shapes its character, and secures its results.

Trust is when our faith becomes unreserved, ratified and completed. There is, when all is said and done, a sort of endeavor in faith and its exercise. But trust is firm belief; it is faith in full flower. Trust is a conscious act, a fact of which we are sensible. According to the Scriptural concept trust is the eye of the new-born soul, and the ear of the renewed soul. It is the feeling of the soul, the spiritual eye, the ear, the taste, the feeling -- these one and all have to do with trust.

How brilliant, how distinct, how conscious, how powerful, and more than all, how Scriptural is such a trust! How different from many forms of modern belief, so feeble, dry, and cold! These new phases of belief bring no consciousness of their presence, no "Joy unspeakable and full of glory" results from their exercise. They are, for the most part, adventures in the peradventures of the soul. There is no safe, sure trust in anything. The whole transaction takes place in the realm of "maybe and perhaps".

Tip! A person's character is always demonstrated in their behavior. The Savior again said,"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good ..." -- Luke 6:45

Trust like life, is feeling, though much more than feeling. An unfelt life is a contradiction; an unfelt trust is a misnomer, a delusion, a contradiction. Trust is the most felt of all attributes. It is all feeling, and it works only by love. An unfelt love is as impossible as an unfelt trust. The trust of which we are now speaking is a conviction: An unfelt conviction? How absurd!

Tip! The Master will not expect more from anyone than a person is capable of doing for Him. Jesus wants us to understand that each person will be rewarded according to their faithfulness in doing their given task.

Trust sees God doing things here and now. Yes, and more. It rises to a lofty eminence, and looking into the invisible and the eternal, realizes that God has done things, and regards them as being already done. Trust brings eternity into the annals and happenings of time, transmutes the substance of hope into the reality of fruition, and changes promise into present possession. We know when we trust just as we know when we see, just as we are conscious of our sense of touch. Trust sees, receives, and holds. Trust is its own witness.

Yet, quite often, faith is too weak to obtain God's greatest good, immediately; so it has to wait in loving, strong, prayerful, pressing obedience, until it grows in strength, and is able to bring down the eternal, into the realms of experience and time.

To this point, trust masses all its forces. Here it holds. And in the struggle, trust's grasp becomes mightier, and grasps, for itself, all that God has done for it in His eternal wisdom and plenitude of grace.

A Study in Prayer and Trust - Part 2

Tip! 'Asking of God' and 'receiving' from the Lord - direct request to God, immediate connection with God - that is true prayer.

In the matter of waiting in prayer, mightiest prayer, faith rises to its highest plane and becomes indeed the gift of God. It becomes the blessed disposition and expression of the soul which is secured by a constant communication with, and unwearied application to God.

Jesus Christ clearly taught that faith was the condition on which prayer was answered. When our Lord had cursed the fig-tree, the disciples were much surprised that its withering had actually taken place, and their remarks indicated their inexperience. It was then that Jesus said to them, "Have faith in God."

"For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he said shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he said. Therefore, I say unto you, what things so ever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them."

Trust grows nowhere so readily and richly as in the prayer-chamber. It's unfolding and developments are rapid and wholesome when they are regularly and well kept. When these engagements are hearty and full and free, trust flourishes exceedingly. The eye and presence of God give vigorous life to trust, just as the eye and the presence of the sun make fruit and flower to grow, and all things glad and bright with fuller life.

"Have faith in God," "Trust in the Lord" form the keynote and foundation of prayer. Primarily, it is not trust in the Word of God, but rather trust in the Person of God. For trust in the Person of God must precede trust in the Word of God. "Ye believe in God, believe also in Me," is the demand our Lord makes on the personal trust of His disciples. The person of Jesus Christ must be central, to the eye of trust. This great truth Jesus sought to impress upon Martha, when her brother lay dead, in the home at Bethany. Martha asserted her belief in the fact of the resurrection of her brother:

"Martha said unto Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

Jesus lifts her trust clear above the mere fact of the resurrection, to His own Person, by saying:

"I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever lives and believeth in Me, shall never die. Believe thou this? She said unto Him, Yea, Lord: I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world."

Trust, in an historical fact or in a mere record may be a very passive thing, but trust in a person vitalizes the quality, fructifies it, and informs it with love. The trust which informs prayer centers in a Person.

Trust goes even further than this. The trust which inspires our prayer must be not only trust in the Person of God, and of Christ, but in their ability and willingness to grant the thing prayed for. It is not only, "Trust, ye, in the Lord," but, also, "for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."

A Study in Prayer and Trust - Part 3

Tip! 'Supplication' is the very soul of prayer in the way of pleading for some one thing, very much needed, and the need intensely felt.

The trust which our Lord taught as a condition of effectual prayer is not of the head but of the heart. It is trust which "doubts not in his heart." Such trust has the Divine assurance that it shall be honored with large and satisfying answers. The strong promise of our Lord brings faith down to the present, and counts on a present answer.

Do we believe, without a doubt? When we pray, do we believe, not that we shall receive the things for which we ask on a future day, but that we receive them, then and there? Such is the teaching of this inspiring Scripture. How we need to pray, "Lord, increase our faith," until doubt be gone, and implicit trust claims the promised blessings, as it's very own.

This is no easy condition. It is reached only after many a failure, after much praying, after many long waiting, and after much trial of faith. May our faith so increase until we realize and receive all the fullness there is in that Name which guarantees to do so much.

Our Lord puts trust as the very foundation of praying. The background of prayer is trust. The whole issuance of Christ's ministry and work was dependent on implicit trust in His Father. The centre of trust is God. Mountains of difficulties and all other hindrances to prayer are moved out of the way by trust and his virile henchman, faith. When trust is perfect and without doubt, prayer is simply the outstretched hand, ready to receive.

Trust perfected, is prayer perfected. Trust looks to receive the thing asked for -- and gets it. Trust is not a belief that God can bless, that He will bless, but that He does bless, here and now. Trust always operates in the present tense. Hope looks toward the future. Trust looks to the present. Hope expects. Trust possesses. Trust receives what prayer acquires. So that what prayer needs, at all times, is abiding and abundant trust.

Tip! 'Intercession' is amplification in prayer; it is going out in broadness and fullness from ones self for others. Primarily, it does not center in praying for others, but refers to the freeness, boldness and childlike confidence in praying.

Their regrettable lack of trust and ensuing failure of the disciples to do what they were sent out to do is seen in the case of the possessed son, who was brought by his father to nine of them while their Master was on the Mount of Transfiguration. A boy, sadly afflicted, was brought to these men to be cured of his dilemma. They had been commissioned to do this very kind of work. This was a part of their mission. They attempted to cast out the devil from the boy, but had signally failed. The devil was too much for them. They were humiliated at their failure, and filled with shame, while their enemies were in triumph. Amid the confusion incident to failure Jesus draws near. He is informed of the circumstances, and told of the conditions connected therewith. Here is the succeeding account:

"Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour. And when He was come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, 'Why could not we cast him out?' And He said unto them, 'This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting.'"

Wherein lay the difficulty with these men? They had been lax in cultivating their faith by prayer and, as a consequence, their trust utterly failed. They trusted not God, nor Christ, nor the authenticity of His mission, or their own. So has it been many a time since, in many a crisis in the Church of God. Failure has resulted from a lack of trust, or from a weakness of faith, and this, in turn, from a lack of prayerfulness.

Many a failure in revival efforts has been traceable to the same cause. Faith had not been nurtured and made powerful by prayer. Neglect of the inner chamber is the solution of most spiritual failure. And this is as true of our personal struggles with the devil as was the case when we went forth to attempt to cast out devils. To be much on our knees in private communion with God is the only surety that we shall have Him with us either in our personal struggles, or in our efforts to convert sinners.

A Study in Prayer and Trust - Part 4

Tip! An effective prayer life can have a huge impact on not only our own individual life, but on the lives of those around us. Through prayer we can have an impact on our local community, our country and the world.

Everywhere, in the approaches of the people to Him, our Lord put trust in Him, and the divinity of His mission, in the forefront. He gave no definition of trust, and He furnishes no theological discussion of or analysis of it; for He knew that men would see what faith was by what faith did; and from its free exercise trust grew up, spontaneously, in His presence. It was the product of His work, His power and His Person. These furnished and created an atmosphere most favorable for its exercise and development.

Trust is altogether too splendidly simple for verbal definition; too hearty and spontaneous for theological terminology. The very simplicity of trust is that which staggers many people. They look away for some great thing to come to pass, while all the time "the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart."

When the saddening news of his daughter's death was brought to Jairus our Lord interposed: "Be not afraid," He said calmly, "only believe." To the woman with the issue of blood, who stood tremblingly before Him, He said:

"Daughter, thy faith hath made you whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague."

As the two blind men followed Him, pressing their way into the house, He said:

"According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened."

When the paralytic was let down through the roof of the house, where Jesus was teaching, and placed before Him by four of his friends, it is recorded after this fashion:

"And Jesus seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy: Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee."

Tip! God's people do not have authorization to demand the Savior's promise of, "...Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do," in order to gain something very special for themselves.

When Jesus dismissed the centurion whose servant was seriously ill, and who had come to Jesus with the prayer that He speak the healing word, without even going to his house, He did it in the manner following:

"And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour."

When the poor leper fell at the feet of Jesus and cried out for relief, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean," Jesus immediately granted his request, and the man glorified Him with a loud voice. Then Jesus said unto him, "Arise, go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole."

The Syrophenician woman came to Jesus with the case of her afflicted daughter, making the case her own, with the prayer, "Lord, help me," making a fearful and heroic struggle. Jesus honors' her faith and prayer, saying:

Tip! If we, God's people expect to carry out the works of Christ that will glorify our Father, then we must believe in Him for the very work's sake, and pray fervently in His Name.

"O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour."

After the disciples had utterly failed to cast the devil out of the epileptic boy, the father of the stricken lad came to Jesus with the plaintive and almost despairing cry, "If Thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us." But Jesus replied, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."

Blind Bartimaeus sitting by the wayside, hears our Lord as He passes by, and cries out pitifully and almost despairingly, "Jesus, Thou son of David, have mercy on me." The keen ears of our Lord immediately catch the sound of prayer, and He says to the beggar:

Tip! It opens the door for salvations. (Act 2:42) "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers".

"Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way."

To the weeping, penitent woman, washing His feet with her tears and wiping them with the hair of her head, Jesus speaks cheering, soul-comforting words: "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace."

One day Jesus healed ten lepers at one time, in answer to their united prayer, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us," and He told them to go and show themselves to the priests. "And it came to pass as they went, they were cleansed."

Faith makes Prayer Strong

Tip! If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and want to know for sure that you are a child of God, then I would like to invite you to earnestly pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart.

Faith makes prayer strong, and gives it patience to wait on God. Faith believes that God is a rewarder. No truth is more clearly revealed in the Scriptures than this, while none is more encouraging as well. Even the prayer closet has its promised reward, "He that sees in secret, shall reward you openly," while the most insignificant service provided to a disciple in the name of our Lord, well surely receive its reward. And to this precious truth faith gives its energetic consent.

Yet we must narrow down our faith to one particular thing -- it does not believe that God will reward everybody, or that He is not a rewarder of all who pray, but that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Our faith rests its care on diligence in prayer, and gives assurance and encouragement to us who are diligent seekers after God, for it is us, alone, who are richly rewarded when we pray.

We need constantly to be reminded that faith is the one inseparable condition of successful praying. There are other considerations to remember when we enter into the exercise of prayer, but faith is the final, the one indispensable condition of true praying. Remember it is written in a familiar and in an important passage of Scripture: "Without faith, it is impossible to please Him."

James puts this truth very plainly.

"If any of you lack wisdom," he says, "let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraided not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers (or doubts) is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord."

Tip! In (Phil. 4:6) we have these words about prayer: Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.

Doubting is always put under the ban, because it stands as a foe to faith and hinders effectual praying. In the First Epistle to Timothy Paul gives us an invaluable truth relative to the conditions of successful praying, which he thus lays down: "I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting."

When we are praying, all questioning must be watched against and avoided. Fear and uncertainty have no place in true praying. Our faith must declare itself and require that these enemies of prayer disappear.

Also we must remember that too much authority cannot be attributed to faith; however prayer is the scepter by which it signalizes its power. See the spiritual wisdom there is in the following advice written by a distinguished old delightful man of God.

"Would you be freed from the bondage to corruption?" he asks. "Would you grow in grace in general and grow in grace in particular? If you would, your way is plain. Ask of God more faith. Beg of Him morning, and noon and night, while you walk by the way, while you sit in the house, when you lie down and when you rise up; beg of Him simply to impress Divine things more deeply on your heart, to give you more and more of the substance of things hoped for and of the evidence of things not seen."

Tip! An effective prayer life can have a huge impact on not only our own individual life, but on the lives of those around us. Through prayer we can have an impact on our local community, our country and the world.

Great incentives to pray are furnished in Holy Scriptures, and our Lord closes His teaching about prayer, with the assurance and promise of heaven. The presence of Jesus Christ in heaven, the preparation for His saints which He is making there, and the assurance that He will come again to receive them -- how all this helps the weariness of praying, strengthens its conflicts, sweetens its arduous toil!

These things are the star of hope to prayer, the wiping away of its tears, and the putting of the odor of heaven into the bitterness of its cry. The spirit of a pilgrim greatly helps praying. An earth-bound, earth-satisfied spirit cannot pray. In such a heart, the flame of spiritual desire is either gone out or is smoldering in faintest glow. The wings of its faith are clipped, its eyes are filmed, its tongue silenced.

Tip! Visit our website at: By Faith Enterprises.com

But we, who in unswerving faith and unceasing prayer, wait continually upon the Lord, do renew our strength, do mount up with wings as eagles, do run, and we are not weary, do walk, and not faint.

Faith Accompanies Prayer at Every Step

Tip! In (Phil. 4:6) we have these words about prayer: 'Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.'

It was claimed for Augustus Caesar that he found Rome a city of wood, and left it a city of marble. The pastor, who succeeds in changing his people from a prayer-less to a prayerful people, has done a greater work than did Augustus in changing a city from wood to marble. And after all, this is the primary work of the preacher. First and foremost, he is dealing with prayer-less people -- with people of whom it is said, "God is not in all their thoughts." This type of person he meets everywhere, and all the time.

The pastor's main business is to turn us from being forgetful of God and from being devoid of faith, from being prayer-less, so that we become people who habitually pray, who believe in God and remember Him and do His will. The preacher is not sent to merely persuade people to join the Church, nor merely to get them to do better. It is to get them to pray, to trust God and to keep God always before our eyes that we may not sin against Him.

The work of the ministry is to change unbelieving sinners into praying and believing saints. The call goes out by Divine authority, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved." We catch a glimpse of the tremendous importance of faith and of the great value God has set on it, when we remember that He has made it the one indispensable condition of being saved.

"By grace are ye saved, through faith" Thus, when we contemplate the great importance of prayer, we find faith standing immediately by its side. By faith are we saved, and by faith we stay saved. Prayer introduces us to a life of faith. Paul declared that the life he lived, he lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved him and gave Himself for him - so that he could walk by faith and not by sight.

Prayer is absolutely dependent upon faith. Virtually, it has no existence apart from it, and accomplishes nothing unless it is its inseparable companion. Faith makes prayer effectual, and in a certain important sense, must precede it.

Tip! If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and want to know for sure that you are a child of God, then I would like to invite you to earnestly pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart.

"For he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."

Before prayer ever starts toward God; before its petition is preferred, before its requests are made known -- faith must have gone on ahead; must have asserted its belief in the existence of God; must have given its assent to the gracious truth that "God is a rewarder of those that diligently seek His face." This is the primary step in praying.

In this regard, while faith does not bring the blessing, yet it puts prayer in a position to ask for it, and leads to another step toward realization, by aiding us to believe that God is able and willing to bless.

Faith starts prayer to work -- clears the way to the mercy-seat. It gives us the assurance, first of all, that there is a mercy-seat and that there is a High Priest who waits for us and our prayers. Faith opens the way for prayer to approach God.

But faith does more. It accompanies prayer at every step she takes. It is her inseparable companion and when requests are made unto God, it is faith that turns the asking into obtaining. And faith follows prayer, since the spiritual life into which a believer is led by prayer, is a life of faith. The one prominent characteristic of the experience into which we as believers are brought through prayer, is not a life of works, but of faith.

Are You Crucified with Christ?

Tip! Praise and thanksgiving - This is the earnest, heartfelt prayer where we come before the Lord thanking and praising him for his mighty power and love. We may praise him in both our earthly and spiritual language.

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." (Galatians 2:20-21 NKJV)

Here, in his own person, the apostle Paul describes the spiritual or hidden life of a believer. The old man or person is crucified, ("...knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. " Romans 6:6 NKJV), but the new person is living; sin is conquered, and grace is available. We have the comforts and the triumphs of grace; yet that grace is not from ourselves, but from another.

We believers see ourselves living in a state of dependence on Christ. Hence it is that though we live in the flesh, yet we do not live after the flesh. Those who have true faith live by that faith; and this faith is secure in Christ's giving Himself for us. He loved me, and gave Himself for me.

It is as if the apostle said, The Lord saw me fleeing from Him more and more. Such wickedness, error, and ignorance were in my will and understanding, that it was not possible for me to be ransomed by any other means than by such a price. Consider well this price. This price was Jesus Christ's life.

Tip! 'Asking of God' and 'receiving' from the Lord - direct request to God, immediate connection with God - that is true prayer.

Now notice the false faith of many. And their profession is accordingly; they have a form of godliness without the power of it. They think they believe the articles of faith correctly, but they are deceived. For to believe in Christ crucified, is not only to believe that He was crucified, but also to believe that I am crucified with Him. And this is to know Christ crucified.

Consequently we can learn what the nature of grace is. God's grace cannot stand with people's merit. Grace is no grace unless it is freely given in every way. The more simply the believer relies on Christ for everything, the more devotedly we will walk before Him in all His ordinances and commandments. Christ lives and reigns in us, and we live here on earth by faith in the Son of God, which works by love, causes obedience, and changes us into His holy image. Thus we can neither abuse the grace of God, nor can we take it in vain.

Do I Truly Pray to God?

Tip! If we, God's people expect to carry out the works of Christ that will glorify our Father, then we must believe in Him for the very work's sake, and pray fervently in His Name.

"Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by supplication and prayer, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God."

This is the Divine cure for all fear, anxiety, and undue concern of our soul, all of which are closely similar to doubt and unbelief. This is the Divine prescription for securing that peace which passes all understanding, and keeps the heart and mind in quietness and peace.

All of us need to learn well and heed the caution given to us in Hebrews: "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God."

We need, also, to guard against unbelief as we would against an enemy. Our faith needs to be cultivated. We need to keep on praying, "Lord, increase our faith," for faith is susceptible of increase. Paul's tribute to the Thessalonians was that their faith would grow exceedingly. Faith is increased only if we exercise it, or by putting it to use. It is nourished by painful trials.

"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glow at the appearing of Jesus Christ."

Faith grows by reading and meditating on the Word of God the Holy Bible. And the best growth of all is our faith thrives in an atmosphere of prayer.

It would be well, if all of us were to stop, and ask ourselves personally: "Have I faith in God? Have I real faith, -- faith that keeps me in perfect peace, about the things of earth and the things of heaven?" This is the most important question a person can submit and expect to be answered. And there is another question, closely similar to it in significance and importance -- "Do I really pray to God so that He hears me and answers my prayers? And do I truly pray to God so that I get direct from God the things I ask of Him?"

Doubt and Fear are the Twin Enemies of Faith in Prayer

Tip! The Holy Bible says in (John 5:13) this statement about prayer: "And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him."

Many people, of this day, obtain a good report because of their money-giving, their great mental gifts and talents, but are very few who obtain a "good report" because of their great faith in God or because of the wonderful things that are being formed through their great praying.

Today, as much as at any time in history, we need people of great faith and people who are great in prayer. These are the two basic qualities that make people great in the eyes of God, the two things that create conditions of real spiritual success in the life and work of the Church. It must be our main concern to see that we maintain a faith of such quality and texture, that our prayers are acceptable before God; prayers that are grasped and held onto in faith; without doubt and without fear.

Doubt and fear are the twin enemies of faith. Sometimes, they actually take the place of faith, and although we pray, it is a restless, disquieted prayer that we offer, uneasy and often we are complaining. Peter failed in his walk on the water because he permitted the waves to break over him and swamp the power of his faith. By taking his eyes off the Lord and looking at the water all about him, he began to sink and had to cry out for help "Lord, save me, or I die!"

Tip! THE possibilities of prayer are gauged by faith in God's ability to do. Faith is the one prime condition by which God works.

Doubts should never be valued, nor fears protected. Let no one treasure the delusion that we are martyrs to fear and doubt. It is no credit to any person's mental capacity to take pleasure in doubt about God, and no comfort can possibly derive from such a thought. Our eyes should be taken off ourselves, removed from our own weakness and allowed to rest totally on God's strength. "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward." A simple, trusting faith, living day by day, even hour by hour and casting your burden on the Lord, will drive away fear, misgivings and deliver us from doubt:

"Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by supplication and prayer, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God."

Faith Gives Birth to Prayer

Tip! A person's character is always demonstrated in their behavior. The Savior again said,"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good ..." -- Luke 6:45

Faith deals with God, and is conscious of God. It deals with the Lord Jesus Christ and sees in Him a Savior; it deals with God's Word, and lays hold of the truth. Faith deals with the Spirit of God, and is energized and inspired by its holy fire. God is the great objective of faith; for faith rests its whole weight on His Word the Holy Bible.

Faith is not an aimless act of our soul, but a looking to God and a resting on His promises. Just as love and hope have always an objective so, also, has faith. Faith does not believe just anything; it believes in God, resting in Him, trusting His Word.

Faith gives birth to prayer, and our faith grows stronger, strikes deeper, rises higher, in the struggles and wrestling of mighty petitioning. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the assurance and realization of the inheritance of the saints. Faith, too, is humble and persevering. It can wait and pray; it can stay on its knees, or lie in the dust. Faith is the one great condition of prayer; this is why our lack of faith is where lies the root of all poor praying, feeble and little praying and unanswered praying.

The nature and meaning of faith is easily demonstrated in what it does, than it is by reason of any definition given it. Thus, if we turn to the record of faith given us in that great honor roll, which constitutes the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, we will see something of the wonderful results of faith.

What a glorious list it is - this list of these men and women of faith! What marvelous achievements are recorded here, and set to the credit of faith! The inspired writer, exhausting his resources in organizing the Old Testament saints, who were such notable examples of wonderful faith, finally exclaims:

"And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:"

And then the writer of Hebrews goes on again, in a wonderful strain, telling of the unrecorded exploits produced through the faith of the men and women of old, "of whom the world was not worthy." "All these," he says, "obtained a good report through faith."

Tip! The Master will not expect more from anyone than a person is capable of doing for Him. Jesus wants us to understand that each person will be rewarded according to their faithfulness in doing their given task.

What an era of glorious achievements would dawn for the Church and the world, if only there could be reproduced a race of saints of like mighty faith, of like wonderful praying!

It is not the intellectually great that the Church needs; nor is it people of wealth that the times demand. It is not people of great social influence that this day requires. Above everybody and everything else, it is people of faith, people of mighty prayer, men and women after the fashion of the saints and heroes that are indicated in Hebrews, who "obtained a good report through faith," this is what we and the Church needs today.

Our Principal Concern in Prayer is with Our Faith

Tip! Praise and thanksgiving - This is the earnest, heartfelt prayer where we come before the Lord thanking and praising him for his mighty power and love. We may praise him in both our earthly and spiritual language.

GENUINE, authentic faith must be specific and free of doubt. Not simply general in character; not a mere belief in the being, goodness and power of God, but a faith that believes that the things which "whatsoever he asks, shall come to pass." As the faith is precise, so the answer likewise will be specific: "He shall have whatsoever he asks." Faith and prayer select the things, and God commits Himself to do the very things that faith and persevering prayer proposes, and petitions Him to accomplish.

The New King James Version renders the twenty-fourth verse of the eleventh chapter of Mark, this way: "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them". Perfect faith has always in its keeping what perfect prayer asks for. How large and unqualified is the area of operation -- the "whatever things!" How definite and specific the promise -- "You will have them!"

Our principal concern is with our faith, -- the problems of its growth, and the activities of its vigorous maturity. A faith which grasps and holds in its keeping the very things it asks for, without wavering, doubt or fear -- that is the faith we need -- faith, such as is a pearl of great price, in the process and practice of prayer.

The statement of our Lord about faith and prayer quoted above is of supreme importance. Faith must be definite, specific; an unqualified, unmistakable request for the things asked for. It is not to be a vague, indefinite, shadowy thing; it must be something more than an abstract belief in God's willingness and ability to do for us. It is to be a definite, specific, asking for, and expecting the things for which we ask. Note the reading of Mark 11:23:

Tip! The person who prays, has a belief that they will receive an answer. The prayer is intended to inculcate certain attitudes in the one who prays, rather than to influence the recipient.

"...and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says."

Just so far as the faith and the asking are specific, so also will the answer be. The giving is not to be something other than the things prayed for, but the actual things sought and named. "He will have whatever he says." It is all imperative, "He will have." The granting is to be unlimited, both in quality and in quantity.

Faith and prayer select the subjects for petition, thereby determining what God is to do. "He will have whatever he says." Christ holds Himself ready to supply exactly, and fully, all the demands of faith and prayer. If the order on God be made clear, specific and definite, God will fill it, exactly in accordance with the presented terms.

Tip! In order to accomplish His high purpose, Jesus showed us His purpose in answering our prayers when He said, "...That the Father may be glorified in the Son."

Faith is not an abstract belief in the Word of God (Holy Bible), neither a mere mental acceptance nor a simple consent of our understanding and will; nor is it a passive acceptance of facts, however sacred or thorough. Faith is an operation of God, a Divine enlightenment, a holy energy implanted by the Word of God and the Spirit in our human soul -- a spiritual, Divine principle that takes of the Supernatural and makes it a thing of significance by the reasons of time and sense.

Amazing Lesson - of Wondrous Simplicity - is this Praying

Tip! One warning you should bear in mind in the matter of prayer is the negligence of this great resource. We often neglect prayer until we get into some major trouble; and then suffocating with fear, we rush into some shallow appeal to God only to realize that our prayers are not accepted which is due to the fact that we do not even believe that those very prayers would be accepted in the first place.

Delay in answered prayer is often a test and the strength of our faith. Oh so much patience is required when these times of testing come! Yet faith gathers strength by waiting and praying. Patience has its perfect work in the school of delay.

In some instances, delay is of the very essence of the prayer. God has to do many things before He is able to give you the final answer -- things which are essential to the lasting good of the one who is requesting favor at His hands.

Jacob prayed, with point and passion, to be delivered from Esau. But before that prayer could be answered, there was much to be done with, and for Jacob. He must be changed, as well as Esau. Jacob had to be made into a new man, before Esau could be. Jacob had to be converted to God, before Esau could be converted to Jacob.

Among the great and brilliant statements of Jesus concerning prayer, none is more striking than this:

Tip! The person who prays, has a belief that they will receive an answer. The prayer is intended to inculcate certain attitudes in the one who prays, rather than to influence the recipient.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My Name, I will do it."

So very wonderful are these statements of what God will do in answer to prayer! Of how great importance these ringing words, prefaced, as they are, with the most solemn verity! Faith in Christ is the basis of all working, and of all praying. All wonderful works depend on wonderful praying, and all praying is done in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Amazing lesson, of wondrous simplicity, is this praying in the name of the Lord Jesus! All other conditions are depreciated; everything else is renounced, save Jesus only. The name of Christ -- the Person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ -- must be supremely sovereign, in the hour and article of prayer.

A Praying Faith is Well Pleasing in God's Sight.

Tip! God's people do not have authorization to demand the Savior's promise of, "...Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do," in order to gain something very special for themselves.

A praying faith keeps the commandments of God and does those things which are well pleasing in His sight. It asks, "Lord, what will You have me to do?" and answers quickly, "Speak, Lord, Your servant hears."

Obedience helps faith, and faith, in turn, helps obedience. To do God's will is essential to true faith, and faith is necessary to total obedience.

Yet our faith is called on, and many times only to wait in patience before God and our faith is prepared for God's seeming delays in answering prayer. Faith does not grow disheartened because prayer is not immediately honored; we must take God at His Word, and let Him take what time He chooses in fulfilling His purposes, and in carrying on His work.

There is bound to be many delays and long days of waiting for true faith. But our faith must accept the conditions -- knowing there will be delays in answering prayer, and regards these delays as times of testing, in which, it is privileged to show its courage, and the stern stuff of which it is made.

Look at the case of Lazarus; this was an example of where there was a delay, where the faith of two good women was sorely tried: Lazarus was critically ill, and his sisters sent for Jesus. But, without any known reason, our Lord delayed His going to the relief of His sick friend. The plea was urgent and touching -- "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick," -- but the Master is not moved by it, and the women's earnest request seemed to fall on deaf ears. What a trial to faith! Furthermore: our Lord's tardiness appeared to bring about hopeless disaster. While Jesus waited, Lazarus died.

Tip! 'Asking of God' and 'receiving' from the Lord - direct request to God, immediate connection with God - that is true prayer.

But the delay of Jesus was exercised in the interests of a greater good. Finally, He makes His way to the home in Bethany.

"Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes, that I was not there, to the intent you may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him."

Fear not, O tempted and tried believer, Jesus will come, if patience be exercised, and your faith hold fast. His delay will serve to make His coming all the more richly blessed for you. Pray on. Wait on. You can not fail. If Christ delays, wait for Him. In His own good time, He will come, and will not linger.

A Praying Faith Keeps the Commandments of God

Tip! The Holy Bible says in (John 5:13) this statement about prayer: "And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him."

In his Second Epistle, Peter has this idea in mind when speaking of growth in grace as a measure of safety in our Christian life, and this leads to fruitfulness.

"And besides this," he declares, "giving diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness."

In this process of adding all the other graces of the Spirit together, notice that our faith is the starting point. Faith is the foundation on which other things are to be built. Peter does not instruct his readers to add to works or gifts or virtues but to faith. Everything depends on starting right in this business of growing in grace.

There is a Divine order, of which Peter was aware; and so he goes on to declare that we are to give diligence to making our calling and election sure. This election is granted certain adding to faith which, in turn, is done by constant, earnest praying. Consequently faith is kept alive by prayer, and so is every step taken by us, in this adding of grace to grace, is accompanied only by prayer.

The faith that creates powerful praying is the faith that centers itself on a powerful Person. Faith in Christ's ability to do and to do greatly is the faith that prays greatly.

Thus the leper laid hold on the power of Christ. "Lord, if You will," he cried, "You can make me clean." In this instance, we are shown how faith centered in Christ's ability to do, and how it secured the healing power.

It was concerning this very point, that Jesus questioned the blind men who came to Him for healing:

"Believe you that I am able to do this?" He asks. "They said unto Him, Yea, Lord. Then touched He their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you."

Tip! Jesus said they were to do even greater works than He had achieved during His ministry in the world. Wow! Then our Master went on to show them that by praying in His Name, Jesus, this is the channel through which the authorized power is acquired to carry out the works that glorify our Father in the Son.

It was to inspire faith in His ability to do that Jesus left behind Him, that last, great statement, which, in the final analysis, is a ringing challenge to faith. "All power," He declared, "is given unto Me in heaven and in earth."

Again: faith is obedient; it goes when commanded, as did the nobleman, who came to Jesus, when He was here on earth, and whose son was grievously sick.

Moreover: such faith acts. Like the man who was born blind, it goes to wash in the pool of Siloam when told to wash. Like Peter while fishing on the lake, it casts the net where Jesus commands, instantly, without question or doubt. Such faith takes away the stone from the grave of Lazarus promptly.

A praying faith keeps the commandments of God and does those things which are well pleasing in His sight. It asks, "Lord, what will You have me to do?" and answers quickly, "Speak, Lord, Your servant hears."

Obedience helps faith, and faith, in turn, helps obedience. To do God's will is essential to true faith, and faith is necessary to total obedience.

The Roll of Faith in Prayer

“And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” (Hebrews 11:32-34)

FAITH IS the link between our souls and God. It is the capacity of entering into fellowship with the Eternal Love and Power, so that we are able to do all things with the sense that it is not we who do them, but God in us and with us. Faith is the open door and window towards God. In faith our heart goes out towards God in clinging dependence, and God comes in to strengthen us with His Divine fullness.

In human life, when we trust a person, we draw from them all that they are able to supply; in the Divine life, faith draws upon the resources of God, so that they flow freely into our nature, and the results of our life-work is immensely increased. Faith is possible amid a great deal of ignorance. It is clear that Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah were ignorant of the truth that the Gospel has revealed, and yet we learn that their work was largely due to their faith. Time comes and goes; the revelation of God grows from less to more; but the attitude of faith is always the same--in the simple woman that touched the hem of Christ's garment, as in St. John the beloved disciple, who had years of training in Christ's School.

Faith achieves very different results. In some, it produces the heroic strength that turns the battle from the gate, and in some, the passive suffering that endures the long ordeal of pain. Here, it turns the edge of the sword; there, shuts the mouths of lions. We know how electric force may be applied to all the various machinery of human life. In one place it is used for the beaming light, in another to drive the street car or train, or it is to flash the message of music and speech from one continent to another. So Faith is able in prayer to appropriate God's might for any purpose that lies within the compass of our life-tasks, whether active or passive. (See Hebrews 11:32-39.)

God bears a witness to all who trust Him. He never fails us in the hour of need. His response is the echo of our appeal. As soon as the uplifted arm of the tramcar touches the overhead wire, there is the spark, and the immediate entrance of electric power. So God answers faith.

PRAYER
O God, we are full of need, but we have learned that You give power to the faint and to those that have no right. Change our weakness into Your strength; our ignorance into Your wisdom; our changefulness into Your everlasting constancy. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.

God's Generosity and Reward through Prayer

Tip! One warning you should bear in mind in the matter of prayer is the negligence of this great resource. We often neglect prayer until we get into some major trouble; and then suffocating with fear, we rush into some shallow appeal to God only to realize that our prayers are not accepted which is due to the fact that we do not even believe that those very prayers would be accepted in the first place.

Psalms 78:19-20, 29 "Yes, they spoke against God: They said, 'Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold, He struck the rock, So that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also? Can He provide meat for His people?'...So they ate and were well filled, for He gave them their own desire."

IS this not always the cry of unbelief, Can God? While the triumphant statement of faith is: God can! What a difference is formed by the collocation of words! Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? God can spread a table, even in the wilderness, and in the presence of our enemies our cup can overflow. Can He give bread also? He can satisfy the desire of every living thing, by the opening of His hand. Can You do anything for us, our child is grievously possessed by the devil? If you can believe, all things are possible to them that believe.

The wanderings of the Israelites for forty years were due to the fact that they looked at their difficulties and questioned if God could overcome them. Amongst the people, only Caleb and Joshua looked away from the Canaanites and their fortified cities to Him who had brought them where they were, and had guaranteed to remove them.

Some people speak of Giants with a capital G, and forget to magnify the power of God. No wonder that they account themselves as grass-hoppers, and lost heart! Let us not forget that we are sons and daughters of God, "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." (Compare these two verses Numbers 13:33 "There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." Romans 8:17 "and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.")

Tip! Talking to God - This is the one on one type prayer - where we converse with God to develop our relationship with him. We may ask him to help us in areas that we need spiritual, physical or emotional support.

Look back on the past; see what God has done for you; remember He is pledged to finish what He has begun. If He gave water, He can certainly give bread.

Tip! What really determines the effectiveness of our labor for Christ is the measure of our faith and the fervency of our prayers. If our faith is poor and our praying is indifferent; how can we expect to achieve much for Him?

"They did eat, and were well filled." When we are poor and needy, we are likely to be humble in our prayers. But if suddenly our lot is changed, and there is abundance instead of poverty, how often there is a change in our behavior. We are apt to become self-indulgent, and forgetful of the needs of the world. Instead of remembering that we are still God's pensioners, we magnify ourselves as though we were exclusive owners. Probably this is why God keeps some of us in poverty, for no greater temptation could befall us than to find ourselves with riches. In this way He answers our daily prayer, "Lead us not into temptation!"

God is more concerned about our growth in faith (God can!) then He is about our success in this life.

PRAYER

We thank You our heavenly Father, for the new mercies of each returning day, for all that You have given to us, and not less for that which You do withhold. May we be receptive of all things that pertain to life and godliness. In Jesus' name AMEN.

Faith and Prayer Must Go Together

Tip! 'Asking of God' and 'receiving' from the Lord - direct request to God, immediate connection with God - that is true prayer.

Psalms 31:1-8

In You, O LORD, I put my trust;

Let me never be ashamed;

Deliver me in Your righteousness.

Bow down Your ear to me, Deliver me speedily;

Be my rock of refuge, A fortress of defense to save me.

For You are my rock and my fortress;

Therefore, for Your name's sake, Lead me and guide me.

Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me,

For You are my strength.

Into Your hand I commit my spirit;

You have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.

I have hated those who regard useless idols;

But I trust in the LORD.

I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy,

For You have considered my trouble;

You have known my soul in adversities,

And have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy;

You have set my feet in a wide place.

-

Faith and prayer must go together, for the prayer of faith is the prevailing prayer. David gave up his soul in a special manner to God. And with the words, Psalms 31:5, our Lord Jesus yielded up His last breath on the cross, and made His soul a free-will offering for sin, laying down His life as a ransom.

But David is here as a man in distress and trouble. And his great care is about his soul, his spirit, his better part. Many think that while confused about their lives here on earth and all the messed up affairs, and their worries are multiplying, they may be exempt if they don't pray for their own souls. But we should be more concerned to look and pray for our own souls, that, though the outward person may perish, the inward person will suffer no damage.

The redemption of the soul is so precious, that it would have come to an end for ever, if Christ had not undertaken it. Having relied on God's mercy, we will be glad and rejoice in it. God looks at our souls, when we are in trouble, to see whether they are humbled because of sin, and made better by the affliction. Every believer will meet with such dangers and deliverances, until they are delivered from death, their last enemy.

This Prayer Encourages Us to get Close to God

Tip! In order to accomplish His high purpose, Jesus showed us His purpose in answering our prayers when He said, "...That the Father may be glorified in the Son."

Hebrews 13:20-21 "Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."

God's acceptance of Christ's atoning sacrifice was demonstrated by His raising Christ from the dead and setting Him at the right hand of the Majesty on high. The old covenant that God had set up through Moses characterized Judaism as sin, death, and distance from God - the continuous shedding of animal blood was required and the people were shut out from the Divine presence of God. But the new covenant which marks Christianity is a risen and enthroned Savior, who has put away the sins of His people from before the face of God and has secured for them the right of access to Him through prayer.

Hebrews 10:19-22a "Therefore, brethren, having boldness [liberty] to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith..." [Brackets are mine]

Consequently we are encouraged to draw near to God with the full confidence of His children and in the infinite merits of Christ's blood and righteousness, depending entirely on this point.

In his prayer, the apostle Paul makes the request that the total of what he had set before them in the doctrinal part of the letter [the book of Hebrews] might be successfully applied to their hearts. In a brief but comprehensive sentence, Paul prays that there might be worked out in the lives of the redeemed Hebrews every grace and virtue to which he had told them about in the previous chapters.

This Prayer Contains a Remarkable Summary of Hebrews

Tip! A person's character is always demonstrated in their behavior. The Savior again said, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good ..." -- Luke 6:45

Hebrews 13:20-21 "Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."

Think on this prayer for a moment. Read it over a few times, maybe even read it out loud and see all there is to see and hear all there is to hear in these two short verses. What more could we ask for? Are you thankful for all that our Father has done for us through His Son, Jesus Christ?

This prayer contains a remarkable summary of the entire epistle of Hebrews - an epistle to which every truly born again Christian of the Gospel should devote special attention to. Nothing else is needed so much today as detailed studies on the letters to the Romans and to the Hebrews.

The Book of Hebrews supplies everything that is best suited to ward off the legalism and antinomianism (the belief that Christians are not bound by established moral laws, the Ten Commandments) that are now so prevalent in the Church today.

Tip! What really determines the effectiveness of our labor for Christ is the measure of our faith and the fervency of our prayers. If our faith is poor and our praying is indifferent; how can we expect to achieve much for Him?

The Book of Romans shows the serious errors and the religious devotion and adherence to rituals in the modern religions as well as exposes the distinctive pretentiousness of their priests and ministers. It also provides the Divine antidote to this poisonous spirit of ritualism that is now making such fatal inroads into so many sections of a decadent Protestant Church. This problem that occupies the central portion in this vitally important and most blessed letter, is the priesthood of Christ, it represents the substance of what was revealed both in Melchizedek and Aaron.

In Hebrews it shows that His Son (Jesus Christ) made the one perfect sacrifice that has forever displaced the Levitical institutions and made an end of the whole Judaic system. That this "once and for ALL" was the all-sufficient sacrifice of our Lord Jesus and made a complete atonement for the sins of His people that fully satisfying every legal claim that God's Law had on us. Jesus' sacrifice then rendered any and every effort of our own sinful ways to pacify Him as needless and ineffective as dirty rags.

Hebrews 10:14 says "For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." That is to say, Christ has infallibly, irrevocably set apart to the service of God those who have believed, and only by the excellence of His finished work on the cross.

God the Father however did not stop at the cross, because the resurrection shouts His acceptance of His (Jesus Christ) work.

From the Prayers of the Apostles

Tip! Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Much has been written on what is usually called "the Lord's Prayer" (which I prefer to term "the Family Prayer") and much on the high priestly prayer of Christ in John 17, but very little about the prayers of the apostles. Personally I know of no book devoted to the apostolic prayers, and except for a booklet on the two prayers of Ephesians 1 and 3 have been scarcely any separate exposition of them.

It is not easy to explain this oversight. One would think that the apostolic prayers are so filled with important doctrine and practical value for believers that they should have attracted the attention of those who write on devotional subjects. While many of us very much deprecate the efforts of those who would have us believe that the prayers of the Old Testament are obsolete and inappropriate for the saints of this Gospel age, it seems to me that even Dispensational teachers should recognize and appreciate.

The peculiar suitability to Christians is the prayers recorded in the Epistles and the Book of Revelation. With the exception of the prayers of our Redeemer, only in the Apostolic prayers are praises and petitions specifically addressed to "the Father." Of all the prayers of Scripture, only these are offered in the name of the Mediator. Furthermore, in these prayers alone we will find the full breathings of the Spirit of adoption.

Tip! -Approach God in prayer and ask Him to show you His will for you. - Live how the Holy Bible teaches you to live and your body will be healed if you believe.

How blessed it is to hear some elderly saint, who has long walked with God and enjoyed intimate communion with Him, pouring out his heart before the Lord in adoration and supplication. But how much more blessed would we have esteemed ourselves had we had the privilege of listening to the God-ward praises and appeals of those who had walked with Christ during the days of His teaching among men!

If one of the apostles were still here on earth, what a high privilege we would deem it to hear him engage in prayer! Such a high one, I think, that most of us would be quite willing to go to considerable inconvenience and to travel a long distance in order to be so favored. And if our desire were granted, how closely would we listen to his words, how diligently would we seek to treasure them up in our memories.

Tip! It opens the door for salvations. (Act 2:42) "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers".

Well, no such inconvenience, no such journey, is required. It has pleased the Holy Spirit to record a number of the apostolic prayers for our instruction and satisfaction. Do we support our appreciation of such a benefit? Have we ever made a list of them and meditated on their significance? I don't think so!

We will start a series on the prayers of the apostles. I hope you will follow along and join in with your own comments and share with all of us what the Holy Spirit has shown you from the prayers of the apostles.