The prayer of faith goes beyond simple prayer to the place where the desire is awakened in us to the confidence and expectation that God will answer, He will lead and make our paths straight. It is that which we need to be driven towards because prayer stabilizes me and keeps faith alive! The question we need to answer is this; how do we pray in such a way that it does not become routine, ritualistic or some kind of formula? We will discover the fullness of prayer experienced in faith.
YOU WILL SEE SUPERNATURAL ACCORDING TO YOUR FAITH
Mark 6:5 states ‘He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.’
I went to a Baptist seminary for my training and Baptists are known to be people of the Word. While there I learned about dispensationalism and the study of the different ages of the church basically being categorized in different eras, the age of the law, the age of the apostolic ministry and now the age of grace. It all fit together well sort of. When it came to gifts, it was said that the were foundational gifts that the church was built on but those gifts aren’t active today. So, there was this acceptance that God doesn’t work like that anymore…why, because we have the completed Word and those signs were used as a validation for the Word until it was complete. It sounded good, but it wasn’t biblical. It was a safe idea to not expect anything too crazy, too supernatural to happen. It is the attitude that suggests we don’t want to get our hopes up too high. I believe that today dispensationalism is a self-fulfilling prophecy. I like to call it the Nazareth prophecy….
Now the Pentecostal are known for the power, they are all about manifesting the Holy Spirit…go with the flow of the Spirit, as the Spirit leads and that can be dangerous too because sometimes God puts stuff right in front of you and He calls you to act. He already tells us to do some stuff and we don’t need to feel it all the time when we are called to obey. So, if you go with all Spirit, no Word, that can be dangerous too…
But when I came to the Alliance, I was told we walk in the middle, always keeping the tension strong being led by the Spirit and the Word
But everywhere I see God wants to break into history supernaturally. Yes, there was the age of the law but in the OT there was a ton of miracles going on from the Red Sea, to incredible victories over cities by Joshua and Gideon, to the closing of the lion’s mouth for Daniel, 3 guys safe in a blazing furnace, 1 guy hanging out in a fish for three days…God is all over the course of history.
Matthew 17:19,20
Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
God is not asking you for much…look at the mustard seed, can you pray for that kind of faith this week.
The world is catching on to this idea. Its called ‘the secret’ The idea is that if you visualize on something long enough and believe that it is yours, it will be yours. It’s the law of attraction and Rhonda Byrne is getting rich. There are 5.3 million copies already sold in the States since it came out last year and the secret is that you are the center of the universe.
One article writes:
See yourself living in abundance and you will attract it. It works every time, with every person." The appeal is obvious. Forget education, effort, performance. Everything you want—money, power, comfortable shoes—is yours simply by wanting it enough.
As self-absorbed as I already am, I loved the permission the book gave to sink deeper into a Jacuzzi of megalomania. As The Secret points out: "You are the master of the Universe. You are the heir to the kingdom. You are the perfection of Life." So, I vowed to follow Byrne's simple rules for abundance and see what happened. The book encourages one to start big: "It is as easy to manifest one dollar as it is to manifest one million dollars."
Why do so many people get what they don't want? As Byrne writes, "Imperfect thoughts are the cause of all humanity's ills, including disease, poverty, and unhappiness." Yes, according to The Secret, people don't just randomly end up being massacred, for example. They are in the wrong place because of their own lousy thinking. Cancer patients have long been victims of this school of belief. But The Secret takes it to a new and more repulsive level with its advice not just to blame people for their illness, but to shun them, lest you start being infected by their bummer thoughts, too.
The difference for Jesus followers is that God told us to welcome the sick, to pray for the sick, to believe enough that God can do miracles and that He is the one who wants us to get down and dirty into the mess of people’s lives. You know what we have discovered about Jesus and what He has come to do? Luke 4:18,19 We are to be so counter cultural, don’t get wrapped up in yourself, don’t buy these lies.
http://www.slate.com/id/2165746/
James 5:13-16
Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Let me make it very clear that prayer is not magic.
Prayer is a process where we spiritually surrender so that we might become instruments through which God can work supernaturally. It is not about us, it is not about praying the right words. When we do that, we trivialize God.
We don’t go running around either telling people they weren’t healed because they don’t have enough faith. That is the kind of stuff that gives God a bad name. When we pray in Jesus’ name, it is saying that we embody everything that His name is about.
Mark 6:5 states ‘He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.’
I went to a Baptist seminary for my training and Baptists are known to be people of the Word. While there I learned about dispensationalism and the study of the different ages of the church basically being categorized in different eras, the age of the law, the age of the apostolic ministry and now the age of grace. It all fit together well sort of. When it came to gifts, it was said that the were foundational gifts that the church was built on but those gifts aren’t active today. So, there was this acceptance that God doesn’t work like that anymore…why, because we have the completed Word and those signs were used as a validation for the Word until it was complete. It sounded good, but it wasn’t biblical. It was a safe idea to not expect anything too crazy, too supernatural to happen. It is the attitude that suggests we don’t want to get our hopes up too high. I believe that today dispensationalism is a self-fulfilling prophecy. I like to call it the Nazareth prophecy….
Now the Pentecostal are known for the power, they are all about manifesting the Holy Spirit…go with the flow of the Spirit, as the Spirit leads and that can be dangerous too because sometimes God puts stuff right in front of you and He calls you to act. He already tells us to do some stuff and we don’t need to feel it all the time when we are called to obey. So, if you go with all Spirit, no Word, that can be dangerous too…
But when I came to the Alliance, I was told we walk in the middle, always keeping the tension strong being led by the Spirit and the Word
But everywhere I see God wants to break into history supernaturally. Yes, there was the age of the law but in the OT there was a ton of miracles going on from the Red Sea, to incredible victories over cities by Joshua and Gideon, to the closing of the lion’s mouth for Daniel, 3 guys safe in a blazing furnace, 1 guy hanging out in a fish for three days…God is all over the course of history.
Matthew 17:19,20
Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
God is not asking you for much…look at the mustard seed, can you pray for that kind of faith this week.
The world is catching on to this idea. Its called ‘the secret’ The idea is that if you visualize on something long enough and believe that it is yours, it will be yours. It’s the law of attraction and Rhonda Byrne is getting rich. There are 5.3 million copies already sold in the States since it came out last year and the secret is that you are the center of the universe.
One article writes:
See yourself living in abundance and you will attract it. It works every time, with every person." The appeal is obvious. Forget education, effort, performance. Everything you want—money, power, comfortable shoes—is yours simply by wanting it enough.
As self-absorbed as I already am, I loved the permission the book gave to sink deeper into a Jacuzzi of megalomania. As The Secret points out: "You are the master of the Universe. You are the heir to the kingdom. You are the perfection of Life." So, I vowed to follow Byrne's simple rules for abundance and see what happened. The book encourages one to start big: "It is as easy to manifest one dollar as it is to manifest one million dollars."
Why do so many people get what they don't want? As Byrne writes, "Imperfect thoughts are the cause of all humanity's ills, including disease, poverty, and unhappiness." Yes, according to The Secret, people don't just randomly end up being massacred, for example. They are in the wrong place because of their own lousy thinking. Cancer patients have long been victims of this school of belief. But The Secret takes it to a new and more repulsive level with its advice not just to blame people for their illness, but to shun them, lest you start being infected by their bummer thoughts, too.
The difference for Jesus followers is that God told us to welcome the sick, to pray for the sick, to believe enough that God can do miracles and that He is the one who wants us to get down and dirty into the mess of people’s lives. You know what we have discovered about Jesus and what He has come to do? Luke 4:18,19 We are to be so counter cultural, don’t get wrapped up in yourself, don’t buy these lies.
http://www.slate.com/id/2165746/
James 5:13-16
Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Let me make it very clear that prayer is not magic.
Prayer is a process where we spiritually surrender so that we might become instruments through which God can work supernaturally. It is not about us, it is not about praying the right words. When we do that, we trivialize God.
We don’t go running around either telling people they weren’t healed because they don’t have enough faith. That is the kind of stuff that gives God a bad name. When we pray in Jesus’ name, it is saying that we embody everything that His name is about.
Questions For Discussion and Small Groups
1. What does faith ‘as small as a mustard seed’ look like for you?
2. What have you learned about prayer that has given you more confidence to enter the throne room with God?
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