4-19-2017

    Good Morning All,

           Matthew 21:22; “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

      “If you have faith”.  That is always the great qualifier of our faith is actually having it; possessing faith so that it may do what it is intended to do.  God gives us faith so that we may have peace, comfort, security and hope.  We have peace; first and foremost we have peace with God but we also have the peace of God.  This peace of God should calm our hearts and minds because we possess the certain knowledge that the God who loves us is the same God who is in control of all things.  We can take comfort in the truth that Jesus has overcome all our enemies and his victory is our victory.  We can have security in the knowledge that the Creator God is our loving Father who inclines his ear to hear our prayers and answers them.  Above all, we have hope.  We have hope because we lay hold to the promises of God; promises that God has sworn to keep.  Those promises include life eternal with the perfected body in the presence of Jesus.

   Yet it all boils down to faith.  When I teach “faith” in confirmation, we refer to the two main definitions.  First, faith is the desire to trust God’s promises.  The second is that faith is how we receive God’s blessings and benefits.  So when we look at prayer, we see how faith works it prayer for us.  Prayer is the one element of our spiritual life that absolutely every Christian has and can utilize.  We can pray anywhere at any time, nothing can prevent prayer.  Prayers can, and often times do, arise from the heart and not from the mouth.  Yet prayer offers a conundrum for us.  Prayer is both a sign of our faith and it is a test of our faith.

    It is a sign of faith in that we come before God and lay down our fears, worries, our dreams and desires and we ask God to give them to us.  In essence, we come to God and say, “here, I can’t do this; I need you to do it.”  We then trust God to do what we ask.  People who do not have faith do not pray because they do not expect God to do anything.  Whatever their reasons, they do not expect God to answer their prayers.  It is a sign of faith to pray.

    It is a test in that we trust God to take care of our fears, worries, dreams and desires.  To trust God to answer our prayers means to leave our fears and worries with him.  It means to trust our dreams and desires to his loving hands.  So when we say, “here, I can’t do this” we need to trust that God will and not stand there and look over his shoulder judging his actions or criticizing his ways.  There is the test of faith; to let God have our prayers unconditionally.  This is how God invites us to pray.  We take what the world throws at us and we turn and give it to God in prayer and have faith that God will take care of it.  Then we keep going back to prayer, knowing that God will keep his promise to us and give to us his blessings through faith.  Prayer will strengthen our faith as it leads us to boldly call upon God for our cares.

Father of mercy, we come to you seeking your grace.  Guide us by your Spirit that we may boldly pray to you, knowing that your great love moves you to hear us and to answer us.  As a loving father gives good gifts to his children, so much greater do you give to us.  Keep us in your Word.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret