Faith Series 3

Faith Series

Part 3

“How Faith Prays”

John 16:24 “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

So far in this series on FAITH we’ve seen that faith is the GUARANTEE of what is not yet seen.

It is not moved by immediate lack of results.

And it embraces what has not yet arrived as if it has!

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Now today I want to talk about How Faith Prays...

That is, how does SAVING faith, the true Bible kind of faith, manifest itself in the prayer life of those who have it?

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First of all, if you are a true, born again child of God, you have...

Faith that prays...

A Christian who doesn’t pray is like a human that doesn’t breathe.

Prayer for the true child of God is as natural as breathing, or eating, or sleeping...

Whether you pray quietly in your heart, or shut away in a prayer closet, or shout out an urgent need, the child of God will pray.

In our text, Jesus speaks to his disciples as men who had not formerly been strong praying men, but now that they have followed Him, Jesus encourages them to develop a prayer life:

“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive...”

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No one encouraged prayer more than Jesus!

He encouraged asking in His name:

John 14:13 “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

He encouraged us to pray over our desires:

John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”

He connected a fruitful spiritual life with answered prayer:

John 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

So saving faith is also praying faith!

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And a SECOND characteristic of praying faith is that it will...

II. Persevere in prayer

I once heard a man preach that if you pray for something more than once, you’re not praying in faith...

Nothing could be further from the truth!

The Bible is filled with encouragement to not faint in prayer, not to give up, not to put up the white flag, in spite of difficult circumstances...

Jesus taught, as read from the Amplified Bible, “Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you” (Matt. 7:7).

Paul told the Ephesian church, “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere” (Eph. 6:18).

He instructed the Colossians, “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving” (Col 4:2).

Jesus said in a parable about prayer that “Men ought always to pray and not give up” (Lk. 18:1).

FACT: Sometimes a prayer is answered immediately, while other times PERSEVERANCE IN PRAYER is the only thing that will bring an answer!

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The truth is that we never know what’s going on behind the scenes as we pray.

Sometimes God is getting the right situation ready for us, and other times he’s getting us ready for the right situation!

Usually a little bit of both!

But you can be sure that, when you pray according to His will, God is moving to answer it...

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ILLUS: As a little boy I loved trains...they just fascinated me.

One time as Christmas was approaching, my dad asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I asked for a train.

I’ll never forget that Christmas morning...

My mom and dad escorted me down into our basement and told me to turn on the light.

When I flipped the switch it activated a Lionel train that my dad had constructed, complete with a headlight, smoke coming out of the locomotive, mountains and hills that it crossed over, all built on a huge piece of plywood—it was amazing!

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Now notice, I asked and my request moved my dad to answer.

But for weeks he was answering my request in a way I was totally unaware of, moving behind the scenes, preparing an amazing answer.

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And that’s how it is so often with prayer!

We ask and God sets out to answer, moving behind the scenes in ways we’re never aware of until the answer fully comes!

So Bible faith is praying faith, and Bible faith is persevering...

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And a third characteristic of praying faith is that it:

III. Trusts God’s character...

The Bible kind of Faith places it’s trust in God’s righteous, trustworthy character.

LISTEN: Any promise is no better than the one who made the promise.

If the one who made the promise is not a trustworthy person, their promise is worthless.

That’s why the Bible is careful to point out God’s totally trustworthy character!

The Bible says, “God isn’t a man that he would lie, or a human being that he would change his mind. Has he ever spoken and not done it, or promised and not fulfilled it?” (Numbers 23:19)

And listen to Ps 89:14, “Your throne stands on what is right and fair. Loving-kindness and truth go before You.”

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Over and over again, the Bible affirms God’s trustworthy character...

The bottom line is—His character is unassailable; His promises unbreakable!

And our knowledge of this is what gives us boldness and confidence in prayer!

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For instance, when God was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham approached him in prayer...

He began with a statement about God’s character, “Will you also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen. 18:23, 25)

He’s saying, “God, I trust your character. I know that because you are a just and righteous God, you will do what is right.”

His belief in the trustworthy, loyal, righteous, and compassionate character of God is what gave him his boldness in prayer!

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And so Abraham persevered in prayer, first asking that if there were 50 righteous people in Sodom, God would not destroy it..

Then he dropped to 45 righteous, then again to 40, then 30, then 20, and finally stopping at 10.

The whole thing is a perfect example of perseverance in prayer by a man whose faith in God’s righteous character was strong!

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ILLUS: A. W. Tozer once said that "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."

Tozer says, “The picture we have of God—what we believe his nature or character to be—profoundly influences the way we move through life, approach relationships, manage resources, or handle the difficulties we encounter along the way.”

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Is He a good God, or is He unfair?

Does He truly care about what happens to me or does He not?

Is He able and willing to answer prayer, or not so much?

Does He love me unconditionally—faults and all—or does His love swing on the hinge of how good a Christian I am?

What you believe about God is the most important thing about you, because nothing else will mold and shape your life more than that!

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For instance, when we read about the man in Jesus’s ‘parable of the talents,’ who buried his one talent instead of investing it and being fruitful, we find that he did so because of what he believed about his Master.

“Sir, I knew you were a hard man, and I was afraid you would rob me of what I earned, so I hid your money in the earth and here it is!”

He totally distrusted the character of the Master, and it robbed him of a fruitful life!

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What do you believe about God today?

The Bible assures us of His unconditional love,

Of His care and concern about the smallest details of our life,

and of His willingness and ability to answer prayer!

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So...The characteristics of true faith are...

True faith 1.) will pray, 2.) will persevere in prayer, and 3.) places it’s trust in the trustworthy character of God!