Pray Believing - It's a Matter of Faith

Matthew 7:7-11 (NKJ)
Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”

A week ago, I was feeling the need to fast and pray for business. We’d had no new business in 6 weeks. In other words there was nothing in the bank. I didn’t believe God wanted me to close up shop. Many livelihoods were being affected. One of my team mates shared a dream she’d had. She’d seen our sales sheet with more sales than there were lines for sales.

The five members of my team gathered to pray. We met early-in-the-morning, turned some praise music on low, turned out the lights and knelt down on our faces. We beseeched God to provide the much needed sales and then spent the remainder of that hour in joyful praise and tearful worship lifting Him up. We committed ourselves individually to fast and pray throughout the day. When we walked back into the office, the phone started to ring. God was calling with our first sale.

Five days later, we put our 12th sale under contract. That's more sales than lines for sales. There is a place on our sales tracking sheet that asks for the source of the sale e.g. advertising, referral etc. We’ve written: God, Jehovah-Jirah, El Shaddai, Eloim.

My cup runneth over. Whatever the world may see, the five of us know – God heard our prayers and answered. We are overwhelmed by his over-and-above provision.

I was reminded of one of my favorite missionary stories about a women’s prisoner-of-war camp in the Philippines during WWII. The story is: this one woman was in an isolated cell with bare minimum provisions. There was a little window high up on her wall and if she pulled her bed under the window and used her fingertips on the ledge to pull herself up, she could see her fellow prisoners in the compound. One day as she looked out, she saw a villager sneaking a bunch of bananas through the fence to a prisoner. She delighted for her friends but began to crave bananas. She prayed that somehow God might sneak her a banana. Soon thereafter, her cell door opened and a guard entered with a gift for her – a huge bunch of 92 bananas!

I never cease to be amazed at the super-natural God we serve. There is nothing He cannot do. Our God is powerful beyond understanding.

"All things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." Matt. 5:22

Love Never Fails

What are the traits you most admire? Faithfulness, conviction, strength mixed with compassion, selflessness, passion. Those were traits that described my father.

When I was sixteen, my boyfriend broke up with me and I was devastated. I felt as if I'd lost everything in my little world and the tears wouldn't stop. My mother tried to console me telling me I was too young to be with one boy - there would be other boyfriends. But my father groaned with me. He felt my pain in a personal way and longed to fill that void. He called me from work and invited me out to dinner. He took me to a fancy restaurant all by myself. He assured me I was beautiful and cherished and loved. And though my heartache continued for a little while, I've never forgotten the assurance of my father's love for me.

How much more does our heavenly father love us. No matter what trial, what great loss, what suffering - He is always there for us -He goes before us and walks beside us. He feels our pain personally and longs to fill the void it leaves.

Joshua 1:5b says "I will not fail you or forsake you". The word for "will not" in the original text is emphatic - it means never never ever ever. What a beautiful picture of our Father's great love for us.

He will never never ever ever fail or forsake us! Assuredly not!

A Challenge

"What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness?" Romans 3:3

Unbelief continually asks, "How can this be possible?" It is always full of "how's," yet faith needs only one great answer--GOD! No one accomplishes so much in so little time as when he or she is praying. (From 'Streams...')

Lord, forgive us our unbelief! Increase our faith and empower our prayers to align with Your will. We ask for a glimpse of Your divine hand upon our lives as we submit every area of our lives to You.

Protect us from false teachings and strengthen our discernment of Your Truth in this misguided world.