Chapter 1
Having Faith To Pray
Mt. 27:50 ... Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
This signified the way had now been made for us to go directly to God in prayer. We were now able to go into the "most high room" through the payment of Jesus in the crucifixion. We now go to God directly in prayer. We do not have to go through another person. We do not have to be in a church building or appointed place to pray. After the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus the Holy Spirit came to dwell in each believer. Now we, the individual believers are the temple of God.
Paul explains.
I Cor. 6 ... What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
We are made one with God and Jesus by the Spirit of God who dwells in us.
Heb. 4:15 ... Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
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Heb. 11: 6 ... But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
To have faith to pray, it might be helpful to focus on the following instruction:
Phil. 4 ... Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Often when there is a problem, we, as humans, want to pick up the phone and tell other humans our problem. The person we talk with might care about us and our problem. But that person may not be able to help us with the problem.
God has the power in all things to help with our problems and nothing is impossible with God.
I Cor. 10:13 ... There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it
Pam Padgett, a person in our church group, had a very serious problem when she was in college. She talked with God about the problem and she made a request to God. God resolved her problem but God did not resolve the problem the way she requested. HE had a better way to take care of the problem.
Here is the story:
Pam says ... Many years ago when I first started going to college God showed Himself strong on my behalf. My older sister had been at college two years when I started attending the same school. She dated a man who was a member of a fraternity, and had become a member of the fraternity's "women's auxiliary", assisting with fraternity social functions. She was very excited for me to join the social circles she was in, and especially wanted me to meet members of the fraternity.
The first week of school my sister invited me to go to a student bar where many of the fraternity guys gathered on Thursday nights. I went, but found what was going on there to be so bad (lewdness, drunkenness, etc.) that I was unable to stay and walked back to the dormitory.
A week or so later my sister asked if I'd go to an outdoor luau with one of the freshmen "pledges" at the fraternity. The luau site was about 20 miles away near a river, and there would be a campfire. The setting was very appealing to me, plus I was excited about having a date, and I agreed to go.
Then, a few days before the luau, my sister told me that arrangements had been made for one of the other fraternity guys to take me to the luau because my date would be spending the day at the luau site building a hut for us ... a young man I had never even met was building a hut "for us"!
Suddenly the reality of this luau became very clear to me. This was not going to be people sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows. The lewdness and drunkenness I had seen at the student bar was probably mild compared to what would be going on at this luau ... and I wouldn't be able to walk home.
I told my sister that I couldn't go along with this and did not want to go, but she kept insisting that it was too late for me to back out, that it was too late for this guy to find another date.
I turned very strongly to God, asking Him to somehow get me out of this situation. There seemed no way out. At one point I asked God to let me have appendicitis, preferring to be in a hospital having surgery than to go to this luau.
The morning of the luau I woke up and checked to see if I might have any pain that would indicate appendicitis, and was disappointed that I felt fine. I kept praying for God to somehow work this out. Time was really running out! When I looked outside, it was raining a little, but not much. However, the rain became heavier and heavier as the day went on.
Around 2 pm I received a call from the fraternity guy who planned to take me to the luau site. He told me how sorry he was to have to tell me this, but the luau had to be cancelled. The luau site had been totally flooded, washing away all the huts that had been built, which would include the hut my date had built for us. He told me how long the luau had been held at this same site (many years) and, although there had been rain at times in the past, nothing like this had ever happened before, flooding and causing the luau to be cancelled.
I rejoiced, knowing that God had delivered me.
The following scriptures also help us to have faith to pray.
I Thess. 5:17 ... Pray without ceasing.
James 4 ... Submit yourselves therefore to God (pray). Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw nigh to God (pour out your heart to God), and he will draw nigh to you.
Prov. 3 ... Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6In all thy ways acknowledge him (pray, telling God about the matter and asking HIM what to do), and he shall direct thy paths.
7Be not wise in thine own eyes: (don't try to figure it out in your own mind)
James 5:13 ... Is any among you afflicted? let him pray
James 1 ... If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
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