Prayer

Our trip to Liberia was filled with impromptu prayer sessions. We prayed for a lame man, a blind man, we prayed for parents, children, leaders, teachers, and families. With our experience in Liberia, we found that there was never a bad time to pray. We would be visiting a church, and the next thing we knew the church members had gathered around and we were laying their needs at the feet of Jesus Christ. These moments truly were powerful experiences. This is something I feel like we don’t take advantage of near enough of here in the States. The Librarians seem to have come to a place of realizing that it’s either God or death. There is no other choice for them. Here in the United States we have packed away a nest egg for emergencies and extra food in the pantry for when the next storm hits. We don’t really have a reason to rely on God like those who have nothing. When we get sick we have the ease of mind of knowing that help is just a phone call away, or a short trip to the doctor’s office. In the third world, if there is a doctor even available they are fortunate! Most of the time the doctor is not even an option and for many of them even if the doctor was available, they would never be able to begin to pay any of the bills from their visit. So, the only hope that they have is in the Lord! Here in the States we have a tendency to rely so heavily on ourselves that we can push God right out of the picture. For many of us, we are not in a position where we have no other options left. We are not desperate enough. This is so disheartening because the Lord desires for us to long for Him, to need Him and to desire Him to move in our lives!

God has given us so much and yet we can have a tendency do so little. In Liberia, we saw people with so little doing so much for the Lord. It truly humbled our hearts to know that out of their nothingness God was moving among them! We heard stories of God’s supernatural healing, provision and moving flowing from the testimonies of their lips. They were so thankful and grateful to the Lord for moving on their behalf. This is entirely different than here in the States. When we see God move we can be quick to justify it away because our medicine is advanced, funds are usually available and we have friends with influence. We rob God of the joy of even trying to move supernaturally in our lives because we are too busy taking care of the situation ourselves instead of relying on God to move on our behalf. And when we are faced with a situation that we have no other choice but the Lord, we approach God in a prayer mixed with doubt. We come to the Lord hoping that he will move on our behalf rather than believing by faith that He will! Oh we of little faith! I share this because I too am guilty of allowing doubt to rob God of the ability to move. Scripture is very clear about what we can expect from the Lord when we mix doubt with our prayers:

“But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” James 1:6-8

God is not a liar

We should not pray Lord, “if” but rather Lord, “your word says…” We need to hold God to His word! The Lord is an unchanging God and what He says He will do, HE WILL DO! God is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). He does not say one thing and do the complete opposite. So why do we pray as if He is a liar? Why are our prayers riddled with seeds of doubtful thinking, wishful thinking, and hopeful thinking? Why do we have such little faith? Is it because the miracles that we read about in scripture have not transpired before our very eyes? Is it because we have not actually prayed for a lame person and saw them get up and walk with our very own eyes? Let’s just be real here for a moment shall we? Jesus walked with the 12 disciples and made the lame walk, the mute talk and the blind see right before their eyes and yet they still doubted. So what makes us think our minds will change by seeing these things transpire in front of our own eyes when the 12 lived it everyday and yet still doubted? Our faith does not come from seeing. Our faith comes from hearing.

Faith comes by hearing

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” Romans 10:17

When we hear the word of God, not just with our physical ears, because we all know that things can go in one ear and out the other, but with our spiritual ears then faith is truly imparted! May I be so bold as to say that when we pray with doubt it is because we are lacking faith. We are lacking the faith that comes from hearing the word of God with our spiritual ears. In other words, if we truly had faith, we would have no problem praying for the lame, mute, deaf and blind. It’s when we hesitate that we can truly see our level of faith. Sobering isn’t it! I have to admit, I have shied away from many moments of prayer because the voice of doubt was greater than the voice of faith.

Let me give you an example of how bad that voice of doubt has influenced my prayers or stopped me from praying altogether. When we were in Liberia I met a man who had survived a stroke, just like I had. The difference was that his stroke had left some very apparent outward evidences where mine had not. You would think I would have been gung-ho about the opportunity to pray for someone whose shoes I have walked in and understand oh so well. But instead of jumping at the opportunity, I let fear and doubt be my companion in this situation. The fear and doubt flooded my mind as I thought, “look how much worse off he is than you were. God may have been able to heal you, but he certainly can’t heal this man.” At this I should have looked fear and doubt right in the face and reminded them both of the fact that just a few short years ago I was just like him and no different! I should have shouted at my fear that if God can do this for me surely, He can do this for someone else! The Lord is no respecter of persons! (Acts 10:34 and Romans 2:11) But instead of building myself up with faith I simply let fear and doubt have their way that day and to this day am kicking myself for not taking the opportunity that was placed before me.

Our prayers truly have the power to open the floodgates of heaven. We do not need to see physical evidence of God’s power to have faith. Our faith does not come from physical evidence, our faith comes from hearing the word with our spiritual ears. So, let’s open our spiritual ears so that we do not miss out on hearing the word. This may mean we need to close our natural eyes for a little while and forget about what we see going on around us. Seeing is not believing. Hearing is believing.

For more on how God answers prayers and is still working miracles see: "Miracle Working God."

Lord, we  can be so full of doubt sometimes. Help us to be hearers of your word in such a way that it builds in us a faith that destroys all doubt and fear. Help us to rehearse the promises found in your word so that in those moments of prayer we will know how to pray because we are able to pray out your promises. We know fear and doubt is not from you. We know that the enemy is trying to keep us from praying for others by filling us with thoughts of doubt. Fill us with your spirit in those moments that we can overcome the enemy and pray for those who need a touch of your spirit. Help us not to shy away from those situations that seem impossible. We know that nothing is impossible with you! We pray this in the precious name of Jesus Christ.