Praying Prayers of Faith

What if you tried this some Sunday soon….

While the pastor is in his Sunday morning prayer or a deacon is invoking the blessings of the Almighty on the offering, interrupt them.

“Pastor.” (Or, “Deacon.”)

“May I interrupt you for a moment?”

This is not normally done, so don’t be surprised if it takes a moment for it to get through to the one praying that he’s being summoned.

“What?” he says. “Shhh. I’m praying.”

“I know you’re praying. That’s what I want to ask you about.”

“You want to ask me about my prayer? Couldn’t this wait until after church?”

“No. It needs to be asked right now, in the middle of your prayer.”

“All right. What is it?”

“I just wanted to know what you think you’re doing. I mean, what is the point of this prayer? Where are you going with this?”

“I beg your pardon.”

“Well, your prayer sort of touches on half the issues in the world and doesn’t really dwell on anything, and I was just wondering. What exactly do you want the Lord to do?”

“What I want Him to do is to bless us, to bless this world. To be with us today, and to make this worship service special.”

“Oh. That’s good. You could have fooled me. I suppose that somewhere in the middle of all those words you were flinging heavenward there was that. But those requests were buried in the wordiness.”

“Uh, friend, are you rebuking me right here in front of the entire church?”

“No, not really. Because you see, I’m not really doing this. I’m just fantasizing about it. This is not really happening, pastor.”

“Well, good. Now, if you will excuse me, I’d like to get back to the morning prayer.”

Now, since we all agree that this scenario is not going to occur, I have an alternate suggestion.

Do it to yourself, to your own prayers. Interrupt yourself. Ask, “Where am I going with this? What am I seeking from the Lord? Or am I just filling the space with religious words, trying to make this worship service impressive to someone other than the Lord?”

We church people have created categories of prayers. We have invocations and benedictions. In between, we have pastoral prayers and offertory prayers. And, in most of our churches, that’s about it.

I have one more suggestion: how about prayers of faith?


A prayer of faith is a simple enough concept. I take a promise of the Lord in Scripture, apply it to our present situation, ask the Lord to fulfill it, and make myself available to Him for anything He chooses.

Want to see a genuine prayer of faith? Turn in your Bible to Acts 4, specifically the last half of the chapter.

Peter and John have been arrested for preaching Jesus and have spent the night in jail. The next morning, they are brought before the religious authorities who warn them not to preach in “that” name any more and threaten them with dire consequences if they persist.

The two apostles quickly assemble the congregation and report on what happened. Then, they all dropped to their knees and began praying.

I want you to notice their prayer. This is no general, innocuous “Lord bless everyone” kind of prayer, such as we are used to hearing in church service after endless church service. This is pointed and specific and filled with faith.

“Lord, you made the Heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them.”

That’s how they started. Why did they do this? It’s a part of a prayer of faith, a reminder to themselves that this is no local tribal deity they are addressing, but the God of the universe. They are bringing out the big guns.

“By the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David thy servant, you have said….”

Now, they’re about to quote the scripture back to the Lord. They’re cashing the check He wrote hundreds of years earlier.

“Why did the Gentiles (“heathen,” KJV) rage and the peoples devise futile things (“imagine vain things,” KJV)?”

“The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ (“His anointed one,” KJV).”

They’re quoting Psalm 2, which is fascinating for many reasons. God looks down from Heaven and sees puny mankind arraying themselves in battle against Him and Christ. He laughs at them. The very idea!

Whether the Jerusalem church went on quoting the rest of Psalm 2 or ended as above, we don’t know. The rest of this psalm, incidentally, is a terrific testimony to the Lord Jesus, and is quoted all through the New Testament. These writers did know their Bibles!

Now, at this point the church quit quoting the Word and started praying it….

“For truly in this city there were gathered together against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever thy hand and thy purpose predestined to occur.”

That’s our situation, Lord. Now, what do we want from You? What exactly are we asking you to do here?

“And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that thy bondservants may speak thy word will all confidence, while thou dost stretch thy hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of thy holy servant Jesus.”

That’s it. A prayer of faith.

Nothing profound about it, and nothing unusual. The Bible is filled with such intercessions.

What was remarkable, of course, is the immediate and powerful response God gave them. Far from backing down and neutering their preaching, these disciples were blown into the streets with a powerful witness for Jesus.

Listening to us today, one would think we had never heard of such a concept as a prayer of faith in which we believe God to do what He said from the beginning was His plan and His purpose.

One of the secondary benefits of traveling these days and speaking in churches far and wide is that I listen to all kinds of prayers being intoned in Sunday services. Some are inspiring and some are lifeless. Some soar Heavenward and some never get off the runway. But one thing most of them seem to have in common….

Very few prayers uttered from the pulpits of churches I’ve visited have actually been prayers of faith.

Does that need explaining? In no way am I saying the person praying did not have faith in Jesus Christ. Only that he (and in several cases, “she”) was not voicing it, but simply covering the terrain in all the prayer concerns.

A prayer of faith is taking the Lord at His word. It is not–most definitely not–running ahead of Him and claiming what He never promised, going where He has not sent us, performing what He has not commanded. Those are presumptuous acts which Psalm 19:13 informs us to pray to be delivered from.

And we’re not remotely talking about “name it and claim it” prayers. Those can be presumption of the worst sort.

A prayer of faith believes God is concerned about the present situation.

A prayer of faith knows God foresaw this situation a long time before and spoke to it.

A prayer of faith accepts that the Lord wants to do something here and now, today.

A prayer of faith worships God and reaffirms that Jesus Christ is Lord.

A prayer of faith claims the promise of Scripture which fits the present situation and asks for everything God wants.

A prayer of faith makes the ones praying available to the Lord for whatever his will is and His purposes are today.

A prayer of faith asks for nothing outside the clear and revealed will (and word) of God.

A prayer of faith then accepts whatever is given as God’s answer for that occasion.

A prayer of faith is positive, specific, and relevant. It is offered by people of faith who are not telling God what to do, but are simply asking Him to do what has been in His heart from the beginning.

In closing, may I offer up just such a prayer for this article?

“Father, Lord of all creation and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for wanting to bless your people. We are honored you would use us as a part of your plan to redeem this world.

“Father, throughout Scripture you spoke to your people commanding them to ‘write this down.’ You told Moses ‘Write for yourself these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.’ You said to Jeremiah, ‘Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book.'”

“And now, you have instructed us to write this down as a reminder to your people who will read it. Thank you for bringing it to our attention and calling these things to memory.”

“Now, we ask you to use this to stir up your faithful sons and daughters that we may no longer pray those wordy essays which go nowhere and seek nothing from you. Inspire us to know your Word, learn your heart, and pray for your will.”

“Through Jesus Christ, Amen.”

7 thoughts on “Praying Prayers of Faith

  1. This one “hit home”. Thank you for “writing it down”. Hope all is well and Margaret is home safe and sound.

    cjm

  2. I’ve been reading you for a while now. I use your writings for a devotional. This one really helped me with some major family issues we have with our adult children and extended families. thanks.

  3. As always, a spot on word. I need to invoke this in my own life and share it with a friend.

  4. Good word, Joe. I’ve thought about the very issues you raise, and I try to keep my prayers real, in private as well as public settings. But it’s good to remember that our Father’s Word is the best source for encouagement to really pray in faith.

  5. “A prayer of faith then accepts what is given as God’s answer…” Thats was the hard part when I was a child with my parents. Still is somedays with my heavenly Father. Next article “Will we ever grow up?”

    Thanks Joe for your faithfulness

  6. I saw a great prayer of thanksgiving once and it was only 3 words. You might remember the TV show Happy Days? On one show they were having Tanksgiving dinner and they invited “the Fonz” to dinner. When they were all seated Fonz was asked to request the blessing. With everyones’ head bowed a few silent seconds pass, the then Fonz looked up and with humble emotion said “Hey God,—Thanks!” that was all that needed to be said. So now many day I try to remember to simply say “Hey God, Thanks”. You don’t have to say any more, God already knows everything so say your heart and cut to the chase, the rest just is repeating what He already knows.

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