Saturday, March 5, 2011

Confidence in Prayer

Are you tired of praying and not getting results in your prayer life? If so, you probably need to examine your confidence level in this area. A lack of confidence in prayer simply comes from not knowing God's Word. Too many Christians pray emotional, fear-based prayers in times of despair or pain, hoping that they get through to God. Too many times, only in times of crisis, people call the Pastor and beg....."Pastor, please pray right now!" However, He does not respond to emotionalism; He responds to His Word. To pray apart from the Word of God won't get results. But when you have confidence in the Word and say to God what He has already spoken, your life will change forever.


You must first find out what God has said in the Bible about your situation in order to effectively pray about it. For example, if you need healing, instead of begging God to heal you, begin to confess 1 Peter 2:24 which declares that you have already been healed by the stripes of Jesus. Your first step in prayer is to discover the promises of God in the Bible. Then you can release your faith by saying them in your prayer time.
Jesus walked in the most powerful ministry ever known to man because He practiced the presence of God and had a strong prayer life. The scripture says that He often took time away from other people to pray and spend time with the Father (Mark 1:35; Luke 6:12; Luke 9:18). This was one of the keys to His ability to perform miracles and do other great works. He had total confidence in His Father because He spent time with Him in prayer. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that He could never fail because of His confidence in God's Word.

Just like Jesus, your prayer life must be activated by faith, which is a practical expression of your confidence in God and His Word; and your confidence comes by spending time in meditating on the scriptures. Joshua 1:8 says, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." Simply repeating the scriptures is not enough. The key to success in your prayer life is meditation.

To meditate the Word is to ponder, mutter or consider it in your mind until you have gotten revelation out of it. When you discover the deeper meaning behind a scripture, and God speaks to you personally about it, you have the ammunition you need to take that scripture with you in your prayer time and boldly release your faith when you confess it.
As believers, we are to follow Jesus' example. His life is evidence of what happens when a person is continually connected to God's presence and lives a life of meditation. When you do, your confidence will be bolstered and you will begin to experience supernatural results every time you pray. This is the way we "Pray without ceasing." This is how we learn to have confidence in prayer. God will know you, God will hear you, you can live a victorious life when you gain confidence in your prayers.

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