4. Pursue Faith
The more we become like God, the more genuine faith will characterize our lives. We discussed earlier in our study how the fullest desire of Christ was to be pleasing to God. The writer of Hebrews tells us that if we desire to please God, faith must be the key ingredient in our relationship with Him.
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)
We find in this passage a call to faith and a definition of the faith to which we are called. The call is to seek God and those things that come from Him. Men and women of faith are seekers of God.
SUBSTANCE AND EVIDENCE
Our image of faith often falls into that illusive, mystical picture of a person who is able to visualize things no one else can see. Surely vision is a significant aspect of faith, but in the definition of faith that we find in Hebrews, there is no illusory sense to it at all.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
The King James Version renders this definition of faith as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” God wants faith to be the response of our hearts and souls; He wants it to characterize all of our lives. Faith, being substantial and based on evidence, involves no blind trust or a leap in the dark! When God calls us to a life of faith, that life is built on the strong foundation of confidence in all of His revelation to us and the evidence of all that He is. That is why the writer of Hebrews continues in chapter 11 by giving us a series of examples of men and women who expressed genuine faith. Faith is historically evident. After talking about Abel, Enoch, and Noah, he talks of Abraham, who obeyed by going out to the place that God would give him as an inheritance, even though he did not know where God was leading:
By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. (Hebrews 11:9-10)
Abraham did not allow the roots of his life to sink deeply into the system of this world. God had shown him a Kingdom beyond this earthly kingdom that had an even greater depth of reality. The builder of that Kingdom is God. Sarah is also a model for the faith of all men and women. Her life of servanthood and obedience is a vivid example for any man or woman who desires to walk wholeheartedly after God. She, too, was able to see Him and believe Him for a son, even in her barrenness.
By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. (Hebrews 11:11)
In the following passage the writer continues to discuss the condition of those who, by faith, lived as strangers and exiles on the earth. They were not seeking a country of their own; they were seeking one that God would give to them:
If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:15-16)
After going through the generations of Abraham, the writer turns his focus to Moses. Moses also endured through the kingdom of this world because God had revealed to him the reality of the heavenly Kingdom awaiting him:
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. (Hebrews 11:24-26)
Moses considered the reproach of Christ more valuable than anything he could possess in Egypt. The author tells us whom Moses had seen many hundreds of years before God walked this earth as a man. He identified with Christ in this world!
By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. (Hebrews 11:27)
Moses saw the invisible God, and that vision motivated him to a life of obedience. This is the common denominator in all the men and women listed in Hebrews 11. They all sought God beyond anything in this world; they all endured in the midst of this kingdom because of the reality of His life and His Kingdom that they had seen. The writer closes this chapter with a further list of those who trusted God, those whose faith was so powerful and whom God used in such mighty ways.
There is another list here, however, of men and women who had faith but were seen by the world as neither powerful nor mighty. They were seen as weak, were counted as nothing in this world, and were considered losers by any measure. They were tortured, stoned, imprisoned, left to wander this world with nothing of their own, and put to death. Yet God lists them here with all of the “winners” who had such great faith. These men and women had great faith too. Faith is the response of obedience within our hearts and lives to what God has revealed. God never measures faith by the results expected by men but always by the heart of obedience that He sees within those whom He has called. Now we, too, are called to live out this same commitment of faith within this world.
And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:39-40)
SEEING AND SEEKING
We see clearly the evidence of faith in the lives of these men and women listed in Hebrews 11. They were able to see God revealed even in this world, and they sought to please Him with all of their lives, even in costly obedience. When Christ taught His disciples, we see these same truths concerning faith come alive in His ministry to them. In the Sermon on the Mount, near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry to His disciples, Christ taught them basic principles about living for Him and His Kingdom in the midst of this world. Just before this great sermon begins, Matthew sets the scene for us:
And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. (Matthew 4:23)
Christ is proclaiming “the good news of the kingdom.” In expressing his great compassion for the multitudes as He healed and encouraged them, Christ was teaching about a new Kingdom. The same Kingdom that those in Hebrews 11 were seeking was the focus of Christ’s message! He began his sermon by calling His disciples to Himself and giving them the basic teachings of discipleship. In these Beatitudes, Christ is teaching His disciples how to live out a life in which they are physically present in one realm while their lives are found in another Kingdom.
In the beginning of Matthew 6, in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, Christ taught His disciples to seek life and approval from their Father in heaven rather than from the people around them:
Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 6:1)
How often we tend to take our view of ourselves from how those around us see us! We want to please them and gain their approval in order to feel good about ourselves. All too often this causes us to say the things that people want to hear and do those things that people want to see. Christ encourages His disciples to transfer their search for approval from men to God. As we studied in Hebrews11, God tells us, “By faith the men of old gained approval.”
Christ continues in the beginning of this chapter to give us examples of those who sought approval from men rather than from God. The message Christ wants His disciples to learn here is that there are two kingdoms. In one kingdom we find our value, worth, acceptance, and approval in terms of how people see us. That kingdom is the realm of men, the kingdom of this world. But there is another Kingdom, the one in which Jesus wants His disciples to find their lives. In that Kingdom we find our value, worth, acceptance, and approval in terms of how God sees us.
As Christ continued teaching in this chapter, He talked with His disciples about finding their security and fulfillment in His Kingdom rather than in the kingdom of this world:
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)
What an important lesson for us as men and women! “Where our treasure is, there your heart will be also.” So often we look at a person who is building his life around possessions, bank accounts, or accomplishments and say, “He is doing that because that is where his heart is.” That is not what Jesus is teaching. Christ says, “There his heart will be also.” Christ wants His disciples to know that the desires of their hearts and lives will develop in the direction in which they focus. If they continually focus on the things of this world, they will want them more and more, and soon their hearts will be owned by the things they pursue. God wants our hearts to be owned only by Him. In teaching His disciples about seeking the things that come from Him, Christ gave this example of focus and perception:
The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:22-24)
Jesus draws a parallel between physical perception of light and spiritual perception of truth and reality. In order to see clearly in the physical world, we must have a single focus. If we look at something and see that it is surrounded by images, we cannot tell which is the real object and which is the image. A person suffering from astigmatism cannot see clearly because he does not have a single focus. The same is true spiritually. That is why Jesus talks to His disciples about having only one master. If they try to live for the things in this world and have the things that come from God as well, they are sorely mistaken about the expectations for their lives. They will either despise the things that keep them from God, or they will despise the God who will give them no freedom to pursue those things.
Christ tells us that we cannot serve God and money, or material things, at the same time. We must make a choice. We must have a single focus. If we want the things in this world, then we should seek after them with all of our hearts and not pretend that our desire is to serve God. If our hearts seek after God and His Kingdom, then we should pursue Him with all that is within us! James, in his letter, also deals with this problem of a split focus:
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:5-8)
In teaching about our response to trials and testing, James tells us that if we need God’s wisdom in our responses, we should be free to ask that of Him. God gives wisdom liberally without making us feel foolish for asking. But we must ask in faith, James says, without doubting. A person who doubts is like a wave of the sea, going one direction one minute and another direction the next. That person will not receive anything from the Lord. He is double minded, or “double-souled”; his life is going two different directions. Faith, James tells us, is coming before God with a single focus of our hearts and lives. That is what Jesus is describing in Matthew 6. Those who seek Him must come with a single focus, with one desire for their lives.
Now Christ applies this truth to the disciples’ lives in this temporal world. Can they seek His Kingdom with all of their hearts and still be confident about their material needs?
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? (Matthew 6:25)
There could be real concern in the hearts of the disciples as Christ exhorts them to seek His Kingdom even while they are physically present in this world. They need food to eat, clothing to wear, shelter for protection. Christ’s encouragement is so clear and strong.
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. (Matthew 6:31-32)
Surely there are physical needs in a physical world! God made us and knows what we need. He made the world and owns all that there is. Christ wants His disciples to know that the God who made them and controls this world can give them everything they need. The nations eagerly run after the things of this world, but God knows what we need, and He will take care of us:
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)
The exhortation from the Master is clear as Jesus summarizes this section of teaching. Pursue God and the things that come from Him, and you can be completely free and confident at the same time that you will have everything you need in this world. The God who gives you life will sustain your life as well, as you seek Him, His Kingdom, and His righteousness.
There is an important relationship in this chapter between seeing and seeking. Christ wants to bring His disciples’ hearts to a place where they will seek Him and His eternal Kingdom. He knows, however, that they cannot seek His Kingdom until He opens their eyes to see it. That is why the first part of this chapter is given to teaching them these truths about vision. If they are living for the approval of men and seeking God’s approval at the same time, they will live in confusion about who they are. If they are living for the things of this world and seeking the things that come from God at the same time, they will live in confusion about what is real. We, like the disciples, need a single focus with our hearts and lives in order to perceive truth and reality.
Christ is opening the eyes of His disciples to see the depth of reality in His eternal Kingdom, even while they are physically present in this world. Then He will call them to seek God and His Kingdom. Just as the men and women whose names are recorded in Hebrews 11 saw beyond this world to God and His Kingdom and sought that Kingdom while they lived in this world, Christ is leading His disciples to live in the same way. That is God’s call for our lives as well. He opens our eyes to see Him and His eternal Kingdom and then motivates us by His Spirit to come to Him. Faith sees what is beyond this world and enables us to seek God and those things that come from Him.
FAITH: THE CONFIDENCE OF HIS PRESENCE
When we looked at Hebrews 11, we saw two lists of people. One list included those who were seen as victorious in this world, conquering kingdoms, proving mighty in battle. The other list consisted of those who were victimized, torn, physically destroyed. Having faith in God never results in a plastic-bubble experience in which the painful and destructive things that happen to other people in this world never happen to us. God never promises physical protection or invulnerability to evil. What He does promise is His presence. God will always be there with those who trust in Him. We see this in the story of Daniel’s three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
The people of God had been exiled to Babylon. It was not easy to live a life of faith in that hostile, heathen environment. One day King Nebuchadnezzar decided to build an image that everyone in his kingdom would worship. The image was built, the people brought together, and the call to worship his image sounded. Those who refused to worship would be cast into a furnace of blazing fire. Daniel’s three friends sought to worship only the one true God and refused to bow to the king’s image of gold. When they were brought before Nebuchadnezzar, the king asked if they realized the cost of not worshiping his image. He would give them one more chance. When they heard the music, if they bowed to the image, they would be set free; if not, they would be cast into the fiery flames. Their response to the king was filled with faith:
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)
These three men did not know whether God would deliver them physically or not. That was not the issue here. The central issue of their lives was obedience to God in all that He set before them and the worship of Him alone. God could deliver them from the furnace if that was His will. If not, He would deliver them to Himself by means of the furnace. Either way, they would be faithful to Him. Nebuchadnezzar, of course, was outraged at this rebellion against him and what he worshiped. He told his men to heat the furnace seven times hotter than normal and to cast the men into the furnace. Because of the intense heat, those who threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the fire were consumed. Then the king saw a miracle of God:
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” (Daniel 3:24-25)
In the midst of the fire, these men of faith were set free. In the environment prepared for their destruction, they saw the “fourth man” who was “like unto a son of the gods.” Of course, they had seen Him before, and that is why they were willing to go into the furnace in the first place! Just like Abel, Enoch, Abraham, and Moses, now Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego “saw” beyond the realm of this world and lived all of their lives in terms of that vision. Because these men had lived with the reality of God in their hearts, they could be obedient when He called them to obey in this costly way. Because their vision of God filled their hearts in all of their walk with Him, He revealed Himself to them even further in the midst of the flames. Faith sees God and walks with Him where He leads, even into costly obedience.
A NEW THING IN THE FATHER’S HOUSE
As the Lord Jesus began the last week of His ministry before the cross, He entered Jerusalem triumphantly and to great adulation among the masses. They cried, “Hosanna,” and they blessed His name. It was after this incident that the Son of God confronted the religious leaders who were desecrating the Temple of God.
And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” (Matthew 21:12-13)
God had greatly desired His house to be a sanctuary from the world, a place of security for His people, characterized by intimacy and power. But His house had become an environment of abuse in which His people were used to enrich the spiritual authorities. Jesus is now issuing a challenge from the heavenlies, telling the religious leaders, “I will do a new thing in my Father’s house. I will do a new thing in the hearts of my people.”
And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. (Matthew 21:14)
What a picture! When the peddlers and the power brokers were cast out of the Temple, the blind and the lame came to Him and were healed. There was no room in the house of God for hurting people as long as it was business as usual there. There was no opportunity for healing as long as maintenance of the religious systems remained the highest priority.
But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, (Matthew 21:15)
The children were worshiping, and the religious leaders were indignant! The house of God had now been opened not only to the blind and the lame but to the least as well. The children poured in as room was made for them. The merchandising was gone, the worshiper had come, and the God of creation was praised.
And they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ”’Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” (Matthew 21:16)
The chief priests and the teachers are surprised that Jesus is willing to accept the praises of children. They did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, and they felt that He was condemning Himself by receiving their worship. Christ affirmed their praise by quoting the Scriptures.
And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there. (Matthew 21:17)
Rather than argue with the religious elite, Jesus left Jerusalem with His disciples and went to Bethany, a place where He was loved and accepted. He spent the night there. On the next morning, as He was returning to Jerusalem, we see an incident of great significance:
In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. (Matthew 21:18-19)
This seems to be a very simple, everyday experience. Jesus is hungry. He sees a fig tree by the side of the road and approaches it, obviously looking for fruit to eat. When He finds no fruit, He curses it, and the tree immediately withers.
When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” (Matthew 21:20)
The disciples can hardly believe their eyes! Jesus spoke a word, and the tree immediately withered. They are filled with wonder and ask Christ how He accomplished this.
And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.” (Matthew 21:21)
The incident of the fig tree is one of the most fascinating in all of Jesus’ ministry. This is surely a picture of God’s unbelieving people and the barrenness of the religious leadership. God had sent His Son to His people, looking for fruitfulness, and found only leaves. In the Father’s house, where there should have been worship and prayer, there was only the merchandising that consumed the people and the resources of their hearts and lives. Business as usual was maintained at the expense of spiritual power and intimacy. Where there should have been healing, worship, and fruitfulness, there was only the peddling of religious symbols. God’s people had become barren of any signs of life, and the barren fig tree is a clear picture of that condition.
As Mark records this incident in his Gospel, he tells us that “it was not the season for figs” (Mark 11:13). It seems unfair in our eyes that Jesus would curse the tree when it was not the season for figs. This fact alone fills this scriptural illustration with great meaning and application for each one of us.
How often have we been faced with ministry opportunities and our hearts have responded, “I am not ready yet.” When there is a need for leadership in the church, a class to be taught, counseling to be done, people to be helped, encouraged, and served, we shrink back because we do not feel mature enough. Perhaps God has called us to share our faith with a coworker or a neighbor and we do not feel confident enough. We shrink back from teaching opportunities because we do not know the Scriptures well enough.
Surely, one strong application from this account is that when the Son of God calls for fruitfulness, it is time! This same truth applies when we go through the desert experiences of battles with sin, times of depression, or lack of ministry. We wonder if we will ever come through it. When God calls for fruitfulness, it is His timing. He will always be the life source for any fruit that He desires. Like the fig tree, we cannot respond, “It is not the season for figs.” He will always provide all the power for the fruit that He commands. We must walk in obedience, and that is faith.
But I believe that we find the key to the incident of the fig tree in the response of the disciples. They are watching Jesus approach the tree. When there is no fruit, He curses it. Immediately it withers, and they say, “How did you do that?” Jesus responds to them, “This is nothing! If you have faith, you can remove mountains!” Then He summarizes with this power-filled promise:
And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. (Matthew 21:22)
The “new thing” that Jesus is doing in His Father’s house is a call to worship and to prayer. When He cast the peddlers and the power brokers out of the Temple and invited in the blind, the lame, and the least, the house of God was filled with healing and worship. When the merchandisers were gone and it was no longer business as usual, He called His people once again to a wholehearted response before the Father. In the incident of the fig tree, Christ called His disciples to prayer.
In many parts of the Body of Christ around the world, a revival of worship and prayer is beginning. There is a growing hunger for praise and worship that leaps out of the forms that men have built and exalts the Lord not only in song but in the presentation of all of our being before Him. There is a desire for prayer that is filled with power and devastates earthly and demonic kingdoms.
Are you and your church a part of this revival of worship and prayer? Are you hungry for a deeper and more powerful relationship with God? If we would be a part of what God is bringing to life today within His Church, we must know that it can no longer be business as usual in either our personal lives or in our church lives. As long as we are seeking to maintain any system that we have built or a life that has become comfortable in its own pursuits, we will never have a relationship with God that is filled with life and power. Today, just as He did at the Temple in Jerusalem, Jesus is cleansing His people and calling them to worship that is filled with life and to prayer that moves mountains.
TEACH US TO PRAY
There was something about Jesus’ prayer life that captivated the attention of His disciples. As they saw His relationship with His Father, they came to Him with this request:
“Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:1)
When we think of this verse, we usually do not quote it exactly as it is written. In our minds we are often thinking, “Teach us how to pray.” In our Western culture, we tend to think that the method is the key to everything. If someone can teach us how to do something, we feel we will be able to do it effectively. But we, like the disciples, do not need to be taught how to pray. We need to be taught to pray.
Prayer is a continual declaration of dependence on God and a relationship in which we walk with Him with great power in the working out of His will. God enables us to participate with Him in a powerful way in the tearing down of strongholds that Satan has built within the kingdoms of this world and in the moving of mountains that have immobilized people in this world.
How does God teach us to pray? God teaches us to pray by allowing our marriages to hurt, by allowing our businesses to fail, by allowing us to experience difficulties in relationships and in financial circumstances that overwhelm us, and by allowing physical and emotional weaknesses. Our Father draws us to prayer by allowing our churches to live in a maintenance mode until our hearts cry out for renewed life! God teaches us to pray by allowing us to come to the end of ourselves. It is then that we fall on our faces before Him and cry out to Him for deliverance, provision, and power.
WHATEVER YOU ASK IN MY NAME
Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew 21, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” There is great power in prayer! In the upper room discourse, Christ sets this teaching before us once again:
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12)
The one who has faith in Jesus will do not only what He has been doing but will do even greater things! Faith is a door through which we walk into the power of heavenly realms. The promise of great power is opened even further.
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. (John 14:13-14)
Is Christ setting before the disciples, and before us, a tool that we can use to fulfill our dreams and receive the fulfillment of all our desires? Is prayer a mechanism to cause God to act on our behalf? Jesus sets this teaching in the context of His own relationship with His Father:
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. (John 14:10)
This teaching is a major theme that runs throughout the book of John. Frequently we hear Jesus telling His disciples that the words they are hearing and the works they are seeing are those of His Father (John 5:19-20; John 8:27-29). The Father was all of the initiative in Christ’s life and ministry; the Lord Jesus walked responsively before Him, always desiring to please Him. Jesus describes Himself as a vessel through whom God speaks His words and fulfills His works.
What does it mean to ask for something in Jesus’ name? It is this teaching and the modeling of Jesus’ relationship with His Father that set the context for Christ’s exhortation to His disciples concerning prayers and works of power. Just as He was seeking those things that began in the heart of God and flowed through Him, resulting in the Father’s glory and the fulfillment of His will, Christ is now calling His disciples to participate in a powerful way in the work that God is doing.
To “ask in Jesus’ name” does not mean bringing to God all of the desires of our hearts, all of those things that will enhance and develop our lives or the lives of those whom we love and then close “in His name.” This is not a mechanism for the fulfillment of our dreams and the key to our personal happiness. It is not asking for all that we want and then putting Jesus’ name at the end of the prayer. That manipulative attitude in prayer reduces our God to the same level as the genie in the bottle who grants whatever wishes the finder desires.
Jesus is calling His disciples to seek those things that come from God rather than those things that originate within us. Our prayer lives should not consist of asking God to fulfill our desires. Instead, Jesus is describing a prayer relationship that originates in God and works through us for His glory and the fulfillment of His will.
We must return here to our study on godliness. What is it that fills the heart of God? We saw in the Scriptures that God has a heart for the poor and for people living in pain. He seeks righteousness and justice. Our Father hungers for His house to be filled and for His Kingdom to be built. He lives for His holiness to be known and His glory to be seen.
When we pray in Jesus’ name, we bring to God in prayer those things that originate in the heart of God. We participate through this relationship of prayer in the fulfillment of His will. Through the intimacy of prayer, God brings us in line with His will, and we become vessels through which God fulfills His will. He pours through us His words, His works, and His life, as He did through the ministry of His own Son. Now, rather than seek our own fulfillment through prayer, we seek what begins in the heart of God, works through us, fulfills His will, and results in His glory!
POWER IN PRAYER
Jesus calls His church to power-filled prayer. Like the first disciples, we need to be reminded by our Lord that prayer can move mountains. It overwhelms our hearts that God would allow us, as creatures of dust, to participate with Him in a powerful way in the working out of His will.
Some of us face mountains of pride that motivate our hearts, or mountains that are characterized by sin that controls our lives. Others of us are almost ready to lose heart because of the pain in our relationships. There is power in prayer! There is power in prayer to move the people of God to obedience and to create within us a hunger for holiness. There is power in prayer to do battle against the forces of wickedness in the heavenly places and to destroy the strongholds that the enemy has built in our minds and in our world. There is power in prayer to heal hurting families and to raise up laborers for God’s harvest. God calls us to pray in power.
Faith: eyes to see what is eternal, and a heart that walks with God in the fulfillment of eternal things. May God, by His grace, raise up men and women of faith within His Church, that His glory might fill the earth!
GROUP STUDY GUIDE AND PERSONAL APPLICATION
1. When someone encourages you to pursue faith, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?
2. How does this world’s definition of faith differ from God’s definition of faith? Have you seen faith as something built on substance and evidence or as something less?
3. When you look at the list of faithful people in Hebrews 11, how do you identify with them? Do you see yourself fitting in there or as someone who does not measure up to them? Why?
4. How have you sought God and His Kingdom? In what ways have you struggled with “seeing and seeking”?
5. Describe something of your battle with the tendency to become caught up with material possessions. How has God set you free? Where do you still struggle?
6. Where have you seen God in the “fire” with you in the trials of your life?
7. How does your heart respond to the thought of God doing a “new thing in His house,” built around worship and prayer? When you think of your own worshiping community, where do you tend to become caught up in “business as usual” and miss what God desires to do?
8. Do you feel that intimacy and power have characterized your prayer life? If not, why do you think you have struggled in this way? What needs to change?
REFLECTIONS, COMMITMENTS, AND PRAYER
As you read about the saints of old in Hebrews chapter 11, did a hunger begin to grow in your heart to become more a man or woman of faith? Ask God to give birth to a new level of desire in you to walk in faith and obedience before Him. When you pray and meditate on these things, remember that part of God’s process to make you a person of faith might be the trials that purify and develop you and conform you to the image of Christ. Are you willing to commit to a process that might include pain and loss? Pray that your hunger for worship and prayer, for a deeper walk of intimacy and power, might enable you to participate with God in what He is doing. Thank Him for inviting you to join Him in His eternal work!
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
John 13:34-35