Faith is a necessity
FEBRUARY 15, 2008 (THURSDAY)
“I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” These are the words of Jesus in Mark 11:24.
Faith is necessary when we pray.
When we say, “faith,” we are not talking about some vague notion that someone in the great somewhere hears us. We are talking about believing what God says and trusting Him to keep His promises.
We cannot take a Scripture verse out of context and say that is the basic foundational verse for the subject. No, Bible study is much more complex than that. We at least take into account all the other verses that are relevant to the subject, “Faith and Prayer.” When we examine Bible teaching on the subject and take a good look at our own experiences with prayer, we will discover that God answers prayer in one of three ways: (1) He may say ‘no,’ (2) He may say, “wait,” or (3) He may say, ‘yes.’ He answers prayer in the way that accomplishes His purposes in our lives and in the lives of those for whom we pray.
Let us be sure we are praying for the right reasons and in the right spirit. James said of the one who prays for wisdom, “he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:6-7 NIV). Faith is necessary for a successful prayer life.
We may rest assured that God hears us when we pray with faith. We need to cultivate faith as an attitude and a way of life. Then prayer becomes a natural part of what goes on in our hearts all the time, and is an expression of a living faith within us.