Introduction: Faith Formation pt. 3: Praying in Faith In the book, A Heart Aflame for God by Matthew C. Bingham, explains three God-appointed means to grow in faith: Reading and meditating on God’s Word and praying. Taken together hese are one activity – communion between a Christian and God. We hear from God through his Word, we reflect and take to heart what we’ve heard in meditation, and we then respond to God in prayer. Faith in Christ makes this personal relationship with God possible. These three are needed for faith formation ince all three require faith. The old puritans called these, heart-keeping! Because the Word,with meditation, and prayer keep your heart on fire for the Lord. 1. Praying in Faith Matthew 7:7 (NASB), “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” • Praying with faith is seen in these three present imperatives. • Ask, seek, knock. • Each word is more intense than the previous. • We ask for what we wish; we seek for what is missing; we knock when a door is closing. • Praying with faith ranges from making humble requests to seeking miraculous intervention. Bounds, “Faith is not believing just anything; It is believing God, resting on him, trusting his Word. Faith gives birth to prayer, and grows stronger, strikes deeper, rises higher, in the struggles and wrestlings of a mighty petitioning… Faith grows by reading and meditating upon the Word of God. Most, and best of all, faith thrives in an atmosphere of prayer.” So, what’s the trouble with prayer? James gives us two troubles with prayer.. . James 4:2b (NASB), “You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures.” The #1 problem with prayer is we don’t pray! • We don’t ask, seek, or knock when Jesus clearly invites us to. • Lack of prayer reveals more than anything a lack of faith. The #2 problem with prayer is praying with wrong motives. • James says some are praying to God for selfish pleasures! • Such is the deception in our hearts, to use spiritual things, like prayer, to serve our own selfish desires. • This is why prayer, must always be in concert with the Word of God and meditation. These three together order our hearts and order our prayers. Praying in faith always prays seeking God’s kingdom and God’s will first. • Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done.” John Flavel, “The greatest difficulty in conversion is to win the heart to God; and the greatest difficulty after conversion is to keep the heart with God.” • Have you noticed how easily and quickly your heart can wander off from God? • When we pray in faith, we are motivated by the glory of God! 2. Assurance in Prayer Matthew 7:8 (NASB), “For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” • The triplet of commands: Ask, seek, and knock are followed by a triplet of affirmations. • The asker receives, the seeker finds, and the knocker has the door opened. • Great assurance is promised to everyone who will ask, seek, and knock in faith. We are not to read this as a blank check for everything we ask for. • Assurance in Prayer comes from being assured of what God’s Word promises us. • Assurance in Prayer puts a finger on God’s Promise in the Word. • • We must also look at the context. • Asking, seeking and knocking are explained in the Sermon on the Mount and the context has to do with salvation. Jesus explained in v. 11, we should ASK for GOOD THINGS. In the same sermon, in Luke 11, Jesus says one of the good things we ask for is the Holy Spirit – the Spirit that grants us righteousness. • Mt. 6:33, “SEEK first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” • Mt.7:13-14 says we should find and enter the narrow gate that leads to life. That is the link to KNOCKING. The door we KNOCK on… is the door of eternal life. • Jesus said, In John 10:9, “I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he will be saved.” • The first prayer you can be assured that God hears, is a prayer of faith, to trust Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior and enter the door of eternal life. • Have you prayed a salvation prayer like that? James adds his commentary on assurance in prayer… James 1:5 (NASB), “… 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. 6 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. 7 For that person ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord.” • Wisdom flows from faith. • When we pray for wisdom we are asking God to teach us good and evil, and also what is true and false. • God will answer our request for wisdom, because God is wise, God is good, and God is true. • The condition is to ask in faith and trust in God without doubting. • Without doubting is not doubt that God will give wisdom, but doubt about what we do with it. • Why would God give us wisdom if He knows we will not follow it? • A double-minded prayer is one ready to pray, but not ready to receive God’s answers. • Praying with assurance means welcoming the answers God sends. Finally, Jesus ends His teaching on prayer with a story… 3. Pray in Faith to a Good and Perfect Heavenly Father Matthew 7:9 (NASB), “Or what person is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 So if you, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” • This story compares earthly parents to our Heavenly Father. • What parent would give a stone when a son asks for bread? • What parent would give a snake when a son asks for fish? • The two questions expect a negative answer: “No parent would do this!” The point Jesus is making is in v11. • If sinful and imperfect parents give good gifts to their children when they ask, how much more will a good and perfect Heavenly Father give good gifts to His children who will ask in prayer. • ASK, SEEK, and KNOCK in faith, expecting good and perfect answers from a good and perfect Heavenly Father. James adds: James 1:16 (NASB), “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters. 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” • James teaches that God the Father is good and perfect. • God the Father sends gifts from above that are good and perfect. Deception is a theme in James. It is a real danger to faith. • Deception can change us. • Deception can change our view of God. • Deception can change our view of faith and prayer. • But, God the Father is perfect and He does not change. Ill. I have a real stone and real bread in my hands. In 1st century Israel, stones and bread looked the same from a distance so we could be fooled. • God never deceives. God never lies. God never tricks. God never promises one thing and delivers another. • SO, pray in faith to the only God you can trust, and the only Son who can save, and the only Spirit who can convince and convict you of this truth. CONCLUSION: Looking at the Sermon on the Mount and the book of James, we can say that prayer really comes down to two words – HEAVENLY FATHER. Prayer is knowing, agreeing, and trusting that our Heavenly Father exists and that He is Good, and Perfect, and generously rewards all who seek Him in prayer (Hebrews 11:6) • If you really trust your Heavenly Father, you will pray. Four Answers to Prayer Yes. No. Wait. Here’s something better! • Yes, God always answers prayer, but the answer is not always Yes. • A “no” answer is not no answer. (A negative answer is still an answer.) • No good father gives his child whatever he wants whenever he wants it. Nor will our heavenly Father. • A negative answer can be a positive thing. A Prayer of a Confederate soldier I asked God for strength, that I might achieve. I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey ... I asked for health, that I might do great things. I was given infirmity, that I might do better things ... I asked for riches, that I might be happy. I was given poverty, that I might be wise ... I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men. I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God ... I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life. I was given life, that I might enjoy all things ... I got nothing I asked for—but everything I had hoped for. I am most richly “blessed.”