Prayer

The 3rd Way to Increase Your Confidence in Prayer

Overcoming, Prayer, Relationship with God /

In this third and final blog post on the topic “3 Ways to Increase Your Confidence in Prayer” we shall be considering how to overcome a third major debilitating issue that undermines confidence in prayer, the mischaracterization of God. By mischaracterization I am referring to any view of God that distorts His gracious, loving, and benevolent nature.

In previous posts we saw how 1) Applying the Blood of Jesus is God’s provision in dealing with condemnation and how 2) Asking for a Spirit Given, Word Based Prayer is God’s answer for settling any confusion around praying according to the will of God. So, without further ado, here is how anyone seeking God in prayer, can do so confidently by identifying and rejecting misleading views of God, while embracing an accurate understanding of His divine nature.

3) FOCUS ON GOD’S “DONE” INSTEAD OF YOUR “DO” – Confidence in God is antithetical to having confidence in oneself. This is a distinguishing characteristic of Christianity which, unlike all other religions, bases the benevolent acceptance by God on what He has done for His followers versus what they must do for Him.

This done versus do religious dichotomy is rooted in two fundamentally different understandings and portrayals of God. The God to whom the Christian relates and approaches in prayer is a loving, gracious Father who has already done for His children what they cannot do for themselves. The forgiveness of sin, a righteous standing, and the promise of eternity are fully provided by God through the gift of His Son (John 3:16). This explains why the Apostle Paul writes “because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence” (Ephesians 3:12 NLT). In contrast, the god whom all other religions portray is a deity who demands religious deeds that a person must do in order to earn their love, acceptance, and favor.

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The 2nd Way to Increase Your Confidence in Prayer

1 Comment / Overcoming, Prayer, Relationship with God /

Now let us focus on a second way to increase our confidence in prayer – by ridding ourselves of the confusion of not knowing how to pray. Uncertainty with regard to discovering and praying according to the will of God is a debilitating confidence robber. The epistle of James likens this condition to being plagued by doubt, tossed to and fro like a wave of the sea, and terms it “double-mindedness” (James 1:6, 8 NIV). He tells us that such a “person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:7 NIV). Truth be told, nothing deflates our rising expectation for answered prayer like double-mindedness.

But wait, the opposite is also true. Nothing pumps up our prayer expectations like knowing the will of God. No one explains this better than the Apostle John. “This is the confidence which we have before 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 which we have asked from Him” (1 John 5:14-15 NIV Emphasis Added). These verses lay the foundation upon which every effective prayer should be based – asking according to His will. The challenge, of course, in any given situation which requires prayer, is to discover exactly what the will of God is. This is obviously easier said than done.

What then should a person to do who desires to pray, but is battling double-mindedness and has no confidence as to what the will of God may be?

2. ASK FOR A SPIRIT GIVEN, WORD BASED PRAYER. It is to the Holy Spirit that we must look for confident direction in our praying and it is with a yielded will that we must come to the throne of grace in order to receive that direction.

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3 Ways to Increase Your Confidence in Prayer

4 Comments / Overcoming, Prayer, Relationship with God /

Confidence. As with many things we approach in life, including the throne of grace, having confidence is often the deciding factor between success in getting what we desire or failure. In the verse above the writer of the book of Hebrews underscores the importance of praying with confidence. This truth is stated even more emphatically later in the book, where he substitutes the word “faith” for “confidence.” “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV Emphasis added).

Since confidence is such a critical requirement when it comes to prayer, what can a person do who lacks faith or confidence? The good news is when you don’t have it, God has provided ways to get it.

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What About Unanswered Prayer?

1 Comment / Holy Spirit Aha's, Prayer, Relationship with God /

Everybody wonders at times about unanswered prayer. It’s not uncommon to ask why it is that God never seems to answer some prayers. One could make a Biblical case that certain prayers prayed with wrong motives, lack of faith, unforgiveness, unconfessed sin, and/or not according to God’s etc. will invariably be hindered or delayed in receiving an acceptable answer. But beyond such discernable reasons there yet remains a mystery as to why some prayers are not answered. When faced with the perplexity of unexplainable causes for our prayers remaining unanswered we can easily become discouraged and disheartened in our praying.

As I have grappled with the unanswered prayers in my life I have found hope and comfort in reminding myself of three fundamental truths. These truths have to do with the fatherly nature of God, the seed nature of prayer, and the importance of keeping an eternal perspective. Whenever I have acknowledged and chosen to meditate upon these truths, the Holy Spirit invariably begins to blow upon the embers of my discouraged heart and once again fan into the flame my passion to persist in prayer. With that great benefit in mind, I offer them here for your consideration with the expectation that they will encourage you the way they never cease to encourage me.

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The Priority of Praying God’s Word

5 Comments / Prayer /

Most people would agree that the major challenge to praying faith-filled, prevailing prayers is to find out God’s will and pray it back to Him. While at times discovering His will may seem a daunting task, it is not as shrouded in darkness as some may tend to assume. Thankfully God in His providence has given us “a lamp for [our] feet, a light on [our] path” with which to guide us to His will, and it is called His Word (Psalm 119:105 NIV).

Praying God’s Word with the help and illumination of the Holy Spirit, is therefore the primary means God has provided for us to pray according to His will. The Bible, which contains all of God’s words and promises, is among other things a prayer book. When we pray from the Bible, reciting back to God His own words and will, we do so with an incredible confidence, knowing not only that we are in agreement with Him, but also that He is hearing and agreeing with us. When that happens, we cannot help but believe that answers to our prayers are sure to come.

Psalm 119, the longest recorded prayer in the Bible is illustrative of this priority of praying according to God’s word/will. In this Psalm, in which God’s Word is likened to a lamp and a light, we find its author David, appealing to God repeatedly on that basis. At least twenty four times, we see David asking God to hear and answer him based on God’s own “word,” “promises,” or “laws.” “Remember your word to your servant.” “Sustain me, my God, according to your promise, and I will live.” “Preserve my life according to your laws” (Psalm 119:49, 116, 156 NIV emphasis added).

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