The Prayer of Faith

One area that we have not addressed as much as we should have in these notes from friend Barnabas is our personal prayer life. It is very encouraging when others pray for you. However, it is also very encouraging to take your concerns and fears to God yourself in your own prayers...if your prayer life is a healthy one, that is. Some people are not as comfortable praying themselves and do not find their own prayers that encouraging, at all. If that is you, you need to change. You need to develop a healthy prayer life and take advantage of the power of prayer.

James wrote: “You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2). James is really dealing with those who go through life with selfish motives. They are only concerned with themselves. You cannot expect to get what you want, or even need, that way. In verse 3 he says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” Let us go back to that little part of verse 2: “You do not have because you do not ask.” Wow!! I wonder how many times I failed to receive a blessing simply because I did not ask for it.

Some of you reading this right now may have a tough day ahead of you. Maybe a co-worker is giving you fits. Maybe your boss is threatening to fire you. Maybe a classmate or teacher is the thorn in your flesh. Wouldn’t now be a good time to pause and take this concern to God? Tell Him how you feel. Yes, I know that He already knows, but He instituted prayer for your benefit, not His! You will feel better if you start talking to God on a daily basis.

Do you need more wisdom to know how to deal with these kinds of problems in your life? Well, just ask! But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (James 1:5-8). You need to ask God for wisdom and when you ask, expect to receive it. Now, do not expect to get something that feels like an electrical shock so that you are now wiser than you were. What you ought to expect is that God is going to answer your prayer by exposing you to His wisdom found in His word. The answer to your prayer is already here. You can read and study His word and be exposed to His wisdom, and when you obey that word and learn that His way works, your wisdom grows and your prayer is answered.

You need to know that you are not in this (your struggle) all alone. Your friends, who love and care for you, are with you. And God is with you, too; He is One of those friends (John 15:14). Even if all the rest leave you to the wolves, He is not far away. He loves you and so do I.