Why continue to pray for God’s help if it seems it will never come — especially if circumstances seem to make it impossible?
Perhaps the impossibility is a relationship lost in unending struggle and conflict. Perhaps it’s a temptation that trips us up into sin and misery time after time after time.
The storms in our lives both within and without can seem unending, but there is only one thing we can hold in our hands that’s truly unending. That never ending thing is God’s Word — a book full of the eternal calling and promises of God. It’s there that we read that God has promised to forgive us and help us to forgive,[1] and it’s in that book that He has also promised to provide a way through and out of temptation, if we are willing to put away whatever we’ve put ahead of him.[2]
So, the question is…
Do we trust Him enough to follow him in the darkness of unresolved trouble, and dare we put that trust into words of a prayer that truly believes the dawning of a new day is coming?
Abraham and Sarah faced this in praying for a son that would inherit the promises Abraham had received that he was to become the father of a great nation and that in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed.[3] Abraham was 75 years old when he first received the promise of a son, and Genesis 21:5 tells us he was 100 years old when Isaac was born. Sarah was 90. So, Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years for the fulfillment of God’s promise!
During those 25 years what was Abraham doing?
There were times of doubt and failure, but there was also a constant that the Apostle Paul lifts up as the energizing center of true faith in God. That constant was hope in the presence of God who “gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” [4]
It is hope rising up in our souls that fills the prayer of faith as it clings tenaciously to the goodness waiting in our Heavenly Father’s heart to be given. As Abraham’s life testifies, the promise of God to us is received into our lives through the doorway of faith — perhaps best expressed in a prayer of faith.
Pray the promise of God!
I know prayer is more than seeking answers to life’s problems but isn’t in that seeking where our faith is most likely to falter? Yes, prayer is a way to personally worship God and thank him for his abundant mercies. But prayer is also a way to wait expectantly upon him for his gifts of grace. And in that waiting, prayer is a way to express an overcoming confidence in God that He will come through in the end with the best answer available to our request. We wait for His answer, not only with open hands and hearts for whatever good is in his heart to give us, but also leaning forward, on the edge of our seats, knowing that He will not fail us.
Several years ago, Julia and I were learning what it would take to create a home-based business selling homecare and personal care products. At a training meeting, the trainer told us that he could tell, without knowing us personally, which ones would succeed in the business. He said it was those who sat forward in their seats, giving full attention to whatever he was going to say next — because they had faith that he was speaking truthfully something for their benefit. Do we give God that much faith?
We pray, because with God in the picture all things are possible.[5] Without him, what is dead cannot live and what doesn’t exist can’t come into being. Abraham knew that. So should we. We don’t pray in the dark for the dawn because there’s a 50/50 chance it’ll come about. We pray for the dawn because we know that God has promised it is coming.
In a prayer of faith, we discover a path forward that is shaped by God’s calling and promises to us.
So, pray the promises of God! If God said it, we can pray it. If God commands it, it’s possible!
The Spirit of God calls us to prayer so that we may confidently walk in the footsteps of Christ. With faith in who the Father is and trusting what he has said, we listen for his voice today and take steps to live accordingly.
“God does not give us everything we want, but he does fulfill his promises, leading us along the best and straightest paths to himself.” – DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
Additional Resources
The following message was given on August 25, 2024, at Emmanuel Reformed Church, Castleton On Hudson, New York. It was inspired by the last part of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:7-15 and Paul’s declaration that in Christ all the promises of God are “yes!” (2 Corinthians 1:20).
Let’s trust in God’s Word as we pray His promises!
The Spirit of God calls us to prayer so that we may confidently walk in the footsteps of Christ. With faith in who the Father is and trusting what he has said, we listen for his voice today and take steps to live accordingly. Prayer is a way to personally worship God and thank him for his abundant mercies. It is a way to wait upon him for his gifts of grace with open hands and hearts for whatever good is in his heart to give us. And it is a way to discover a path forward that is shaped by God’s calling and promises to us. So, pray the promises of God! We don’t pray in the dark for the dawn because there’s a 50/50 chance it’ll come about. We pray for the dawn because we know that God has promised it is coming.
If God said it, we can pray it.
If God commands it, it’s possible
— for with God all things are possible!
More resources
- 40 Days of Praying the Promises of God {The Trust Without Borders Experiment}
- Waiting (Healing Place Worship)
- Promise to the End (LO Worship) | “Every word is blessed YES, and AMEN!”
Footnotes
[1] Isaiah 43:25; 55:6-7; Psalm 32:1-7; Matthew 6:7-15; 18:15-20; Luke 17:1-6; Colossians 3:12-16; 1 John 1:7-9
[2] Luke 4:1-13; 1 Corinthians 10:9-15; James 1:12-18
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