PROCLAMATIONS
OF FAITH  |
| by David A.
DePra |
| Regarding Prayer: |
|
|
| Prayer
is never to get God to do our will. It is to get us |
| to
discern His will. |
|
|
| Prayer
includes all of our communication with God, |
| spoken
or unspoken, formal or informal. |
|
|
| One
thing determines God's answer to prayer: His |
| will.
|
|
|
| All
the faith in the world cannot force God to answer |
| a
prayer which is not according to His will. |
|
|
| I
can have the faith of Jesus Christ for only that |
| for
which Jesus Christ has faith, namely, all that is |
| according
to the will of God. |
|
|
| Jesus
told us to pray, "Thy will be done, on earth as |
| it
is in heaven." That gives God "permission" to |
| completely
override my will, my desires, and my |
| preference,
so that He can have His highest. |
|
|
| Anytime
my confidence in prayer is based upon |
| my
obedience, my performance, and my spiritual |
| condition,
I am not praying in the name of Jesus. I |
| am
praying in my own name, whether I say so or not. |
|
|
| Praying
in the name of Jesus means that I don't |
| have
anything to do with whether God answers me. |
| God's
answer is based upon His will, and the merits |
| of
Jesus Christ. |
|
|
| Real
faith in prayer is a surrender to the fact that |
| God
is sovereign, and knows much better what is |
| eternally
the best. |
|
|
| There
will come a day when we will fall down and |
| worship
God for all of the prayers He did not answer |
| the
way we wanted Him to answer. |
|
|
| Never
"try to have faith" in prayer. If you are |
| praying
according to God's will, your surrender |
| to
His will shall gender the faith in you. Anything |
| else
is human faith, generated by religious flesh. |