“ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts…must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;”-James 1:6-7
The word of God has quite a bit to say about prayer. The title to this article comes from an inspired description of Jesus’ parable concerning a tenacious widow who pesters a judge into taking her side (Luke 18:1-8). Our Lord is encouraging us to be faithful and persistent in prayer. Jesus says, if we, “cry to him (God) day and night” our heavenly Father will rule in our favor.
James chapter one has a similar message about prayer, but it draws a line. Our Lord’s brother declares, if we pray without believing God actually has the power to deliver, we might as well not pray. Strong language from the Holy Spirit! This should shake the cobwebs off of our prayer life.
It is easy for me to “pray for someone” without a specific thought of healing or blessing. Oh, I pray for people, but am I asking with the faith God can and will answer? This has to do with my faith in God to act miraculously in today’s world. So, what about it? Do I believe God can cure cancer, heal the sick, or financially bless Christians today? Or do I think those things have passed into time? No! Our God is alive and he is able!
How many times does Jesus refer to his disciples as, “O you of little faith,”-Matthew 14:31? James tells us, God will not answer our prayers if we don’t believe in God’s power to affect the change for which we ask. Not only will our prayers go unanswered, our lack of faith is a sign of a bigger problem. A person with weak faith cannot be trusted to do the right thing in a time of testing, “the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind…he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”-James 1:7-9.
A lack of faith in God to heal, strengthen, and comfort miraculously is evidence a person does not believe in a living God. That kind of person has no fear of sinning against our heavenly Father. They have no trust in a God who can strengthen them in a time of persecution. A man who has no real faith in God will fold up like a cheap suit when it is time to take a stand on the rock (Matthew 7:24).
So, what can we do? The old saying goes, “Practice makes perfect.” The more we pray, the more we are thinking about things of God. Paul says, “pray without ceasing.”-I Thessalonians 5:17. Regular prayer takes me out of this world and reminds me of heavenly things. I trust my human friends because we interact frequently. The same goes for my relationship with God in prayer.
The other solution is to pray for more faith. The apostles could not imagine having a heart that could forgive someone seven times a day. Luke records their reaction, “The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Lord increase our faith!’”-Luke 17:5. The answer to a prayer life devoid of faith, is to ask for faith when we pray! One of my favorite Bible passages is the response to Jesus of a man whose son was demon possessed. The father believed in Jesus on one level, but couldn’t imagine the power to free his son. He asks Jesus to help, “if you can”-Mark 9:22. Aren’t we guilty of praying like that sometimes? Listen to the father, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”-Mark 9:24 (KJV). May God bless us with prayers of faith.
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