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Grace Emmanuel Church
Pastor Sam Chess
THE POWER OF FAITH
(Steps to the Prayer of Faith 2)
Let’s talk about your faith… How big is your faith? Is it
growing?
Everybody here who is a believer… has faith. When you repented
and reached in God’s direction he gave you an initial divine
investment of faith. That faith was what you extended to him to
become a Christian.
As a Christian, God has given to each of us a nest egg of faith….a
beginning investment in our spiritual lives….
Romans 12:3 ….. here is what I say to every one of you. Don't think
of yourself more highly than you should. Be reasonable when you think
about yourself. Keep in mind the amount of faith God has given you.
The whole point of that initial investment of faith is that is
intended to be grown into something more than it is. If you have
the same amount of faith today that you had when you became a
believer, God’s plan has been short-circuited.
Faith is like a muscle…. It has to be grown.
Like a growing muscle, in order for faith to grow bigger it has
to exercise outside it’s normal boundaries. When you do the same
actions every day using the same muscles, you muscles do not grow.
It’s when you exercise outside your comfort zone, that you muscles
stretch, and break down, and begin to grow bigger and stronger.
So it is with your faith. If you are operating in yesterday’s
faith, the process is painless. It may have been painful for
you to learn some step of faith back in 1994, but today that step
has become natural and painless. If your faith is growing today
there will be present discomfort associated with that
growth.
If today you do not know what your next step, in a certain
matter, is going to be… If today you are calling on God to show
you the next step…If today you are hanging on to your trust in
God until he gives you an assurance of what he is getting ready to do
in your life…. If today you are grabbing on to that inner
assurance and believing it to be true even though your circumstances
have not yet changed. Then today you are exercising your faith
muscle.
You are currently believing for things outside your comfort zone.
You are exercising present faith!
Hebrews 11:1-2 What is faith? It is the confident assurance that
what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we
cannot yet see.
(NLT)
We have discovered in the last four weeks that part of the reason we
don’t stretch out our faith muscle in God is because we are not quite
sure how to do that and that is what these messages are trying to
address.
I. Steps to the Prayer of Faith
Let me give you the first three steps all at once…
A) Step one: Desire
B) Step two: Determine
C) Step three: Ask
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please
God, because anyone who comes to him must believe
(that he exists) and that he rewards those who earnestly seek
him.
Before I give you step four let me point you to another biblical
example of faith, that really caught my eye this week.
2 Kings 6:8-17 Now the king of Aram was at war with
Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, "I will set up
my camp in such and such a place." 9 The man of God sent word to
the king of Israel: "Beware of passing that place, because the
Arameans are going down there." 10 So the king of Israel checked on
the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned
the king, so that he was on his guard in such places. 11 This
enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of
them, "Will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king
of Israel?" 12 "None of us, my lord the king," said one of his
officers, "but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king
of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom." 13 "Go, find
out where he is," the king ordered, "so I can send men and capture
him." The report came back: "He is in Dothan." 14 Then he sent
horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night
and surrounded the city. 15 When the servant of the man of God got
up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and
chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?"
the servant asked. 16 "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those
who are with us are more than those who are with them."
(NIV)
How did he know that?? What was he basing his response on? Could
Elisha face this test based on yesterday’s faith? No! This was a new
test of a size even the great prophet had not experienced before.
When the servant came in and said; there is a huge army big enough
to surround the whole city and they didn’t come to take the city… they
all came to capture you…. What kind of reactions do you think were
taking place inside of Elisha. Scripture doesn’t record the thoughts
that cascaded through Elisha’s mind. It doesn’t mention that he could
have privately slipped away into a place of private prayer. All it
gives us is Elisha’s answer to his servant once his faith had taken
hold.
"Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with
us are more than those who are with them." (NIV)
How do you know that Elisha? Who is this “more with you that you are
talking about?
I’m not sure… I just know that the army out there waiting to capture
me is vast and I know the God I serve is even “vaster” and he has
assured me “in faith” that he is going to protect me. Whatever He’s
going to us to protect me, it’s bigger than everything the enemy is
poised to throw at me! To put it another way:
Every person, in Scripture, who had faith, were people who were able
to catch a glimpse over the hill of what was… and grasp a picture in
their spiritual mind of what God wanted to be! Into their minds came
the assurance of what was not as if it already were!
Hebrews 11:1 Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us
proof of what we cannot see. (CEV)
My understanding of faith and the ways of God would lead me to
believe that Elisha did not get every answer from God handed to him on
a platter. He, like us, would have been plagued by doubt, gone to God
in desperation, struggled to believe God through the fog of his
circumstances, then broken through the fog in faith, finally grabbing
on to God in blind trust for what was yet unseen.
I believe he would have had to work through steps one through three:
A) Step one: Desire;
God, I just as soon not be pounced on by thousands of savage
warriors!
B) Step two: Determine
Quite honestly, many of his contemporaries did meet a sudden
and violent end.. so at some point he had to determine
that this was not his time, and in fact, God wanted to use this
trial to bring glory to the God of Heaven.
C) Step three: Ask
God, what say we show satan and his hoards what the power of
God really looks like when unleashed on an evil army.
Watch this…at some point Elisha moved on to step four:
D) Step four: Receive!
This is important, you can go through steps one through three and if
you never get to four your faith won’t amount to anything.
At some point Elisha had to walk out of that prayer closet and
say…it’s done! The army is still out there… they want me dead, or
captured. But by faith they are defeated, I’m not even sure how, I just
know that “Those who are with us are more than those who are
with them."
He then went on to another step that we haven’t yet talked about and
publicly went on record that he believed God was going to act: I’m not
sure he knew yet exactly, in what form, his deliverance was going to
come but he knew it was coming and he brought his servant into his
faith adventure.
17 And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see."
Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the
hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
I’ve got to finish this story for you…it has such an unusual
ending..
2 Kings 6:18-23 As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha
prayed to the LORD, "Strike these people with blindness." So he
struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked. 19 Elisha told
them, "This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me,
and I will lead you to the man you are looking for." And he led
them to Samaria. 20 After they entered the city, Elisha said,
"LORD, open the eyes of these men so they can see." Then the LORD
opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside
Samaria. 21 When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha,
"Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?" 22 "Do not kill
them," he answered. "Would you kill men you have captured with your
own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may
eat and drink and then go back to their master." 23 So he prepared
a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and
drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So
the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory. (NIV)
II. Desire + Determine + Ask + Receive = Faith
Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer,
believe that you have received it, and it will be
yours. (NIV)
Faith perceives as reality what has not yet been revealed to the
five senses.
If you wait to believe something until you see it with your
eyes, or feel it with your hands, you haven’t exerted faith at all.
Remember Abram faith had to take place when he could see
absolutely nothing of the results. Peter had to put the nets into
the water when he had already proven there were no fish in the sea.
I don’t want to be mean but many people faith consists of step
one and step three.
They desire something… they ask for it… then they wait and if
what they asked for actually happens they believe it was in
response to their faith.
Faith is not a stamp you put on something if you have prayed
for it and it comes to be. Faith believes it has happened
before it comes to be.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (NKJV)
Faith does not wait for an answer to arrive before it sees it as
done!
Faith brings into our mind and our heart the assurance of
what is not as if it already were!
Mark 11:22-24 "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23"I tell
you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw
yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but
believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for
him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer,
believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Cyndi Long ask about this verse on Wednesday evening and some of you
came up with the reference… it’s an important verse for us all to
grasp:
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in
everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your
requests to God.
Notice the insertion of the word thanksgiving. Are you thanking God
for prayers already answered or are you thanking him in advance for the
prayer you are praying?
III. Caution flags to observe:
Lest you believe that every Tom Dick, and Harry who throws a request
in God’s direction
1) Obedience to God’s Word:
1 John 3:21-22 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence before God 22and receive from him
anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases
him. (NIV)
2) Abiding in Christ:
John 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you
will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. (NKJV)
Faith in God is not about what you can get out of God, it’s
about what you invest in him.
When you pour your life into God… answered prayer becomes a
byproduct!
Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give
you the desires of your heart.
Many people want the desires without the delighting!
If you’re wanting to have your prayers answered but are unwilling to
personally invest yourself in a relationship with your Creator, you’re
working with your power cord unplugged.
3) Asking in Christ’s Name:
John 14:13-14 And I will do whatever you ask in my name,
so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me
for anything in my name, and I will do it. (NIV)
4) Asking in God’s Will:
1 John 5:14-15 This is the confidence we have in approaching
God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever
we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
(NIV)
5) Don’t doubt!
James 1:6-7 But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect
him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the
sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7
People like that should not expect to receive anything from
the Lord. (NLT)
6)Victorious Faith!
Matthew 7:7-8 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you
will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone
who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the
door will be opened!
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