To a lot of people, prayer is like throwing a coin into a wishing well.
And because there’s no faith mixed with it, it’s just about as effective, and they get no results.
They may say a quick prayer in church or at home, but they’re not really sure that it will come to pass. The problem is they don’t know that prayer and faith go hand in hand.
The Bible says without faith it’s impossible to please God; for they that come to Him, must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6 KJV). God operates by faith, and He created you to operate by faith too.
When you pray, you have to have faith that He hears you and that He’ll reward you because you’re diligently seeking Him. The word diligently means “characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort.”God loves it when you come to Him and diligently (with steady, earnest, and energetic effort) seek Him because it shows that you have faith in Him and believe He will respond to you.
Prayer is not saying a quick, haphazard “wish,” hoping you’ll get lucky and something will happen. The Bible says, “The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]” (James 5:16 AMPC).
Prayer that is done in faith and in agreement with the Word of God is a powerful force in the earth! It will get results every single time. It may not happen as quickly as you think it should, but when you pray in faith, answers are on the way!
Learn more about praying in this month’s Building Stronger Families with Joe McGee [Ep. 3].
The Take Away:
Don’t do “wishing well” prayers. Pray in faith knowing God hears you and that He will respond to you. He’s your Father and takes great joy in taking care of you and answering your prayers, but you must come to Him in faith!