Now faith is the substance of the things hoped for; the evidence of the things not seen."
Faith is the substance from which our prayer life should be assembled. According to the dictionary another word for substance is material. So faith is not just a substance, it’s actually the material of which our prayers are made.
Let’s say you were going to build a house. You would use the precise material (substance) that is needed to start the foundation before you even thought about the walls, windows, flooring etc. So before we do anything else concerning our faith walk we need to make certain that our foundation is secure in Jesus. He is our Rock. Our faith should be grounded in Him because He is the Author and finisher of our faith. (See Hebrews 12:2, Matthew 7:24-25, and I Corinthians 10:4)
After we accept Jesus as Savior, He is the foundation on which we build our faith. If we don’t lay a solid foundation, however, anything else that we build on our foundation will not hold up. So we must be certain that the faith we have is truly of the Lord.
Remember; the only way to attain spiritual successis to use the precise spiritual material that is required. The spiritual material I am speaking of isfaith, the faith that we obtain from God.
How do we obtain faith?
You may say you don’t have any faith. But God has already given to each of us the measure of faith.(See Romans 12:3) So stop saying you don’t have any faith because we all have faith.
In Luke 17:6
the apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith. By this they meant they wanted to have greater faith. But Jesus said, "If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you."
It only takes a small amount of faith to accomplish great things for the Lord. But first, you need to realize that the faith you already have needs to be feed regularly.
How do I feed my faith?
Faith is only attainable from God and through Gods’ Word
Romans 10:17, "So then Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God."
As I have already stated above God gives each of us a certain amount of faith. But let’s face it, He is not going to serve everything to us on a silver platter. We need to take the initiative and go to church to hear the preaching of God’s Word. Our faith depends on the Word.
What happens if I don’t go to church?
If you don’t go to church your faith will suffer. Pretty soon you will become discouraged and disheartened. You will get to where you won’t even want to go at all. But – the big thing is—and an important one—if you don’t hear the Word of God preached, your faith will starve, dry up and leave you stranded in a pool of disappointment or even worse, trouble. If you don’t go to church you will be allowing this to happen. The devil wants nothing more but to isolate you from other believers.
What Exactly is the Prayer of Faith?
This kind of faith not only will heal your body, but at the same time, forgive your sins.
James 5:15, "And the
prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed any sins, they shall be forgiven him."
This scripture is an interesting one in that, not only do the elders have the faith to heal if called upon, but the person being prayed for may also be forgiven if they have committed any sins. So, with one prayer one can be healed and forgiven.
Many people don’t realize that salvation is not only for the soul but also for the body. When we fully accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior we are no longer in bondage to sin or sickness. You may disagree with me on this, but I can’t find one single scripture in the Bible that states we are to remain sick after we become Children of God.
Lets take look at a couple of scriptures:
3rd John verse 2 says, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth."
St. Matthew 10:1, "And when He had called unto Him His twelve disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. "
Jesus gave His disciples power to cast out devils and to heal all manner of sickness. If He didn’t want to heal Jesus would not have given them the power to heal.
Yes, the above scriptures make it clear. As our soul prospers day to day through reading and obeying Gods’ Word, so should our body and mind. Peradventure we do get sick, through the prayers of our brothers and sister, He will raise us up.
How Long Does It Take for Faith to Work?
Ask until you receive, seek until you find, knock until the door is opened.
Luke 11:9, "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and it shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."
When you first pray about something you may not see an answer to your prayer right away. But if you keep praying and relying on Gods’ Word you will reap if you faint not.
So no matter how bad the situation may seem, keep on asking, seeking and knocking until you have what you are asking God for. (See Matthew 7:7-8 and Mark 11:23)
Conclusion:
Yes, your prayers, if prayed in faith, will be answered if you don’t give up and quit the job. If you were building a natural house you wouldn’t give up until the last board was in place, so why would you want to give up on your prayers being answered? After all, it’s more important that your spiritual house is built with the utmost care than your natural house. And, through prayer, this is attainable.
Copyright 2000-2001 by Darlene Osborne (Revised Jan. 2008)
