Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; (7) and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
After we pray the prayer of faith there are several issues that we need to be aware of which can still influence the outcome of our prayer. This section looks at what those issues are and how to address them. In this section we want to discuss the importance of preventing worry from taking hold after we have prayed the prayer of faith. Very often when we pray the prayer of faith there is a period of time that elapses between the moment that we pray until the answer to our prayer is made manifest. It is during that period that the saint needs to be guarded against the wiles of the devil. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul assures us that the peace of God will guard the heart and mind of the believer who has prayed in faith. We know that He is referring to the prayer of faith in this passage, because He links the prayer with thanksgiving, thus indicating that the saint believes that their prayer has been heard and offers thanks to the Lord for hearing their prayer. And so we see that one of the sure signs that the believer has prayed the prayer of faith is that they will no longer worry about the issue that they have prayed about.
James 4:7 “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
It is important for believers to recognise that once they have prayed the prayer of faith that our adversary the devil will try to place thoughts of worry into their minds in order to negate their prayer of faith. In the passage of scripture quoted above the apostle James teaches us to resist the devil and he will flee from us. What that means is that when the devil tries to place thoughts of worry into our minds about the issue that we have prayed about, then we are to resist those thoughts by refusing to dwell on them, and we are to rebuke the devil and command him to leave. When believers do that, they will see the devil flee from them along with his thoughts of worry.
Matthew 14:28-31 “And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." (29) So, He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. (30) But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!" (31) And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
So why is it so important to not allow worry to take over once we have prayed the prayer of faith? The above account in scripture illustrates to us very clearly how thoughts of worry nullifies the prayer of faith, thus preventing the person receiving from the Lord that which they have prayed for. In this account Peter asked the Lord to allow him to walk on the water to go to Jesus. Jesus answered his prayer by giving him permission (His word) to walk to Him on the water. Initially Peter started out in faith, because of which, he experienced the miracle of being able to walk on water. But half way to the Lord he allowed thoughts of doubt and worry to take hold in his mind. The moment he did that his faith stopped working and the power of God was cut and he began to sink. And so very clearly we can see that even if we have prayed the prayer of faith and God has heard our prayer, if we allow thoughts of worry to take hold of our thinking then our faith will stop working and the power of God will be cut and our prayer will not be answered.
Mark 5:35-36 “While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue's house who said, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?" (36) As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not be afraid; only believe.”
The above account in scripture is another illustration about not allowing worry to nullify our prayer of faith. This is the account of Jairus asking the Lord to come lay hands on his daughter so that she would be healed. When Jairus petitioned the Lord, that was when he prayed his prayer of faith. A period of time then elapsed between the time Jairus petitioned the Lord and the time that the answer to his prayer was made manifest. In this account we see that Jesus then proceeded to walk with him to his house to heal his daughter. On the way, Jesus was interrupted by the woman who had the issue of blood and was thus delayed in getting to Jairus’ house. It was during that interim period that Jairus’ daughter died. Now notice what Jesus did when Jairus received the news that his daughter had died, for Jesus immediately tells Jairus not to be afraid but to continue believing. Jesus could just as well have said to Jairus, not to be anxious but to continue believing. So why did Jesus do that? He did that because He knew that if Jairus allowed thoughts of fear and worry to take hold of him, then it would nullify his faith and Jesus would not have been able to heal his daughter. Jairus stayed in faith and his daughter was raised from the dead and healed.
Michael E.B. Maher
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