Re: POWER of PRAYER- No Matter Which Faith You Follow=GOD is With You
Focused Faith
Jesus prayed to the Father, "And all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them...And I have declared to them your name, and will declare it, that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them." (John 17:10, 26, NKJV).
Jesus makes it very clear that when we are one with him, we enjoy the very same love of the Father that he enjoys. God delights in us as much as he does in his own Son.
The Bible also tells us God is our Father, just as he is Christ's Father. Jesus testified: "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." (John 20:17).
So, how hard are you striving to please God? Do you go through seasons in which you feel you are delighting him? Do you have "low" seasons when you feel you are displeasing him?
Beloved, you have to put facts ahead of your feelings. The truth is that God's pleasure in you has nothing to do with your strivings, intensity, good intentions or actions. No, it all has to do with your faith.
I believe God wants us to have what I call a "focused faith" that says, "All your faith may be focused on the principle that if you wish to stand holy before God, you must come to him in Christ."
The writer of Hebrews warns against having "an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God" (Hebrews 3:12). This is an issue of faith. When we move away from the foundational doctrine of being accepted by God through Christ, we are turning back to the law, the flesh and to spiritual bondage.
"For we who have believed do enter that rest... For he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from his" (Hebrews 4:3,10).
Scripture makes it clear that the evidence of faith is rest.
The only way to bring your striving, sweating, troubled souls into peace is to convince yourself that you are in Christ and are accepted by God. He delights in you, regardless of whether you are up or down. No matter how you feel, you should know your position in Christ. You are seated with him in heavenly places!
__________________
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people -- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:1-4
|