Many people can be quoted as saying that prayer works but is that really true? What? How can I say that? Read on…
Believe it or not, there are many kinds of prayer and not all of them are prayers to the living God of the Heavens and earth—Almighty God, Creator of the Universe. In fact, many unsaved people will tell you that they pray—I wonder about that! (My husband talked to a man who said he prayed to himself—go figure!) But for this message, I’m referring to Christians—born-again Christians who have made Jesus the Lord of their lives.
Having said all that, let’s examine the scriptures to see whether or not prayer works. (Remember, this is a blog, not a book.)
James 5:15 (KJV)
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Hebrews 4:2 (KJV)
2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
Mark 11:23-24 (KJV)
23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
The key to these scriptures is that the only prayer that works is the prayer of faith–prayer mixed with faith. Without mixing your prayer with faith, you might as well be singing a nursery rhyme.
So, how do you pray in faith? By believing what God has already promised in His Word and then acting on it. The Israelites didn’t benefit from God’s Word because they didn’t mix faith with it, wandering in the wilderness for forty years. They failed to receive the promise.
Too many times I have seen people pray as a last resort – has I come to that! And if that’s how you pray, you can be sure there’s little or no faith in it because if faith had been present, they would have prayed first and gotten God involved!
Then there’s Mark 11:23-24, one of my all-time favorite scriptures. Here we see that in order to see the manifestation of what you have prayed for, you have to believe (have faith) that what you have prayed for you have received (now) even before you see any results. (That’s a whole teaching in itself.)
So, the bottom line is that prayer indeed works but only prayer mixed with faith, Be a faither and get blessed!
—Pamela
Pamela Moyle Ministries 