How many of you would like to receive answers to your prayers?
How many of you have situations in your life right now that you want to see change for the better?
Today, we are going to begin to look at the Prayer of Faith which is the prayer of petition or the prayer to change things.
Remember, prayer is all about your two-way communication and fellowship with God.
Mark 11:22-24 NKJV (22) So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. (23) For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. (24) Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Jesus is teaching the disciples about having faith in God.
In verse 23, the mountain He is talking about is the Mount of Olives. He and the disciples passed over the Mount of Olives every day for several days to go from Bethany, where they slept, to Jerusalem.
The phrase “removing a mountain” was a figure of speech in Jesus’ day which referred to doing that which was nearly impossible.
The sea He is talking about is the Dead Sea which was visible from the Mount of Olives.
Jesus is teaching us the importance of having faith in God.
In other words, you cannot have the impossible come to pass in your life without faith in God.
You cannot receive the answers to your prayers without faith in God.
We must do a brief study of what it means to have faith in God. Faith is actually very, very simple. We tend to complicate it.
Let’s look first at some things faith is not:
- Faith IS NOT believing for things.
- Faith IS NOT believing that something will or will not happen in our lives.
Sometimes people will believe something like “I am not going to get laid off.” See that is not what you are supposed to have faith in. You are supposed to have faith in God that He will see you through that lay-off and that you are going to come out better off with a better job, etc. because you believe Him and stand on His Word.
- Faith IS NOT the absence of difficulties. Faith is being aware of the nearness of God through the difficulties.
Hebrews 13:5-6 NKJV (5) Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU.” (6) So we may boldly say: “THE LORD IS MY HELPER; I WILL NOT FEAR. WHAT CAN MAN DO TO ME?”
Now let’s look at what faith is:
- Faith IS believing in God and that He is true to His Word.
Hebrews 11:1 AMP (1) NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].
Hope = Expectation
If you put your hope in something happening or not happening, you will be disappointed.
If you put your hope in Someone, God and His Word, you will never be disappointed.
Faith in God is the assurance of the things we hope for.
There is no hope or expectation in God without His Word. You must always make God’s Word the basis for our faith.
- Every believer starts with the same amount of faith when you receive Christ.
Romans 12:3 NKJV (3) For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
- Faith comes by hearing about God and His goodness and faithfulness to you.
Romans 10:17 NKJV (17) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Faith in God comes by hearing what the Word says about God.
The word “hearing” implies the receiving of the words and understanding the words that come from God’s Word.
Once the Word is received, then there is a basis for faith in God and then the prayer of faith Jesus spoke about in Mark 11:24 can be prayed.
- Faith in God is like a muscle. It grows as it is fed and exercised or used.
Faith only gets used in times of adversity.
Have you ever thought about Hebrews 11 and why we call it the Hall of Faith? It is because all of those people encountered difficulties and through faith made it through their difficulties and came out victorious.
In speaking to His disciples, there were two times that the scripture says Jesus marveled.
He marveled at little faith and He marveled at great faith.
Matthew 8:10 NKJV (10) When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great (strong) faith, not even in Israel!
He even rebuked His disciples for having little or no faith.
Matthew 8:26 NKJV (26) But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little (lacking or weak) faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
Always remember, it is not about the quantity of faith that you have; it is about the quality of the faith that you have.
- Faith in God must be personal. You must have faith in Who YOUR Heavenly Father is.
Philippians 4:19 NKJV (19) And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Always remember when we are talking about faith, we are talking about faith in God.
Our faith must be based in a Person, not in things, or whether something will happen or not.
It must be based on the simple truth that God is true to His Word and what He has said He has either already done through Christ’s redemption or He will do for you.
Faith is always personal between you and your Heavenly Father.
Faith is simply believing that God will do what His Word says He will do.