ALL ABOUT FAITH

When it comes to getting answers to our prayers from God, often we waver in our faith and give up too soon. Prayer that gets God’s attention is faith-filled and shamelessly bold!

Oh, how I would love to have been a fly on the wall when Jesus was praying! I can only imagine what it would’ve been like to hear the tone of his voice, listen to the words he used, and experience the passion of his heart! I wish God would give me a dream sometime to let me experience Jesus praying! How wonderful that would be!

One day, after watching and listening to Jesus praying, the disciples came to him and asked if he would teach them to pray. After sharing what is often referred to as the Lord’s prayer, he told them a story to illustrate the importance of boldness and persistence in prayer. He said, “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, 6 ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ 7 And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ 8 But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. Luke 11:5-8

I believe that it is the spirit of faith that causes a person to relentlessly pursue what they know is the heart of God. In Luke chapter 18, we see Jesus again teaching his disciples to pray. Again, he used a story to illustrate his point, but this time it was about a woman seeking justice from a wicked judge. In the story, though evil and heartless, the judge finally gave in to the woman’s demands because of her shameless persistence. After telling the story, Jesus went on to make a very significant statement.

Luke 18:6-8 Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Looking closely at the Scripture, we can see that faith-filled prayer is what God wants. But what does faith-filled prayer look like? In verse seven, it says, “his chosen ones cry out to him day and night.” Many times we halfheartedly pray for something once and then wonder why we never received an answer. Faith is persistent! A person who believes they are praying the will of God will continue to pray until the answer comes.

Not only does the Scripture say they pray consistently (day and night), but they pray passionately. The passage says that they cry out. The Greek word used is boao, and it means to cry or to declare loudly as if one was in pain or fear.

Sometimes we don’t take God seriously! He longs to bless us, but often we don’t really believe what we’re saying. If only we saw God as our ONLY answer; how much more intensely we would pray!

You might be thinking, I don’t know how to pray like that, or that is not personality. I assure you, the more you recognize God as your only answer, the more you will, by faith, passionately pursue him. The more you are convinced you are praying God’s will, the more you will boldly and shamelessly pursue the answer.

I firmly believe God is calling us to walk in his power! I believe that a significant increase of faith is coming upon us! Halfhearted, faithless prayers will soon be something from the past! Knowing God’s heart and praying his will with faith and passion will bring about amazing answers to our prayers!

Please understand this; powerful prayer is not about praying loud or trying to sound intense. Powerful prayer is…

ALL ABOUT FAITH