03.59. The Law Of Faith In Prayer
The Law of Faith in Prayer
1) Ask (James 1:5). The teaching of James consists chiefly of amplifications and applications of our Lord’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. He begins where our Lord began on the subject of prayer with the simple command to ask. "If any man lack, let him ask of God." The reach of the privilege of asking covers the whole man’s need as well as his lack of wisdom. God gives to all that ask, liberally and without upbraiding, therefore "ask, and ye shall receive." There is no limit to the range of prayer. "Whatsoever" is promised to "whosoever," and the largest liberty is given to those who pray. "In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Php 4:6). "Ask, and ye shall receive" (John 16:24). Prayer is asking. "Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye" (Matthew 6:8-9). Why pray if He knows? Because asking is something different from giving information. God waits to be asked, before He gives the gifts that supply man’s deepest needs.
2) Ask in Faith (James 1:6). Faith is explained by its opposite. Doubt is double-minded and unstable. Like a troubled sea, it is driven by the force of the wind and tossed by the surge of the deep; it is at the mercy of a double motion of oscillation and undulation. Internal conditions disturb, and external circumstances drive. Such a man gets nothing because he is not of one mind, and a two-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Ships go East and ships go West, Whatever the winds that blow; The set of the sail, and not the gale, Settles the way we go.
3) Ask Aright (James 4:3). It is possible to ask amiss. "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures." God takes account, not only of what we want, but of why we want it. He looks at the heart. There are some people to whom He will not give audience. Sin shuts men out. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Psalms 66:18). Unbelief shuts men out (Hebrews 11:6). An unforgiving spirit shuts men out (Matthew 5:23-24; Matthew 6:14-15; Mark 11:25-26). An unstable mind shuts men out (James 1:7). A condemning conscience shuts men out (John 4:14). A self-seeking motive shuts men out (James 4:3). Faith works in those who pray that they may ask aright
4) Ask Righteously (James 5:13-18). The rightness of the asking goes down to the rightness of the asker. The person who prays is the prayer. He is both the petitioner and the petition; the pleader and the plea; the request and the reason. Patriarchs and psalmists fall back on their integrity as an argument with God, and their plea is admitted. The alms and prayers of Cornelius were accepted of God, and Peter declared his new faith in these terms: "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is acceptable to him" (Acts 10:34-35). It is the praying of the righteous man that is of great force. Faith is no substitute for right living. It does not cover sin; only blood can do that. It saves from sin, gives victory over sin, and makes men righteous with the righteousness of God. There is no condemnation, but an assurance in the will of God that gives "boldness toward God: and whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do the things that are pleasing in his sight" (1 John 3:21-22).
5) Ask Earnestly. God promises to be found of us when we seek Him with all our hearts (Jeremiah 29:13). Elijah’s prevailing prayer was intense in its passion. Our Lord’s parables on prayer emphasize an importunity that persists and insists in spite of discouragement, and the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of His own praying with strong cries and tears. It is the impassioned prayer that prevails.
6) Ask in the Spirit. The prevailing prayer of Elijah was energized prayer. It was inspired, instructed, and empowered of the Holy Spirit.
7) Ask in the Prayer of Faith. Ask believingly, according to the law of faith. The principle is stated in Mark 11:24, and illustrations are in all the Scriptures. The Honor Roll of Faith in Hebrews 11:1-40 furnishes illustrious examples of its power, and in verse 13 there is a picturesque description of its method. (Hebrews 11:13) Like the man in the Gospels who believed the word that Jesus spake and went his way (John 4:50), so these had witness borne to them, and they dared and endured by faith, even dying believing. Israel shouted before the walls of Jericho while as yet there was not even a crack in the solid masonry, and the shout of faith brought them down so that there was not a yard of solid masonry left. Jehoshaphat’s singers chanted the song of victory before the battlefield was reached, and the song of faith was mightier than thousands of armed men skilled in war. Elijah’s promise to the widow was made in the midst of famine, and in the house of faith there was no lack. The prayer of faith works mightily, for it is mighty with the power of God.
"When ye pray, believe that ye have received, and ye shall have." (Mark 11:24) "Have Faith In God" (Mark 11:22) He never dishonors faith.