Prayer: The Method Of Prayer

“I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt…you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Matthew 21:21-22

You and I will never have the faith that a mountain can be hurled into the sea. It is a logical impossibility. No rational man can honestly believe it could happen. And so it will never happen, because it is not possible for a man to have true faith without doubt that a mountain will throw itself into the sea. If that level of faith were possible, then it could happen, but it isn’t, so it doesn’t.

Yet, you have seen a jetty jutting half a mile out into the ocean. The violent surf crashes against huge boulders piled on each other to subdue the encroaching sea. Whereas no man may ever have the faith to believe a whole mountain can throw itself into the sea, many have had enough faith to believe they could blast a mountain into a heap of rubble with dynamite, and then haul it off in rail cars and trucks—boulder by boulder—to build a jetty into the sea.

Many men have moved mountains. And each mountain ever so moved resulted from someone having the faith that they could move a mountain into the sea.

What is your mountain? What perplexing problem rises up like an immovable mountain between you and God? Faith can and will move it, though maybe through the back-breaking work that shatters it into smaller stones instead of a mountain-moving miracle. Is a mountain moved by perseverance any less moved than one moved by a miracle? In either case, faith moved the mountain.

No area of Christian life is more confusing than how to pray and what to expect as the result. Surely, you and I have prayed in faith for many requests which God did not grant. Was Jesus, then, not telling the truth? I don’t think so. Was He trying to make another point in the passage? I don’t think so again. How does prayer actually work?

The method of prayer breaks simply into two parts: God’s part and our part.

Our Part

Our part in prayer is to believe. That’s it. Whatever need or desire we have, we bring it to Christ in faith, believing that He is able.

We don’t have to believe that God will do a certain thing, but that God can do a certain thing. In other words, faith is not believing that God will do what you request, but that He can if it is in His will.

God’s Part

God’s part in prayer is to do whatever He wants. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15).

God hears every prayer offered according to His will. We, then, can pray two kinds of prayers: prayers that agree with God’s will and prayers that don’t agree with God’s will. The ones that agree He hears, and He enlarges our faith from God can to God will.

Not only does He hear prayers when we ask according to His will, what He hears He does. “Whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (v. 15).

Which prayers are according to God’s will? From the negative angle, since our part is to pray in faith and not doubt, then we can know that a doubting prayer will not be heard. It clearly is God’s will for us to pray in faith. A prayer in faith is made according to God’s will.

Prayer without doubt is a condition to being heard but not the only condition. The second condition is that our prayer be according to His will. We can know that we pray in faith not doubting, but only God knows if our prayer is according to His will.

The Bottom Line

Quite simply, the prayer offered in faith (our part) which is according to the will of God will be heard, and what He hears He does (God’s part).

So we pray in faith, not doubting, but not knowing if it is His will. He, on the other end, hears what is prayed in faith and according to His will—and does it.

Prayer includes our part—to believe, and God’s part—to do whatever He wants.

What has tested your faith? What prayer have you uttered that has gone unanswered, even though you prayed in absolute faith that God is able? Is God able? Yes, He is. Is God willing? If your prayer is unanswered, He has not been willing. But do not become weary in your prayer of faith, for what God has not yet done may still be in His will. It may yet come to pass.

The bottom line is this: Never give up. Let your faith rise as a pleasing fragrance mixed with the tears of your unanswered prayer. His will for you presently may be that you persevere in faith, before He yet answers your prayer.

I SURRENDER

God, I have been confused about how to pray and what to expect as the result. I thought I must believe that You will answer my prayer, not that You can answer my prayer if it is according to Your will. Help me to understand the difference between my part and Your part in my prayers. Remotivate me to surrender to a life characterized by expectant, joyful prayers offered in faith. Give me the faith to move my mountain. Amen.