WEEK 4
HAVE FAITH IN GOD: Let faith be all eye and ear, the surrender to let God make His full impression and reveal Himself fully in the soul. Count it one of the chief blessings of prayer to exercise faith in God, as the Living Mighty God. The God Who waits to fulfill in us all the good pleasure of His will and the work of faith with power. See in Him the God of Love, whose delight it is to bless and impart Himself. In such worship of faith in God the power will speedily come to believe the promise, too: “ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER YE ASK, BELIEVE THAT YE RECEIVE.” Yes, see to it that, in faith make God your own; the promise will be yours, too. Another precious lesson that Jesus has to teach us. We seek God’s gifts: God wants to give us HIMSELF first. We think of prayer as the power to draw down good gifts from heaven; Jesus thinks of prayer as the means to draw ourselves up to God. We want to stand at the door and cry; Jesus would have us first enter in and realize that we are friends and children. Let us accept the teaching. Let every experience of the littleness of our faith in prayer urge us first to have and exercise more faith in the living God, and in such faith to yield ourselves to Him. A heart full of God has power for the prayer of faith. Faith in God begets faith in the promise, and also in the promise of an answer to prayer. HIGHLIGHTS: -One of the chief blessings of prayer is to exercise faith in God, as the Living Mighty God. -See in Him the God of Love, whose delight it is to bless and impart Himself. -In faith, see to it that you make God your own; the promise will be yours, too. Therefore, child of God, take time, take time, to bow before God, to wait on Him to reveal Himself. Take time, and let your soul in holy awe and worship exercise and express its faith in the Infinite One. As He imparts Himself and takes possession of you, the prayer of faith will crown your faith in God. Lord Teach Us To Pray O my God! I do believe in You. I believe in You: -as the Father, Infinite in Your Love and Power, -as the Son, my Redeemer and my Life, -as the Holy Spirit, my Comforter and Guide and Strength. Three-In-One God, I have faith in You. I know and am sure that all that You are You are to me, that all You have promised You will perform. Lord Jesus! Increase my faith. Teach me to take time and wait and worship in the Holy Presence until my faith takes in all there is in my God for me.
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WEEK 3
He that knows and trusts God finds it easy to trust the promise, too. Notice how distinctly evident this comes out in the saints of old. Every special exhibition of the power of faith was the fruit of a special revelation of God. See it in Abraham: “And the word of the Lord came unto Abram, saying, Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield. And He brought him forth abroad, and said…AND HE BELIEVED THE LORD.” And later again: “The Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, I am God Almighty. And Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him saying, As for me, behold my covenant is with thee.” It was the revelation of God Himself that gave the promise its living power to enter the heart and work the faith. Saints of old knew God, these men of faith could not do anything but trust His promise. God’s promise will be to us what God Himself is. It is the man who walks before the Lord and falls upon his face to listen while the living God speaks to him, who will really receive the promise. Though we have God’s promises in the Bible, with full liberty to take them, the spiritual power is lacking, except as God Himself speaks them to us. He speaks to those who walk and live with Him. HIGHLIGHTS: -Revelation of God Himself gives the promise its living power. -Spiritual power is lacking in promises except God Himself speaks them to us. -The man who listens to God speaking to him receives the promise WEEK 2
The power of reception will depend entirely on the power of spiritual perception. For this reason Jesus gave the promise that God would answer believing prayer; “HAVE FAITH IN GOD.” Faith is simply surrender: I yield myself to the impression that the Words of God I hear make on me. By faith I yield myself to the living God. His glory and love fill my heart and have the mastery over my life. Faith is fellowship; I give myself up to the influence of the Friend Who makes me a promise. I become linked to Him by it. It is when we enter into this living fellowship with God Himself, in a faith that always sees and hears Him, that it becomes easy and natural to believe His promise of prayer. Faith in the promise is the fruit of faith in the promiser: The prayer of faith is rooted in the life of faith. In this way the faith that prays effectually is indeed a gift of God. Not as something that bestows or infuses at once, but in a far deeper and truer sense, as the blessed disposition or habit of soul which is wrought and grows up in us in a life of intimacy with Him. Surely for one who knows his Father well and lives in constant close intimacy with Him, it is a simple thing to believe the promise that He will do the will of His child who lives in union with Himself. Many of God’s children do not understand this connection between the life of faith and the prayer of faith. Therefore their experience of the power of prayer is very limited. When they desire earnestly to obtain an answer from God, they fix their whole heart upon the promise and try their utmost to grasp that promise in faith. When they do not succeed, they are ready to give up hope. The promise is true, but it is beyond their power to take hold of it in faith. HIGHLIGHTS: -Jesus promised that God would answer believing prayer. -Faith is surrender and is fellowship. -Faith that prays effectually is a gift of God. It is the blessed habit of soul which grows up in us in a life of intimacy. One who knows his Father well and lives in constant close intimacy with Him. Listen to the lesson Jesus teaches us: HAVE FAITH IN GOD, the Living God: Let faith look to God more than the thing promised. It is His love, His power, His Living presence that will waken and work the faith. A physician would say to one asking how to get more strength in his arms and hands, that his whole constitution must be built up and strengthened. So the cure of a feeble faith is alone to be found in the invigoration of our whole spiritual life by intimacy with God. Learn to believe in God, to take hold of God, to let God take possession of your life, and it will be easy to take hold of the promise. HIGHLIGHTS: -Experiencing of the power of prayer depends on understanding the connection between the life of faith and the prayer of faith. -Look to God (the Promiser) more than the thing promised. -God’s love, God’s power, and His living presence wakens and works the faith. -Cure of feeble faith comes by intimacy with God WEEK 1
Mark 11:22-24 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. The promise of ‘answer to prayer,’ is one of the most wonderful in all Scripture. Nevertheless, in many hearts it has raised the question: How can I ever obtain the faith that knows that it receives all it asks for? It is this question our Lord will answer today. Jesus gave that wonderful promise to His disciples, He also spoke another word, in which He points out where faith in the answer to prayer comes from and where it always finds its strength. HAVE FAITH IN GOD: This word precedes the other one, have faith in the promise of an answer to prayer. The power to believe a promise depends entirely on faith in the promiser. Trust in the person begets trust in his word. It is only where we live and associate with God in personal, loving intimacy that the capacity will be developed for believing that He gives whatsoever we ask. It is only where GOD HIMSELF is all to us. It is where our whole being is continually opened up and exposed to the mighty influences that are at work. It is where His Holy Presence is revealed HIGHLIGHTS: -Power to believe a promise depends entirely on faith in the promiser. -Trust in a person begets trust in his word. -The capacity for believing that He gives whatsoever we ask, is developed through personal, loving intimacy with God. There is a connection between faith in God and faith in His promise. This will become clear to us if we think what faith really is. It is often compared to the hand or the mouth, by which we take and use what is offered to us. But it is of importance that we should understand that faith is also the ear by which I hear what is promised, the eye by which I see what is offered me. The power to take depends on this. I must hear the person who gives me the promise: The very tone of his voice gives me courage to believe. I must see him: In the light of his eye and countenance. Then all fear, as to my right to take, passes away. The Eye: The value of the promise depends on the promiser. My faith in the promise depends on my knowledge of what the promiser is. It is for this reason that Jesus, Who gives that wonderful prayer-promise, first says, HAVE FAITH IN GOD.’ That is, let thine eye be open to the Living God and gaze on Him, seeing Him Who is invisible. It is through the eye that I yield myself to the influence of what is before me; I just allow it to enter, to exert its influence, to leave its impression upon my mind. So believing God is just looking to God and what He is, allowing Him to reveal His presence, giving Him time and yielding the whole being to take in the full impression of what He is as God. Believing God is the soul opened up to receive and rejoice in the overshadowing of His love. Yes, faith is the eye to which God shows what He is and does: Through faith the light of His presence and the workings of His mighty power steam into the soul. As that which I see lives in me, so by faith God lives in me, too. The Ear: Faith is also the ear through which the voice of God is always heard and intimacy with Him maintained. It is through the Holy Spirit the Father speaks to us. The Son is the Word, the substance of what God says; the Spirit is the living voice. The child of God needs this to lead and guide him; the secret voice from heaven must teach him, as it taught Jesus, what to say and what to do. An ear opened towards God, that is, a believing heart waiting on Him to hear what He says, will hear Him speak. The words of God will not only be the words of a Book but, the words proceeding from the mouth of God, will be spirit and truth, life and power. They will bring in deed and living experience what are otherwise only thoughts. Through this opened ear the soul tarries under the influence of the life and power of God Himself. As the words I hear enter the mind and dwell and work there, so through faith God enters the heart and dwells and works there. When faith now is in full exercise as eye and ear, as the faculty of the soul by which we see and hear God, then it will be able to exercise its full power as hand and mouth, by which we appropriate God and His blessing. HIGHLIGHTS: -The value of the promise depends on the promiser -Faith is the ear by which I hear what is promised. -Faith is the eye by which I see what if offered. -Believing God is looking to God and what He is as God |
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