The Prayer of Belief

“The prayer of the person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.”

~James 5:16b (Msg)

There are, indeed, many forms of prayer, and presuming an object of prayer, perhaps many gods. Everyone prays, for everyone hopes, and all souls speak in words, to varying gods, of ecstasy and anguish and many emotions between.

The prayer of belief, in present sight, is prayed before the Father, in Jesus’ name—the object of our worship. The prayer of belief, also, presumes right position and right method.

Belief by Right Position

If we, by our humility, will bring a right prayer before God, why should we not expect it to be expediently or ultimately answered?

This, of course, implies right position: to come before the Throne of God in humility, having dealt with a wish-list mentality.

Even if we’re not rightly positioned we are commended in praying to be more rightly positioned—that is, of itself, an expression of need in the mode of humility.

God loves to bless a solemn and contrite heart; this is by way of answer. Yet, as the Lord answers we frequently get more (or less) than we expect: genuine humility meets those answers in a calm sort of delight; a bargaining humility, however, will always be disappointed by the answers that come from the Almighty God.

The former, humble, person is rightly positioned; the latter, self-absorbed, person needs to pray for God to sort out their heart. Their need is humility, first and foremost.

Belief by Right Method

Rightly positioned, we can now go on by method, reaching into the holiness of God in order to get what we need—which is essentially at harmony with the Lord’s agenda.

Expressing belief by right method is simpler than we could imagine. God is not the one setting rules up regarding prayer; our humanity does that.

So, right method is not about established procedure, and following it rigidly, but it is honouring God by virtue of the order of things, again, reflected by right position of our heart.

If we go to the Lord with our need, underpinned more so by the frankness of worship, knowing that worship is more important than our need, the Holy Spirit will guide our method. Yet, there are times when frankly we have no energy for worship; we only have our need. To go to God in prayer in these circumstances is worship.

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The prayer of faith is prayed by a humbled person, through true belief in Jesus; it’s powerful under its own steam. We should pray expectantly and open-mindedly toward result. God is of the practice of answering prayers prayed by faith.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.