We must be ready to serve God rather than our needs, even before we know what the call may be, and take this mindset into life and to others. This happens when we allow the impacting work of Christ to continually renew and build us. To grow even further, we can be more contemplative in His Word and in prayer. God's will for our lives is for us to totally surrender and trust in His power and authority, and to abide in Him. He will teach us His ways if we will walk in His ways. Trust yourself to our LORD and receive His call in order to build yourself, as well as others, up. Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." Luke 9:23-24
What matters to God is not the words we pray, or the amount of time we spend praying, but the life of the pray-er. Praying revealed Jesus’ relationship with His Father. For us, prayer is also a relationship, one that grows as we spend time with Jesus daily. Prayer is also an attitude, a response, and a commitment. But most of all, it is practicing the presence of God daily, worshipping Him continually, and depending upon His power completely. That’s what Jesus did. Faith is a spiritual substance. When you have this spiritual substance in you, it communicates to you a certain inner knowing that the thing you are hoping for is certainly established, even before you see any material evidence that it has happened. Faith is a spiritual force. Faith in God is a response to God’s Word which moves God to act. Jesus said in Mark 11:23, “For assuredly I say to you, whoever SAYS to this mountain, ‘Be removed and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but BELIEVES that those things he SAYS will be done, he will HAVE whatever he SAYS.” Words mixed with the real, pure faith can and will move mountains or any other problem that we face. Faith in God must be from the heart. It is not merely intellectual. It is spiritual. “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:10)
Faith causes you to know in your heart before you see with your eyes. “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2Cor 5.7)
Some say, “Seeing is believing.” Once you see the thing hoped for already existing in the natural order, you don’t need faith. Hope is a condition for faith. Hope is “a positive unwavering expectation of good”. Hope is for the mind (1 Thessalonians 5:8; Hebrews 6:19), an anchor for the soul. It keeps us in the place where we can believe, but it is not in itself “faith”. Yet, without hope there are no “things hoped for”, and therefore there cannot be faith. Through faith we can know we have the answer to our prayer before we see anything change in the natural order (1 John 5:14,15). Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (Mk 11:24). God expects us, even commands us, to believe that our petitions are answered by God AT THE MOMENT WE MAKE THEM. We must believe that the response is immediately sent WHEN we pray. Faith is like the confirmation slip in our hearts that the goods are on the way. We have that confirmation slip instantly from God. We sense it in our hearts. The manifestation of those goods, the answer received, comes later as long as we are patient and do not throw away our confidence. (Hebrews 10:35-39; Hebrews 6:12)
Living faith always has corresponding actions. We talk what we really believe, and we act according to what we really believe. The heroes of faith like Abraham were considered men of faith because they acted on what God showed them. They acted on their faith. (Hebrews 11:17-38, James 2:21-23). To live in faith means to do and say what you believe is right, without doubting. Faith is a rest. It is compatible with inner peace. It is not “trying to believe”. To say that you are “trying to believe” God is to say that you don’t believe Him. The man who is “trying to believe” may be sincere, but he does not have faith in that area yet.
