Hope for Healing, Faith for Living Podcast

To be effective in prayer, we have to know what to pray for. By that I mean what does God’s Word reveal as God’s will because that’s what we are to pray and believe God for. It’s impossible to pray in faith unless we know from God’s Word that what we are praying for is God’s will. Remember faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. (See Romans 10:17)

We know we need faith and we know we need to know the will of God to pray in faith but what else do we need?

Let’s look at Hebrews 6:9-12 ESV

9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Let me share that last part again, “imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises”.

It’s through faith and patience that we inherit the promises. You could say it this way, that we come into possession of the promises.

Now it’s important to have a good biblical understanding of what is meant by patience in this verse.

When you look the word up in the Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary, you will also see these words, “fortitude” and “patient expectation”.

Let’s also consider the context. 

“so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

The call is to not be sluggish but the opposite of that.  Now what is sluggish? It’s lazy. Doing nothing.

You see faith is active. Remember James 2 says faith without works is dead.

Our faith is to be active, we are to have fortitude and we are to have patient expectation.

Consider a person that’s wanting to get better at basketball. He practices shot after shot believing the ball will at some point will go in.  That’s not the best example but I hope you get the point.

When we pray and are believing God for something that we see revealed in his Word to be his will, we stay with it. We stay in faith. I’m not saying to ask over and over again. I’m saying to act like it’s so and continue to act like it’s so until you see it. 

Now do you have to wait until you see it to say thank you?

Have you ever asked someone to do something for you and they agreed to do it and you thanked them just based on their Word? I mean they havn’t really done it yet but they said they would and so you thanked them ahead of time just based on their word.

Why don’t we show God the same faith and expectation in him that he will do what he said? Why don’t we pray, believing we receive and going ahead and thanking God for the answer before we see it?

I once had a need and a friend said he would supply it. I thanked him and was so happy and then It seemed like God spoke to my heart, “You were happier when your friend said he would do it than when I said I would do it.”  That caught my attention.

My point today is, don’t quit. Stay with it. Stay in faith and one of the best ways to do that is to continue to remind yourself of God’s promises, his faithfulness and thank him for what you have asked of him.

Blessings,

Tim Dumas

www.hopeforhealingfaithforliving.com