Becoming a Man of Unwavering Faith (5 page)

When my wife, Dodie, was diagnosed with metastatic cancer of the liver in 1981 and was given only a few weeks to live, we got on our faces in our bedroom and we prayed in faith, agreeing with God’s Word that “by the stripes of Jesus [she] was healed.” Even though we knew the truth of God’s will as revealed in His Word, we had to return again and again to God’s promise and keep holding onto that Word in faith believing for many, many months, until healing was manifest in her body.

As demonstrated on Mount Carmel by Elijah, the second quality of a man of faith is that he prays earnestly in faith even though he has already heard the answer.

Prayer is our contact and conversation with God,
and it is a significant key to becoming a man of faith. The fact is that our very lives should be a constant prayer. The apostle Paul admonishes us to “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We can and should talk to God at any time, day or night, whether we are on our knees or not. It’s not the position of our bodies that God is interested in as much as the condition of our hearts. We can talk to God no matter where we are or what we’re doing. And whether our prayers are verbal or in thought, they can be equally effective.

Prayer can be in the form of praise, fellowship, declaring the Word, or even resisting the enemy. But most important,
prayer must prevail over circumstances
. That was true for the prophet Elijah, and it is true for any man of faith today.

Prevailing prayer is frequent, continuing, effective, and persuasive. We must learn how to have a prevailing prayer life. The Bible is specific about the things that are necessary, if we are to be successful in the life of prevailing prayer.

“Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]” (James 5:16
AMP
).

James indicates that the continued prayer of a righteous person, a man of faith, creates tremendous power. And that power is available
when we pray scripturally
—not necessarily just because we pray, but because we pray according to God’s Word, as Elijah demonstrated.

The prayer that really prevails before God is the prayer that honors the great redemptive truth of the New Covenant—that we are new creatures in Jesus Christ. Because of our relationship with Jesus, the Righteous One, we are righteous, and we have the right to come boldly to the throne of grace in order to obtain mercy and grace in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Prevailing prayer comes from the calm, sensible acceptance of the fact that we are the righteousness of God, not from arrogance or pride. Prayer that is based on your right to be in the presence of God makes tremendous power available—to meet your needs and walk in victory in your personal life.

“Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart” (Psalm 37:4
AMP
). This is another way to have prevailing prayer in your life—
delight yourself in the Lord
.

You cannot pay any attention to folks who try to discourage you. There are always those who criticize God’s people and discourage faith. When David was dancing with joy before the Lord (2 Samuel 6), he was dancing so high that his skirts were coming up and showing his legs. His wife Michal was watching from a window and
despised him in her heart. When David came in all happy and glowing with faith, she said to him, “How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” (2 Samuel 6:20).

David’s response to Michal was to continue to delight in the Lord: “It was before the L
ORD
, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the L
ORD
, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the L
ORD
. And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight” (vv. 21–22).

Regardless of your circumstances, rejoice in the Lord. Habakkuk 3:17–18 states, “Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, [though] the product of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the [victorious] God of my salvation!” (
AMP
).

Be happy when you talk with the Lord—enjoy your time with Him. Delight yourself in His presence. No matter what happens, men of faith should be glad in the Lord. God wants us to prosper. But even if we owed money to everybody in the world and had all kinds of trouble, we still have Jesus Christ and eternal life! We are
going to heaven, where there is no sighing or dying, no pain or sorrow, and it will last forever!

Jesus says to us, “I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father. And I will do [I Myself will grant] whatever you ask in My Name [as presenting all that I AM], so that the Father may be glorified and extolled in (through) the Son. [Yes] I will grant [I Myself will do for you] whatever you shall ask in My Name” (John 14:12–14
AMP
).

Jesus went to the Father, and He is our representative there. Fellowship with Jesus, talk with Jesus, and pray in His Name as a man whose faith is anchored in Him alone.

Now consider what Jesus told His disciples right after He explained to them that He was going to die. He said, “So for the present you are also in sorrow (in distress and depressed); but I will see you again and [then] your hearts will rejoice, and no one can take from you your joy (gladness, delight). And when that time comes, you will ask nothing of Me [you will need to ask Me no questions]. I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that My Father will grant you whatever you ask in My Name…
Up to this time you have not asked a [single] thing in My Name… but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy (gladness, delight) may be full and complete” (John 16:22–24
AMP
).

God wants you to come to Him in faith and ask in Jesus’ Name that your joy may be full and complete.

Jesus died and rose again. He went to the Father so that we might have the privilege of prevailing prayer as men of faith. And we are instructed to ask in faith, with no wavering.

“If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord, [for being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides]” (James 1:5–8
AMP
).

God does not want our faith to be based on our
present conditions. We should not be tossed about by the circumstances of life. God wants us to believe His promises and hold to them without wavering. He wants our faith to remain constant.

We don’t have to beg God for what He has already promised us in His Word. We are to exercise our faith and enter into His presence with confidence. We just ask and accept—without any doubt. We can say, “Father, I found this promise in Your Word, and I thank You for it!” This should make going to the Father a real joy. Be happy and rejoice—that’s part of our prayer and praise to God.

Be careful when you pray that you don’t ask with the wrong motives and for the wrong purpose. We must ask for the right reasons.

“What leads to strife (discord and feuds) and how do conflicts (quarrels and fightings) originate among you? Do they not arise from your sensual desires that are ever warring in your bodily members? You are jealous and covet [what others have] and your desires go unfulfilled; [so] you become murderers. [To hate is to murder as far as your hearts are concerned.] You burn with envy and anger and are not able to obtain [the gratification, the contentment, and the happiness that you seek], so you
fight and war. You do not have, because you do not ask. [Or] you do ask [God for them] and yet fail to receive, because you ask with wrong purpose and evil, selfish motives. Your intention is [when you get what you desire] to spend it in sensual pleasures” (James 4:1–3
AMP
).

In order to have prevailing prayer in our lives, we must be sure to not ask for our own selfish purposes. For instance, some people pray to be healed with no intention of living for God. Some pray for financial help without intending to honor God with their tithe. This is praying with selfish motives and dishonoring God. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). When we pray, we must approach God with a sincere and humble heart.

In order to prevail in prayer, we must make sure our motives are right. We need to be tied into the great purposes of God.

The will of God is the Word of God.
If we are not asking for something that is in God’s Word, our prayers are useless. But if we are asking in line with God’s will, we have His promise that He will answer us. “And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make
any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us” (1 John 5:14
AMP
).

There are many, many promises in God’s Word, and we have a right to enjoy them all. Salvation, healing, prosperity, a happy marriage and family, and salvation for our loved ones are in His Word. We can ask all of these things in confidence, knowing that God will listen to us and hear us, because they are promised in His Word.

“And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him” (1 John 5:15
AMP
). In other words, we know that if God said it, we’ve got it! We don’t have to beg God for the things He has promised us.

So we can pray with confidence, no matter the need, knowing God will hear and answer our prayer as long as we are praying in accordance with His Word.

“Whenever our hearts in [tormenting] self-accusation make us feel guilty and condemn us. [For we are in God’s hands.] For He is above and greater than our consciences (our hearts), and He knows (perceives and understands) everything [nothing is hidden from Him]” (1 John 3:20
AMP
).

Sometimes Christians try to justify the wrong things they are doing, and they have a battle going on down inside themselves. Perhaps they have allowed some things in their lives that shouldn’t be there. But that sin produces an aggravation in the believer’s life. Because we are born of God and have His nature, we can’t habitually practice sin and enjoy it (1 John 3:9). We can never love it.

The apostle John continues, “And, beloved, if our consciences (our hearts) do not accuse us [if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us], we have confidence (complete assurance and boldness) before God, and we receive from Him whatever we ask, because we [watchfully] obey His orders [observe His suggestions and injunctions, follow His plan for us] and [habitually] practice what is pleasing to Him” (1 John 3:21–22
AMP
). Here the beloved John clearly spells out four specific things that we should be doing in order to receive from God.

First,
watchfully obey His orders
. God delights in answering the prayers of those who are always interested in obeying Him. The Scriptures are full of ways we are to be obeying the Father as men of faith, whether it is walking in holiness, loving our wives and children, being the spiritual leader in our home, or ruling our families so as to guard them from the evil one. That is one of the things we must do in order to have prevailing prayer in our lives.

Second,
observe His suggestions.
Most Christians strive to obey God’s orders, but as our relationship with Him grows, God has enough confidence in us that He sometimes makes suggestions and lets us make up our own minds. It is a wonderful thing to be so in tune with God that we respond to His slightest suggestion: “My son, I wouldn’t do that” or “That’s not My best for you.” The hearts of His children beat to please Him, and He knows that He can trust them.