This morning I was reading a daily devotion I get in my email from www.BibleGateway.com, a quote by Rev. John Piper, one of my all -time favorite ministers of the Lord. Here are parts of the paragraph he wrote:
'Jesus prays for Peter's faith to be sustained even through sin, because he knows that God is the one who sustains faith. So we should pray for ourselves and for others this way....Let us pray daily: “O Lord, thank you for my faith. Sustain it. Strengthen it. Deepen it. Don't let it fail. Make it the power of my life, so that in everything I do you get the glory as the great Giver. Amen”'
In yesterday's post I told of how God has strengthened my faith by His daily responses to my prayers for small-to-God-important-to-me needs. I have seen my faith grow through these God-encounters but it never really occurred to me that this process of faith-growing, is really a gift from God to me...so that in my next crisis, my next need, my next conversation about Him with others--I will have the wherewithal to get through the situation in a way that brings Him glory.
And, as in any gift I receive from God, it is important for me not to take it for granted or to presume on God's goodness and try to use this gift for my own benefit or glory. Rather, daily I need to ask Him for that day's allotment of grace--and faith--and to thank Him with heartfelt gratitude for the work He is completing in me. It is so easy, isn't it, when we get a "big" answer to prayer, to want to pat ourselves on the back and congratulate our faith for having pulled it off.
Any time we ask for a response from God--whether for our own need or for someone else--it is critical that we do so in humility and with a spirit of deep gratitude, never falling prey to the temptation to conclude that we have the ability to wrest a reply from God for our need. As Rev.Piper said in the article mentioned above, the prayer of the desperate father "Lord I believe; help my unbelief!" is a good one. This man recognized his helplessness to heal his son but he knew that he had come to One who could get the job done. And it is this posture we take before God every time we bring our requests to Him.
Once my mom called me in tears, with a desperate prayer request. I prayed with her and ending the prayer, I said, "And Lord please answer this prayer before I say 'amen' and may our faith be strengthened by that." And do you know, her doorbell rang with the answer to her prayer....before I said "amen"!!! And God honored my request for more faith as a result in me and I hope in her as well. This is the way God delights to answer our prayers. Prayers offered in faith, for faith.
So as I approach my prayer list, I will begin it with a request from God to grow my faith and I will end it with thanksgiving to the Father for enabling me to pray in faith for those needs. Who knows what great things God will do in His people who begin to ask Him to grow their faith?
'Jesus prays for Peter's faith to be sustained even through sin, because he knows that God is the one who sustains faith. So we should pray for ourselves and for others this way....Let us pray daily: “O Lord, thank you for my faith. Sustain it. Strengthen it. Deepen it. Don't let it fail. Make it the power of my life, so that in everything I do you get the glory as the great Giver. Amen”'
In yesterday's post I told of how God has strengthened my faith by His daily responses to my prayers for small-to-God-important-to-me needs. I have seen my faith grow through these God-encounters but it never really occurred to me that this process of faith-growing, is really a gift from God to me...so that in my next crisis, my next need, my next conversation about Him with others--I will have the wherewithal to get through the situation in a way that brings Him glory.
And, as in any gift I receive from God, it is important for me not to take it for granted or to presume on God's goodness and try to use this gift for my own benefit or glory. Rather, daily I need to ask Him for that day's allotment of grace--and faith--and to thank Him with heartfelt gratitude for the work He is completing in me. It is so easy, isn't it, when we get a "big" answer to prayer, to want to pat ourselves on the back and congratulate our faith for having pulled it off.
Any time we ask for a response from God--whether for our own need or for someone else--it is critical that we do so in humility and with a spirit of deep gratitude, never falling prey to the temptation to conclude that we have the ability to wrest a reply from God for our need. As Rev.Piper said in the article mentioned above, the prayer of the desperate father "Lord I believe; help my unbelief!" is a good one. This man recognized his helplessness to heal his son but he knew that he had come to One who could get the job done. And it is this posture we take before God every time we bring our requests to Him.
Once my mom called me in tears, with a desperate prayer request. I prayed with her and ending the prayer, I said, "And Lord please answer this prayer before I say 'amen' and may our faith be strengthened by that." And do you know, her doorbell rang with the answer to her prayer....before I said "amen"!!! And God honored my request for more faith as a result in me and I hope in her as well. This is the way God delights to answer our prayers. Prayers offered in faith, for faith.
So as I approach my prayer list, I will begin it with a request from God to grow my faith and I will end it with thanksgiving to the Father for enabling me to pray in faith for those needs. Who knows what great things God will do in His people who begin to ask Him to grow their faith?
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