Don’t ever short-circuit a miracle by trying to see it in progress! So many believers do that. They’ll lay hands on someone and pray for healing or deliverance and then, when they don’t see any immediate, outward change take place, they’ll withdraw their faith and assume nothing happened.
That verse is clear, isn’t it? The instruction is plain. Yet even in these tumultuous days when our nation is so desperately in need of God’s guidance, most of God’s people don’t do what that verse commands.
Why not?
I believe it’s because most of us are overwhelmed by the problems we see around us. How could my prayers make a dent in the national debt? we think. How could my faith affect foreign policy?
In other words, we fail to pray because we fail to realize just how powerfully our prayers can affect this country.
God’s rest. Considering the hectic, busy lives you and I live that sounds like a pretty good thing to have, doesn’t it? But exactly what is that rest? And how do we enter it?
The third and fourth chapters of Hebrews compare God’s rest with the children of Israel taking possession of the Promised Land. That land was to be a place where their every need would be met, a place of freedom from their warring enemies, a place no one would ever drive them from again. All they had to do was go in and possess it. But something kept them from it: unbelief and disobedience.
Did you know that Jesus has unlocked the prison doors of guilt that have kept you captive? It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve been. I don’t care if you’ve been a prostitute, a murderer, a thief, a drug dealer or a churchgoer who’s never made Jesus Christ Lord of your life. The Bible says that today is the day of salvation.
A new life is only a prayer away.
Have you ever been frustrated with the weaknesses of your flesh? Have you ever resolved never more to yield to a particular sin, yet when the temptation came, you fell right back into it?
It’s happened to all of us—even the disciple Peter. He swore he would never deny Jesus...but he did it anyway, time and time and time again.
Thousands of years ago, God told the children of Israel to go up and occupy the land that He had given them. He told them to take it, by force and without fear, from the ungodly ones who were dwelling there.
He's still saying that today. God is still trying to get us, as His people, to take the good land He's given us. He's still trying to get us to use the power He's given us to run the wicked one out.
The Word of God is to your spirit as bread is to your body. When your body feeds on physical food, it produces a physical power called strength. When your spirit feeds on the spiritual food of the Word, it produces spiritual power called faith. And just as you can't eat one meal and then feed on the memory of it for several weeks, you can't just remember what the Word says and stay strong in faith. You have to read it. Even if you've read it a hundred times, you need to read it again.
You can never get away with disobeying God.
Some people think they can. They think that if no one finds out about it, it won't hurt anything. After all, God is merciful. He's not going to hold it against them, right? And if no one else knows...what's the difference?
It's easy to get your spiritual eyes fixed so firmly on the problems in your life, you overlook the blessings completely! As a result, you end up suffering through situations that should have you rejoicing.
Let me show you what I mean. Not long ago, this ministry was facing some great financial pressures. I stood in faith against them. I battled against them with the Word and in prayer.
Did you know that, according to the Word of God, there is no lack in the Body of Christ? Everything we could ever need, every problem we could ever face has been covered by the blood of Jesus. His exceeding great and precious promises have supplied it all.
Why then do many of us keep on suffering lack? Because we haven't, as Hebrews 5:13 says, become skillful in the Word of righteousness.
Are all your needs met today? If not, why not?
According to the Word of God, it's either because you're not praying about them at all or because when you do pray, you're praying wrong.
What does it mean to pray wrong? In many cases it simply means to pray without expecting results. Many believers do that, you know. They use prayer as a kind of spiritual wishbone. They just play around with it. This probably won't do much good, they think, but who knows? It won't hurt to give it a try.
Faith-filled words. That's what changes things. They'll move mountains into the sea. They'll turn sickness into health. They'll turn a sinner into a saint.
They'll also take a sin-ridden nation and turn it into God's own country. That's right. Then, if we believers would back up the prayers we've been praying for this nation with words of faith instead of doubt and discouragement, we'd soon begin to see spiritual resurrection in the United States.
The Word tells us that God shows Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are "perfect" toward Him (2 Chronicles 16:9). That word perfect doesn't mean that we have to do everything just right and live without making a mistake. Thank God, we don't have to do that. It means "devoted"—a heart consecrated, dedicated, loyal and faithful to God.
The mistakes we make will not stop God from working in our lives. Only our lack of faithfulness can do that.
Most of us don’t have any idea what grace really is. Oh, we know some basic facts about it. We know we were saved by it (Ephesians 2:8). But we don’t even begin to understand the real power it can release in our lives now, today!
If you want to get a picture of what grace can really do, look at what happened to the early Christians in Acts 4. They’d been threatened by the religious leaders of Jerusalem and commanded not to speak or teach anymore in Jesus’ Name. So, they were praying about the situation.
Since God doesn’t save anyone against their will, does it really do any good to pray for people who consciously refuse to receive Jesus as Lord?
Yes. Yes! Yes! It does!
You see, in spite of the fact that most all unbelievers who have purposely refused to receive Jesus as Lord think they’ve made that decision of their own free will, the truth is, they haven’t. The Word of God says they’ve been blinded by Satan. He’s blocking their perception of the truth. So their decision hasn’t been freely made at all.
What a time of monumental decisions and changes we’re living in. If there ever was a day when you and I must know God’s will and purpose for our lives, it’s now.
In fact, nothing else is going to work! God is changing and rearranging things, lining them up for the end-time move of the Spirit. If you’re going to keep up, you must know God’s perfect plan for your life—and how to carry it out in His power!
How do you do that? Through prayer.
Things, things, things! A better job. A bigger house. New clothes for the kids. Tomorrow’s luncheon date. A better television. Get the picture?
Many of us have learned to believe God to prosper us to such a degree that we have too much to keep up with. We end up spending so much time and energy taking care of the legitimate “things” of life that we unconsciously give the attention and affections of our heart over to this natural world instead of to God.
Once you start stepping out in faith and walking in the spirit, the devil will see to it that you have ample opportunity to fall flat on your spiritual face. He’ll try to get you into some jams where there appears to be no way out.
But take it from me as one who’s been there, if you’ll look to God and trust His wisdom instead of your own, He’ll always show you a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). Not only that, but He’ll do it in such a way that He’ll get the glory and you’ll have the last laugh on the devil.
As a believer, you actually have residing in you the same new life God gave Jesus when He raised Him from the dead. The old sinner you once were has died. You’ve become a new creation on the inside.
You are full of the resurrection life of God!
But sin, disobedience and living a selfish, carnal life will keep that resurrection life from flowing out. Sin will separate you from the power of God, even though you’re born again. Resurrection life will lay dormant in you if you walk in sin.
So many believers wring their hands and worry about whether or not they’re praying according to God’s will. “Oh, dear me,” they say, “I certainly can’t expect God to do something for me that’s outside His will.” And they’re absolutely right.
But they don’t need to waste time standing around looking puzzled. They need to grab their Bibles and find out what the will of God is.