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.