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CONFIDENCE IN PRAYER
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CONFIDENCE IN PRAYER
Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea! and does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him. For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it].
MARK 11:23,24
I chose prayer as the subject of this final chapter because it is so central to any success. If you and I are going to succeed at being ourselves and succeed in life, then we must know how to pray and be willing to give prayer a place of priority in our daily lives.
Every failure is in essence a prayer failure.
If we don’t pray, the best thing than can happen is nothing, so that things will stay the way they are, which is frightening enough in itself. We all need change, and the way to get it is through prayer.
It doesn’t do any good to pray if we don’t have confidence (faith) in prayer.
I believe a lot of people are dissatisfied with their prayer life, and much of their dissatisfaction is caused by a lack of confidence in themselves and in their prayers. Many Christians today have questions about their prayer life and feel frustrated about it. Even those who are actively praying regularly testify that they are frustrated because they feel something may be missing; they are not sure they are doing it right.
I can relate to this situation because I felt that way myself for a lot of years. I was committed to praying every morning, but at the end of my prayer time I always felt vaguely frustrated. I finally asked God what was wrong with me, and He responded in my heart by saying, “Joyce, you don’t feel that your prayers are good enough.” It was right back to the old condemnation thing all over again. I was not enjoying prayer because I had no confidence that my prayers were acceptable. What if they were “imperfect”?
God had to teach me some lessons about praying in faith, about understanding that the Holy Spirit was helping me in prayer and that Jesus was interceding along with me. (Romans 8:26; Hebrews 7:25.) If two of the Persons of the Godhead were helping me, surely my imperfect prayers were perfected by the time they arrived at the throne of God the Father. This knowledge took a lot of pressure off of me, but I still needed to develop confidence in simple, believing prayer.
SIMPLE,BELIEVING PRAYER__________________
And when you pray, do not heap up phrases (multiply words, repeating the same ones over and over) as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their much speaking.
Matthew 6:7
We must develop confidence in simple, believing prayer. We need the confidence that even if we simply say, “God, help me,” He hears and will answer. We can depend on God to be faithful to do what we have asked Him to do, as long as our request is in accordance with His will. We should know that He wants to help us because He is our Helper. (Hebrews 13:6.)
Too often we get caught up in our own works concerning prayer. Sometimes we try to pray so long, loud, and fancy that we lose sight of the fact that prayer is simply conversation with God. The length or loudness or eloquence of our prayer is not the issue, it is the sincerity of our heart and the confidence we have that God hears and will answer us that is important.
Sometimes we try to sound so devout and elegant that we get lost. We don’t even know what we are trying to pray about. If we could ever get delivered from trying to impress God, we would be a lot better off.
Several years ago God caused me to realize that when I had occasion to pray out loud in front of other people, I really was not talking to Him at all. I was actually trying to impress those listening with my eloquent, spiritual-sounding prayer. Simple, believing prayer comes straight out of the heart of the one praying and goes straight to the heart of God.
How often should we pray? First Thessalonians 5:17 says, Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly] or as the King James Version puts it, Pray without ceasing.
If we don’t understand simple, believing prayer, that instruction can come down upon us like a very heavy burden. We may feel that we are doing well to pray thirty minutes a day, so how can we possibly pray without ever stopping? We need to have such confidence about our prayer life that prayer becomes just like breathing, an effortless thing that we do every moment we are alive. We don’t work and struggle at breathing, unless we have a lung disorder, and neither should we work and struggle at praying. I don’t believe we will struggle in this area if we really understand the power of simple, believing prayer.
We should remember that it is not the length or loudness or eloquence of the prayer that makes it powerful — prayer is made powerful by the sincerity of it and the faith behind it.
If we don’t have confidence in our prayers we will not pray very much, let alone pray without ceasing. Obviously the terminology “without ceasing” does not mean that we must be offering some kind of formal prayer every moment twenty-four hours a day. It means that all throughout the day we should be in a prayerful attitude. As we encounter each situation or as things come to our mind that need attention, we should simply submit them to God in prayer.
We see then that prayer cannot depend on assuming a certain posture or attitude or being in a certain place.
WE ARE THE PLACE OF PRAYER__________________
…My house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
Isaiah 56:7
Under the Old Covenant, the temple was the house of God, the place of prayer for His people. Under the New Covenant we are now God’s house, a building still under construction, but none the less His house, His tabernacle, His dwelling place. Therefore, we should be called a house of prayer:
For we are fellow workmen (joint promoters, laborers together) with and for God; you are God’s garden and vineyard and field under cultivation, [you are] God’s building.
1 Corinthians 3:9
Do you not discern and understand that you [the whole church at Corinth] are God’s temple (His sanctuary), and that God’s Spirit has His permanent dwelling in you [to be at home in you, collectively as a church and also individually]?
1 Corinthians 3:16
Ephesians 6:18 lets us know that we can pray anywhere at anytime about anything, and that we should be watchful to do so: Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of ] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people). If we believe and practice Ephesians 6:18, it can be life changing and certainly prayer changing.
It seems even when we do think about some prayer concern, we almost always follow that thought with another type of wrong thinking: “I need to remember to pray about this during my prayer time.”
Why don’t we stop and pray right then? Because we have a mental stronghold in this area. We think we must be in a certain place, in a certain frame of mind and in a certain position before we can pray. It’s no wonder we don’t get much praying done. If the only time we can pray is when we are sitting still and doing absolutely nothing else, most of us certainly won’t be praying without ceasing.
We should all set aside a time to spend with God when we are doing nothing else, and we should discipline ourselves to keep our appointments with Him. We are diligent to keep doctor, dentist and lawyer appointments, but somehow when it comes to God we feel we can change our appointments without notice or even not show up at all.
If I were God, I would be insulted!
Yes, we should have these set-apart times, but in addition to that we should be exercising our privileges of prayer all day long. Our prayers can be verbal or silent, long or short, public or private — the important thing is that we pray!
SECRET PRAYER__________________
Also when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of t
he streets, that they may be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full already.
But when you pray, go into your [most] private room, and, closing the door, pray to your Father, Who is in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open.
Matthew 6:5,6
Although some prayers are public prayers or group prayers, most of our prayer life is secret and should be that way. In other words, we don’t have to broadcast how much we pray and everything we pray about.
“Secret prayer” means a number of things. It means that we do not broadcast to everyone we know our personal experiences in prayer. We pray about the things and people God places on our heart, and we keep our prayers between us and Him unless we have a really good reason to do otherwise.
There is nothing wrong with saying to a friend, “I have been praying for the youth of our nation a lot lately,” or, “I have been praying for people to enter into a more serious relationship with God.” Sharing of this type is simply part of friendship, but there are things God places on our heart to pray about that we should keep to ourselves.
“Secret prayer” means that we do not make a display of our prayers to impress people. We see an example of the right and wrong way to pray in Luke 18.
HUMBLE PRAYER__________________
Two men went up into the temple [enclosure] to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee took his stand ostentatiously and began to pray thus before and with himself: God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men — extortioners (robbers), swindlers [unrighteous in heart and life], adulterers — or even like this tax collector here.
I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I gain.
But the tax collector, [merely] standing at a distance, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but kept striking his breast, saying, O God, be favorable (be gracious, be merciful) to me, the especially wicked sinner that I am!
I tell you, this man went down to his home justified (forgiven and made upright and in right standing with God), rather than the other man; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Luke 18:10-14
For prayer to be properly called “secret prayer,” it must come from a humble heart.
In this lesson on prayer taught by Jesus Himself, we see that the Pharisee prayed “ostentatiously,” meaning that he prayed pretentiously, making an extravagant outward show. There was nothing secret or even sincere about his prayer. The Amplified Bible translation quoted above even says that he prayed “before and with himself.” In other words, his prayers never got two inches away from himself; he was all caught up in what he was doing.
The second man in the story, a despised tax collector and a “wicked sinner” in most people’s eyes, humbled himself, bowed his head and quietly, with humility, asked God to help him. In response to his sincere, humble prayer, a lifetime of sin was wiped away in a moment. This is the power of simple, believing prayer.
My ministry team and I have the privilege of leading thousands of people to the Lord each year in our conferences. Watching the people who respond to the altar call is phenomenal. I talk to them a few minutes and lead them in a very simple prayer of faith and surrender. In those few moments, a lifetime of sin is removed and righteousness takes its place through simple faith in Jesus Christ.
God has not given us a bunch of complicated, hard-to-follow guidelines. Christianity can be simple, unless complicated people make it complicated.
Build your faith on the fact that simple, believing prayer is powerful. Believe that you can pray anywhere, anytime, about anything. Believe that your prayers don’t have to be perfect, or eloquent, or long. Keep them short and simple, full of faith — and fervent.
FERVENT PRAYER__________________
….The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
James 5:16 NKJV
For prayer to be effective it must be fervent. However, if we misunderstand the word fervent, we may feel that we have to “work up” some strong emotion before we pray; otherwise, our prayers will not be effective.
I know there were many years when I believed this way, and perhaps you are likewise confused or deceived. Here are some other translations of this verse that may make its meaning more clear:
…The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].
James 5:16 AMP
…The heartfelt supplication of a righteous man exerts a mighty influence.
James 5:16 WEYMOUTH
…the prayers of the righteous have a powerful effect.
James 5:16 MOFFATT
…Tremendous power is made available through a good man’s earnest prayer.
James 5:16 PHILLIPS
I believe this Scripture means that our prayers must be truly sincere, coming out of our heart and not just our head.
At times I experience a great deal of emotion while at prayer, sometimes I even cry. But there are plenty of times when I don’t feel emotional and don’t cry; I am sincere in my praying, but I don’t feel anything out of the ordinary.
Believing prayer is not possible if we base the value of our prayers on feelings.
I remember enjoying so much those prayer times when I could feel God’s presence, and then wondering what was wrong during the times
when I didn’t feel anything. I learned after a while that faith is not based on feelings in the emotions, but on knowledge in the heart.
THE PRAYERS OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN__________________
…The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
James 5:16 NKJV
James 5:16 states that the fervent prayer of a “righteous” man is powerful. This means a man who is not under condemnation — one who has confidence in God and in the power of prayer. It does not mean a man without any imperfection in his life.
The very next verse uses Elijah as an example: Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have [with feelings, affections, and a constitution like ours]; and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months.
Elijah was a powerful man of God who did not always behave perfectly, but he still prayed powerful prayers. He did not allow his imperfections to steal his confidence in God.
Elijah had faith, but he also had fear. He was obedient, but at times he was also disobedient. He was repentant, he loved God and wanted to know His will and fulfill His call upon his life. But sometimes he gave in to human weaknesses and tried to avoid the consequences of that will and calling.
In many ways Elijah was a lot like you and me. In 1 Kings 18 we see him moving in tremendous power, calling down fire from heaven and slaying 450 prophets of Baal at God’s command. Then immediately afterwards, in 1 Kings 19 we see him fearfully running from Jezebel, becoming negative and depressed, and even wanting to die.
Like many of us, Elijah let his emotions get the upper hand. The fact that James 5:16 instructs us to pray powerful effective prayers like the righteous men and women of God — and then gives a discourse on Elijah and how he was a human being just like us, and yet prayed powerful prayers — should give us enough “scriptural power” to defeat condemnation when it rises up to tell us we cannot pray powerfully because of our weaknesses and faults.
MEN WHO PRAYED__________________
Then he spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.
Luke 18:1 NKJV
The Bible is filled with accounts of men and women who walked with God and who viewed prayer as the main business of their lives.
Jesus prayed:
And in the morning, long before daylight, He got up and went out to a deserted place, and there He prayed.
Mark 1:35
Surely prayer was important to Jesus; otherwise, He would have stayed in bed. Most of us don’t get up early for anything unle
ss it is very important.
We see that Jesus didn’t make a big display of prayer. In this example He went to a private place, where the Bible simply says, “He prayed.”
David prayed:
O God, You are my God, earnestly will I seek You; my inner self thirsts for You, my flesh longs and is faint for You, in a dry and weary land where no water is.
Psalm 63:1
David prayed what I call “seeking God” prayers. Many times a day I find myself whispering in my heart or even out loud, “Oh, God, I need You.” This is simple, but powerful prayer. God responds to this kind of prayer. He helps us, manifests His Presence to us and is blessed by our dependence upon Him.
Other times I hear myself say to the Lord, “Father, help me with this.” It has become a habit, one I hope I never manage to break.
The Bible says that we have not because we ask not. (James 4:2 KJV.) Why not ask for help frequently?
Daniel prayed:
Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house, and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he got down upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.