Building A Daily Prayer HabitSample

How Do you Pray—Faith

Prayer is by definition an act of faith. No one who prays fails to believe on some level that someone is there to hear. No one who prays fails to believe that something can be done for her situation. So prayer is an act of faith.

James insists that our prayers be “the prayer of faith.” He specifically mentions praying that the sick be healed. In some circles, we have a tendency to hedge our requests as if to “give God an out” in case healing does not occur.

By contrast, the prayer of faith believes that God is a healer and assumes that God cares for the one who is suffering. 

This is not limited to prayers for healing. If you find yourself stopping short of actually asking God to act, you are not praying in faith. It’s one thing to continue to trust God if he chooses not to grant your request. It’s another to habitually pray without the slightest expectation that God will act.

Would God command you to pray if he had no intention of involving himself in your affairs? Do you have the faith to believe that God cares about you? Do you have faith that God wants to be with you in your prayers and to work in and with you as you bare your heart before him? 

Or perhaps you believe that God isn’t interested in responding to your prayers? Perhaps you’re too insignificant? James anticipates this objection. He uses Elijah as an example of the kind of person whose prayers get answered. Because of his innate power? No. Elijah accomplished nothing without God working through him, and this, James says, came in response to prayer. Just when we would say, “Yes, but that’s Elijah,” James pulls the excuse away from us: Elijah was a person just like the rest of us. Elijah was great because God responds to the prayer of faith.

Don’t build your prayer habit upon faithless mutterings. Pray in faith.

Tip for Cultivating a Daily Prayer Habit: Every time you make a request to God, let that be a reminder to pause and ask yourself—in God’s presence—if you actually believe that he can and will act on your behalf.

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