Praying in Faith (Part I)
Mary has chosen the best part (Luke 10:42)
Often people spend much effort and time praying over a cir- cumstance hoping that time and quantity of prayer will bring the desired result. The hope is that perhaps faith will increase through this effort and thus the prayer will be answered.
This kind of thinking implies that faith is built by the amount of time and energy expended. We need to understand that faith does not come through our effort. Faith is a result of what we know. Our “measure of faith” (Romans 12:3) will increase in proportion to the revelation we have of God’s character, His love, and His promises toward us. Often we do not realize the value of spending time with God when we are not praying for needs.
The reason we worship, quietly wait in His presence, and search the scrip- ture is mainly to build a relationship and to learn about the character, power, and love of God. Our intimacy and rela- tionship with Him will have a direct correlation to our level of faith; not because it earns us more authority, but because it gives something for our faith to stand on.
Declare: My trust and faith in God grows in proportion to how much I know His character, goodness, and trustworthi- ness. I therefore spend much time in His presence develop- ing intimacy with Him.
Checklist to Ignite Faith: ___ BR ___ RD ___ DD ___OD ___ NF
Perceiving and assuming what might come often leads me to remembering that I just need to take a back seat and just let God. Believing and knowing are different for me. Knowing what his scripture says and what is spoken to me in prayer are not going to mean anything if I don’t put forth the steps to make use of what I’m receiving. When I believe, my faith is strong in what is said or written. It just depends on my mindset in those moments, staying in a constant one on one with Him is always the hardest.
This is so true I often forget to just spend time with God and knowing he is there, and that his plans are good for me. And everytime I make the time to spend with him I recieve more peace in knowing his character and love for us. He is such a good God and he loves us all so much.
The more we know God, the more faith we’ll have. Life’s problems won’t seem too big, and we won’t get frantic that we must try harder and pray more to get God’s help. We can be at peace knowing that God already has it all under control.
it is hard to get out of the mindset that if I do enough, if I say(pray) the right thing, or if I get everything in exactly the right order; then maybe my faith will increase. Just maybe then, my faith will be enough for my prayers to be heard.
But in reality increased faith comes from simply sitting at the feet of Jesus. Getting to know the man, Christ, Jesus and hearing his heart and experiencing his power and love is where faith is built. Mary already knew who Jesus was and in her faith was able to give it all up at His feet.
Our faith comes in knowing God and building our relationship stronger and deeper with him in all moments and circumstances in our lives.