J. Oswald Sanders
The Prayer of Faith
Have faith in God (Mark 11:22)
We come now to a spiritual principle of overriding importance in relation to answered prayer. It is enunciated in Hebrews 11:6: “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (italics added). There is no acceptable substitute for faith. Faith feeds on the pledged Word of God, and flourishes in the atmosphere of His presence.
It has been said that just as there are two pairs of eyes, natural and spiritual eyes, so there are two kinds of faith, natural and spiritual faith. Natural faith is common to us all and is the basis of community life. We post a letter in the faith that the postal authorities will deliver it to the addressee, and our faith is usually rewarded. Business runs on the basis of natural faith.
Both natural and spiritual faith must have a sufficient basis. If I had no faith in the postal system, I would not pay out the money to post a letter. Behind business transactions, the faith of the businessman rests on the moral integrity and financial resources of his client.
But spiritual faith is the possession only of Christians. It views things through spiritual eyes and perceives things invisible to the natural eye. Faith is the substance of, the substantiating of, the giving substance to, things not seen (Heb 11:1). Such faith is not inherent in human nature, but is a gift of God’s grace (Eph 2:8).
THE BASIS OF THE PRAYER OF FAITH
What, then, constitutes an adequate basis for the prayer of faith?
On the negative side, it is not the evidence of outward circumstances. The prayer of faith often finds its grandest opportunity in the utterly impossible situation, in the absence of any tangible encouragement to believe. Elijah’s prayer of faith for rain triumphed in spite of the six-times-repeated report from his servant that the sky remained cloudless (1 Kings 18:41-45). Faith does not require external confirmation, but believes God in spite of appearances.
Nor does faith require or demand a sign to shore it up. Christians sometimes speak of putting out a fleece as Gideon did to determine what is the will of God. But was not God’s response to Gideon’s twice-repeated request a gracious concession to the feebleness of his faith rather than a reward for its strength (Judges 6:36-40)? Jesus constantly deprecated the seeking of a sign.
Thomas refused to be satisfied that the Lord had really risen from the dead apart from the evidence of his own senses. To him Jesus gave the gentle yet encouraging rebuke: “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (John 20:29).
Nor do our feelings and emotional reactions constitute an adequate basis for the prayer of faith. When we instruct someone seeking salvation, we are careful to point out that he is assured of his salvation not because he feels saved, but because he reposes his faith in the Savior; and faith is independent of feelings. Feelings are no more a basis of faith for the believer than for the unbeliever. Faith trusts God in spite of the absence or contradiction of feelings.
On the positive side, the prayer of faith finds its warrant in the promises of the Word of God, applied to our hearts by the Spirit of God. It is a divinely given intuition and assurance that God has answered our prayer and granted our request. It is not the outcome of trying to believe, but is effortless confidence in God. When a man and his wife are deeply in love, it is no effort for them to trust each other.
HOW CAN WE BE SURE?
But how are we to distinguish between mere natural desires and the promptings of the Holy Spirit? John comes to our assistance on this point: “And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. and if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him” (1 John 5:14-15, italics added). This is one of the key verses relating to our subject.
We must first satisfy ourselves that our request is in harmony with the will of God, as previously suggested. Once we are sure of this, we know that He hears us, because we believe Him to be true to His pledged word. That being so, John says we know that He hears us. That being so, John says we know that we have — not will have, but have obtained — our request. The actual enjoyment of the prayed-for blessing may be in the future, but faith regards it as already in possession.
A man who lived in a New Zealand city had a son who, in spite of a godly upbringing, was quite unresponsive to the Gospel message. The father had prayed most earnestly for his son’s salvation, but had seen no change in his lifestyle or attitude to God. Suddenly the son was killed in an accident. The father was naturally distressed at the untimely death of his son, but with quiet assurance he told sympathizing friends that he was confident he and his son would meet in heaven — and this in spite of any evidence to support his belief.
A few weeks later, a young man came to visit the father. The young man had known his son.
“We will meet your son in heaven,” he said.
“Yes, I am sure of that,” replied the father. “God has given me that assurance.”
“Oh, I know more than that,” was the reply. “A week before he was killed, we attended an evangelistic service conducted by Herbert Booth, son of the founder of the Salvation Army. When an invitation to accept Christ was given, your son went forward, and I accompanied him.”
The reply of the father to this astonishing piece of news was: “Of course I am delighted to hear what you tell me, but I am no more sure now that we shall meet in heaven than I was before you told me.”
Faith believes that it has received the answer, even in the absence of any confirmatory evidence.
A STAGGERINGLY INCLUSIVE PROMISE
The parallel promise of Mark 11:24 seems so staggeringly universal and inclusive in its implications that our innate unbelief causes us to feel that it surely cannot mean just what it says. “All things [what things soever, KJV] for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you” (italics added). Our natural tendency is to tone the statement down somewhat so as to bring it into the realm of the reasonable or probable. Can it really mean that if I want something, all I need to do is pray and ask?
The answer is that “all things” and “what things soever” mean exactly what they say, but in the second clause there is a limitation implied — not on God’s side, but on ours. For it is impossible for a believer to exercise faith for something that is beyond the scope of the will of God. If faith is the gift of God, and it is, He will not give it to someone in order to encourage him to do something contrary to his will.
The praying Christian will be able to believe all that is sanctioned by the Word of God and witnessed to by the Spirit. His faith will flow from his praying. It is in the atmosphere of prayer that the Holy Spirit nurtures and develops our faith, or on the other hand, indicates to us that what we desire is contrary to God’s will.
In Behind the Ranges, James O. Fraser of Lisuland recounts his experience as he learned the possibilities and potency of the prayer of faith.
“The prayer of faith” [is] a definite request … made in definite faith for a definite answer …
In my own case here … I have definitely asked the Lord for several hundred families of Lisu believers. There are upwards of two thousand Lisu families in the district altogether. It might be said, “Why do you not ask for a thousand?” I answer quite frankly, because I have not faith for a thousand …
I prayed continually for the Tengyeuh Lisu for over four years, asking many times that several hundreds of families might be turned to God. This was only general prayer, however. God was dealing with me in the meantime … Then near th eend of November … (1914), … this same petition came to me as a definite burden …
I recognized the burden clearly. And it was an actual burden: it burdened me. I went to my room alone one afternoon and knelt in prayer. I knew that the time had come for the prayer of faith. And then, fully knowing what I was doing and what it might cost me, I definitely committed myself to this petition in faith. I “cast my burden upon the Lord.” I rose from my knees with the deep, restful conviction that I had already received the answer … And since then (nearly a year ago now) I have never had anything but peace and joy … in holding to the ground already claimed and taken. I have never repeated the request and never will: there is no need … The past can never be undone, never need be redone. It is a solemn thing to enter into a faith-covenant with God. It is binding on both parties. You lift up your hand to God’ … you definitely ask for and definitely receive His proffered gift; then do not go back on your faith, even if you live to be a hundred.2
When Fraser wrote the above, the answer was still in the future; but in God’s time a glorious answer was given and thousands of Lisu turned to the Lord. Was his stand of faith contested? Hear his further testimony:
We often have to strive and wrestle in prayer … before we attain this quiet, restful faith … However, once we attain to a real faith, all the forces of hell are impotent to annul it. What then? They retire and muster their forces on this plot of ground which God has pledged Himself to give us, and contest every inch of it. The real battle begins when the prayer of faith has been offered. But, praise the Lord! we are on the winning side. Let us read and re-read the tenth chapter of Joshua, and never talk about defeat again.3
The victories won by prayer,
By prayer must still be held;
The foe retreats, but only when
By prayer he is compelled. ANONYMOUS
It is worthy of note that in Elijah’s prevailing power there were three important factors involved. (1) He based his prayer on a definite promise of God (1 Kings 18:1). (2) He fulfilled the condition attached to the promise (18:2). (3) He preserved in the prayer of faith in spite of the adverse report brought by sight (18:43). To his servant who brought the report, “he said, ‘Go back’ seven times.” Note the progression. “There is nothing.” “Behold, a cloud as small as a man’s hand” (18:44). “There was a great rain” (18:45, KJV). James assures us that Elijah’s prayer is a model prayer of faith (James 5:17-18).
Another classic example of the prayer of faith is recounted in The Dairy of George Mueller. He writes:
This is, perhaps, of all days the most remarkable so far as regards the funds. When I was in prayer this morning respecting them, I was enabled firmly to believe that the Lord would send help, though all seemed dark as to natural appearances. At twelve o’clock I met as usual with the brethren and sisters in prayer. There had come in only one shilling which, except twopence, had already been spent because of the great need … Neither in the Infants’ nor Boys’ Orphan houses was there bread enough for tea, nor money to buy milk. Lower we had never been, perhaps never so low. We gave ourselves now unitedly to prayer, laying the case in simplicity before the Lord … We continued for a while silently in prayer … At last we rose from our knees. I said, “God will surely send help.” The words had not quite passed my lips when I saw a letter lying on the table which had been brought while we were in prayer. It was from my wife, containing another letter with 10 for the orphans. The prayer of faith had its reward.4
Isabel Kuhn tells how she and her husband were experiencing great opposition in a heathen village in South China. The people were deeply convicted, but could not break from their sinful customs. Then something happened.
“The last two days, without any explanation that we could discover, a sudden and astounding change took place,” she wrote. Glorious victories were gained and quarrels settled. They did not know it, but a letter giving the explanation was already on the way. She had noted the date in her diary, and said to her husband, “I am sure someone in the homelands is specially praying for us.” Two months passed, and then a letter.
“John, you read this while I get my dairy.” This is what he read:
I must write and tell you what happened today. All morning I could not do my housework because of the burden on me concerning Three Clan Village. So finally I went to the telephone and called Mrs. W –. She said she had been feeling the same way and suggested we call Mrs. J –, and all go to prayer together. We did so, each in her own kitchen. We spent the morning in intercession for three quarreling clans. We feel God has answered. You will know?
The date on the diary exactly corresponded with the victory gained in Three Clan Village.5
To conclude this study, let us recapitulate in the words of Hudson Taylor: “Faith is reliance on the trustworthiness of those with whom we transact business. Our faith is the recognition of God’s faithfulness. It is so blessed to leave our faith out of account, and to be so occupied with God’s faithfulness that we cannot raise any questions whatsoever.”6
PRAYER
Blessed Jesus, it is Thyself in whom our faith must be rooted if it is to grow strong. Thy work has freed us from the power of sin, and opened the way to the Father; Thy Spirit is always drawing us upwards into a life of perfect faith and confidence; we are assured that in Thy teaching we shall learn to pray the prayer of faith. Thou wilt train us to pray so that we believe that we receive, to believe that we really have what we ask. Lord, teach me so to love and trust Thee that my soul may have in Thee assurance that I am heard.
QUESTIONS
- If the Holy Spirit has been grieved in our lives, what effect would that have on our ability to pray the prayer of faith? What should we do?
- How can our faith be increased so that we can confidently ask God for larger answers?
Note
1W. E. Biederwolf, How Can God Answer Prayer (New York: Revall, 1910), p 199
2Mrs. H. Taylor, Behind the Ranges (London: Lutterworth, 1944) p 108, 110, 112-13
3Ibid., p 114
4G. Mueller, The Dairy of George Mueller, ed. A. Rendle Short (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1972), p 72
5J. O. Sanders, Just the Same Today (London: O.M.F., 1975), p 20
6Ibid.
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