Faith
To pray in faith is to pray in confidence. Confidence in the unseen God is not a natural substance. It is learned over time. It is oil bought with trust in the unseen truth and stored in the lamp of our heart as the unseen becomes real. This is how heaven will come from the inside out:
Luke 17:20Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation;
21“nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
22Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.
23“And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them.
Praying in faith is tricky. We need to know what we are having faith in. Often, Satan tries to turn true faith into faith in our faith. Faith in our faith requires a continual "ramping up" of emotion...an internal....and even an external "shouting" of our commands to move earth in the name of heaven. True faith might come out of our mouths loudly (sometimes I like loud prayers), but it is what is occurring between our Spirit and our mind, will, and emotion (heart) that truly determines if faith in God is being drawn on and built.
The Holy Spirit resides in our Spirit, if we are saved. The desire of a man resides in his heart...his mind, will, and emotion. A true prayer of faith occurs between these two realms of the internal man....a verbal command from the body of that man, yes...but, a heart-level desire spoken to the Holy Spirit through the "gate" between Spirit and soul (the soul is also called the heart). My soul opens to the Holy Spirit and declares my desire...and then leaves the gate open until.
Until what? Until the desire is answered by the Spirit back through the very gate... My eyes might see the answer....my ears might hear the answer...my hands might touch the answer....but my soul should know when it has received the answer.
Faith is really interwoven with humility. Faith in God means I have confidence that the organization of His authority, called His Kingdom, or government, really works the way He said it does. Real mountain-moving faith recognizes I can't move mountains with my words...but has confidence my words really have authority to direct those unseen workers who CAN move mountains and want to move mountains on my behalf, if it agrees with the Father of all spirits.
Matthew 8:9“For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!
It is common, when trying to grow in faith, to ramp up...to think if I could just get a little more emotionally intense about what I believe, that I could make the natural move. This results in emotionally "loud" (i'm not talking about audible volume) prayers from the heart shot into the world.... Pushing words out into the world quickly through the gate of desire, and then watching for an answer. When the answer doesn't quickly come from the world, then the gate of the heart quickly closes, assuming the heavens didn't hear THAT attempt at faith. This is a frustrating attempt to push the wind...
True faith is a command spoken from the mouth as an expression of an opening of the gate between the heart and the Spirit inside....and then leaves THAT gate open... One minute...ten minutes...ten days...ten years...that gate between the "commander" (me) and the power to execute the command (the Holy Spirit in me) stays open until... Confident that the government works, not that my emotional force, or my idea of faith, works.
This confidence, built over time because we were willing to take a risk and believe...keep the gate open till the word came back to us... This confidence is the oil that will burn through the darkest night, when eyesight isn't super helpful:
Matthew 25:6“And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’
7“Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.
8“And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
9“But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’
10“And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
11“Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’
12“But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
Psalm 27:13I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the LORD
In the land of the living.
Luke 17:20Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation;
21“nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
22Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.
23“And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them.
Praying in faith is tricky. We need to know what we are having faith in. Often, Satan tries to turn true faith into faith in our faith. Faith in our faith requires a continual "ramping up" of emotion...an internal....and even an external "shouting" of our commands to move earth in the name of heaven. True faith might come out of our mouths loudly (sometimes I like loud prayers), but it is what is occurring between our Spirit and our mind, will, and emotion (heart) that truly determines if faith in God is being drawn on and built.
The Holy Spirit resides in our Spirit, if we are saved. The desire of a man resides in his heart...his mind, will, and emotion. A true prayer of faith occurs between these two realms of the internal man....a verbal command from the body of that man, yes...but, a heart-level desire spoken to the Holy Spirit through the "gate" between Spirit and soul (the soul is also called the heart). My soul opens to the Holy Spirit and declares my desire...and then leaves the gate open until.
Until what? Until the desire is answered by the Spirit back through the very gate... My eyes might see the answer....my ears might hear the answer...my hands might touch the answer....but my soul should know when it has received the answer.
Faith is really interwoven with humility. Faith in God means I have confidence that the organization of His authority, called His Kingdom, or government, really works the way He said it does. Real mountain-moving faith recognizes I can't move mountains with my words...but has confidence my words really have authority to direct those unseen workers who CAN move mountains and want to move mountains on my behalf, if it agrees with the Father of all spirits.
Matthew 8:9“For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!
It is common, when trying to grow in faith, to ramp up...to think if I could just get a little more emotionally intense about what I believe, that I could make the natural move. This results in emotionally "loud" (i'm not talking about audible volume) prayers from the heart shot into the world.... Pushing words out into the world quickly through the gate of desire, and then watching for an answer. When the answer doesn't quickly come from the world, then the gate of the heart quickly closes, assuming the heavens didn't hear THAT attempt at faith. This is a frustrating attempt to push the wind...
True faith is a command spoken from the mouth as an expression of an opening of the gate between the heart and the Spirit inside....and then leaves THAT gate open... One minute...ten minutes...ten days...ten years...that gate between the "commander" (me) and the power to execute the command (the Holy Spirit in me) stays open until... Confident that the government works, not that my emotional force, or my idea of faith, works.
This confidence, built over time because we were willing to take a risk and believe...keep the gate open till the word came back to us... This confidence is the oil that will burn through the darkest night, when eyesight isn't super helpful:
Matthew 25:6“And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’
7“Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.
8“And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
9“But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’
10“And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
11“Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’
12“But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
Psalm 27:13I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the LORD
In the land of the living.
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