Word of Encouragement (9/15/2020)

Today, as we continue our reflection on applying God’s promises by praying, we want to talk about using the promises as the ground of our prayer. I hope we can all agree that God doesn’t owe us anything. If anything, we are the ones who owe God everything—from our lives and talents to our devotion and service. If we can pray for anything, it is only because God was good enough to give us His gracious promises. So, “to pray in faith is to go as far as the promise goes” (p. 66). So, John says, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15).

But what is the problem with many of our prayers? I think the way Edward Leigh puts the question will resonate with you:

“If I pray for the salvation of another, I have no promise [that that particular person will be saved], so how then can I pray in faith? So likewise when a man prays to be guided in business, to have such an enterprise to be brought to pass, to have deliverance from such a trouble, such a sickness or calamity that he lies under, he finds no particular promise, and for aught he knows, it shall never be granted: how can he be said to pray in faith? For to pray in faith is to believe that the thing shall be done” (p. 67).

This is where the Word of Faith people and their “name-it-and-claim-it” approach to faith go wrong. Often, they name and claim the promises that were given specifically to certain individuals in the Bible and demand them as if they were given to them. Then, what does it mean to pray for something in faith? Leigh says,

“Now no particular man has any particular promise, that he shall have such a deliverance, that he shall have such a mercy granted him; and therefore it is not required to believe, that that particular thing should be done, but [rather] that God is ready to do that which is best for me, in such a particular, that which shall be most for his own glory, and my good” (p. 67).

The authors summarize this beautifully in this way: “We may still pray in faith, but in the faith of submission and not with definite assurance” (pp. 67-68).

This is a wonderful insight, isn’t it? How many of us have felt guilty and blamed ourselves for not having enough faith when our prayers for specific things were not answered? Without knowing, we might have prayed like the “name-it-and-claim-it” people and needlessly questioned our faith or, even worse, questioned God’s goodness. Again, this doesn’t mean that we should not pray for specific things that our hearts desire. And when we pray for such things, we should be sincere and fervent. But what we must believe in praying for such things is not that God will necessarily grant them but that God will do what is best for us for His glory. We are to trust in His goodness, not the power of our faith to convince God to give us what we want.

I hope this will set you free from the burden and fear that your faith will be shaken if God doesn’t answer your prayers exactly the way you ask Him to do. This may be why you have been hesitant to pray or could not commit yourself to prayer—the fear of disappointment and doubt. But if we trust God and His good will toward us, we will not be disappointed. Now, go and pour out your heart to God and pray for the desires of your heart in faith, in the faith of submission!