Trust Sees God doing Things Here and Now when We Pray! Part II

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.

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 very 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-room of your heart. It's unfolding and developments are rapid and wholesome when you are regularly and well kept. When these engagements are hearty and full and free, trust flourishes exceedingly. The eye and presence of God gives vigorous life to trust, just as the eye and the presence of the sun make fruit and flowers 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 on 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."

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.

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, endorses it, and enlightens it with love. This trust that informs prayer then centers in on a Person (Jesus Christ).

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.

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 things we are prayed for. It is not only, "Trust, ye, in the Lord," but, also, "for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."

The trust that our Lord taught as a condition of prevailing prayer is not from our head but from our heart. It is this trust that "doubts not in his heart." Such trust has the Divine assurance that it will 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.