Connect 21 - Prayer + Fasting - Reaching ResultsSample

Day 16 | What Matters the Most

Our lives as believers revolve around our position in Christ. Once we accept Jesus, God gives us the same status as His only begotten Son. We have eternal life. We are blameless for sin in God’s sight. There is nothing that we can do to earn this right. It is all because of God’s grace and the finished work of Jesus on the cross. If we really believed the truth about our position in Christ, we would spend more time getting to know our Father God, our big brother and Savior Jesus the Christ, the Anointed One, and His anointing.

Sometimes we try to work our way into God’s favor, but we are already favored by Him. We are truly known and deeply loved by God. There is nothing we can do to change that. There is no "right" number of deeds we can carry out or religious practices we can follow that will give us a greater status with God. We already have the best status there could ever be, and that is that we have been reconciled to Him and we are seated in heavenly places with Christ (Ephesians 2:6-9).

Circumcision was an outward sign for Jews to show that they were followers of Christ. Legalism does not have any part in the kingdom of God. It does not have the power to produce results. If someone says to give 10 percent of your money to your local church as a tithe and spend two hours a day praying because those things make you a better Christian, those would be false statements. We cannot be better Christians, but we can be more obedient Christians. Our obedience to God should come from a place of love.

Our faith is energized, expressed, and works by love—our love for God, His Word, Jesus, ourselves, and others. So, if we’re praying but not loving, how can we say we’re in faith? If we’re not in faith, then how can we earnestly expect anything from God or take God at His Word because our faith isn’t activated? If faith is the car that gets us there, then love is the gas that causes the car to operate to get us to our destination.

So, when we pray, we pray in faith, but our faith operates by our love walk. If I’m out of love, then I’m out of faith. Your spirit knows when you are not exercising faith and when you are not operating in love. This is when doubt creeps in because we want to expect from God, but we don’t want to walk in love with God’s people.

The Word tells us to love God with all of our hearts, souls, and minds, and our neighbor as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40). If we want our prayers to produce results, we cannot have a form of godliness that denies the power of God, which is predicated on His love.

Reflection: In what areas can you improve your love walk? Is it with your spouse, children, co-workers, or someone else? Ask the Holy Spirit for the answer(s) to your questions. When He answers, make a commitment to obey.

Prayer: Lord, help me to love others like You love me. Help me to see beyond their faults and understand that every person has a soul worth redeeming. Help me to grow in my love walk so that my faith is always activated. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.