In recent weeks, as I have been on my knees before the Father’s throne, I have become captivated by the correlation and duality of ardent faith and resurrection power as they relate to persuasive, potent, miracle-producing prayer. As my precious mother would have said, I am “stoked” on this concept. First of all, the consideration of faith. I fear many of us who wear the name of Christ do not fully visualize the impact that word depicts. In the life of the believer, everything revolves around it; everything evolves because of it; everything is resolved by it. It is at the core of the Christian life—it is its very essence. And this is intensified as it relates to prayer. Instead of employing the confidence—the assuredness—the writer of Hebrews 4:16 exhorts us: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” We think of prayer as akin to purchasing a lottery ticket. If we pray frequently enough, we just might get a winning answer.
Ardent Faith Meaning
Repeatedly, Jesus assured us of answers to prayer based upon faith. See Matthew 21:22: “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” See also Mark 11:24 and Mark 9:23:
- Mark 11:24: “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
- Mark 9:23: “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”
Even in Jesus’ Parables, it becomes intuitively obvious that faith is the ingredient that engenders certainty of positive outcomes, provoking tenacity. In so doing the desired result would be obtained.
In Luke 18:1-8 Jesus relates the lesson of the widow who persisted in pleading her case before the judge who eventually gave in: “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”
In Luke 11:5-8 we read Jesus’ teaching of the man who receives an unexpected guest during the night and is unprepared to entertain him: “And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.”
He has the audacity to awaken his neighbor with an appeal for bread. And after many petitions, his entreaties are rewarded.
Then we have references in the epistles to the necessity of faith as we come to the Father. Two of those are: Ephesians 3:12 and James 5:15:
- Ephesians 3:12: “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.”
- James 5:15: “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”
Oh my dear friend, how often do we demur without waiting for confirming evidence to show up because we do not absolutely, beyond all doubt and questioning, expect the Lord to answer? How often do the cracks in our faith present themselves?
Until we sit down together for our next visit, continue living before God’s face.
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