10/06/2024
I was reading and contemplating the words of Pastor E. M. Bounds this morning, and as I read his devotional message regarding the close relationship between faith and prayer, I drifted into thought on the subject. I thought about all the times my faith had been strengthened as I prayed and slipped into deep conversation with Him as His Spirit gave me remembrance of His Word. I contemplated the scripture that He revealed to me on those occasions, I recalled how my faith was bolstered as I had prayed in it, and how my prayers fed on my faith, and my faith was nourished by my prayers. Asking in prayer prompts us to seek, and seeking prompts us all the more in our asking.
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
Isaiah 26:3 ESV
““So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?””
Luke 11:9-10, 13 ESV
I sat in quiet repose today and drifted off in thought and worship, traveling somewhere into the spiritual ether between my faith, and the prayers that I was whispering… that I was living within. You see, our faith is the evidence of our hope, but our prayers are the manifestation of our trust in them. Our faith is in the unseen things we hope for, and our prayers are the physical evidence that we believe, and that our hope is real.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1 ESV
E. M. Bounds went on to write that we must have some form of faith or we wouldn’t pray at all, and I came to realize that when we do pray it strengthens and grows that tiny grain of faith until it reaches amazing proportion, and is strong enough to move mountains. Scripture tells us that when we tell the mountain to be moved it will be, and since we know that we can do nothing without God, those things we are faithfully saying are indeed prayer. Our faith and prayer have become joined to move the mountain, and to do many other wonderful things in God.
“He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
Matthew 17:20 ESV
“Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, if the Lord has not authorized and commanded it?”
Lamentations 3:37 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
I come from a line of North Carolina farmers, and they say that if you stand in a cornfield after a spring rain, that you can actually hear the corn growing. I have listened for this sound on many occasions, and often thought I heard it, but I do know that I heard the rustle of the leaves as the wind blew through them, and felt the cool leaves as they brushed against my bare skin. I recall watching my uncle stand quietly in a cornfield for long periods of time, looking out across it. He did this when the workday was done, and I wondered what was going through his mind as he stood there so still. I really don’t know, but I believe he was having a conversation with the Lord about what they were doing there together. It was a serene and spiritual sight, and there was a peace about it that calmed me as I stood watching him in the distance. The sight brought rest to my soul. I loved my uncle for who he was in moments like this, and I could feel his faith even if I couldn’t quite make out his prayers.
Do we stand in our cornfields, our quiet places, and let our faith nourish our prayers? Do we go to our secret places of prayer and let the spiritual conversation we have there strengthen us in faith? Does our hope bring us peace, and the small still voice of God sooth us and give us rest?
So, today as we pray let’s listen for the sound of our faith as it grows in the fields of our prayers, and let’s feel the cool leaves of our prayers as they rustle in the wind of God, and brush up against us.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for our faith, and prayer. Thank you Lord for allowing them to thrive on one another, and increase us in our love for you. Thank you Abba for the small mustard seed of faith you gave us at birth that fostered our first prayer, and began to grow us into mature believers; men and women of deep faith and never ending prayer. Thank you for all those who stand calmly trusting that you hear them in the cornfields of life, and for allowing each of us to watch and find rest in them as they look up to you. Faith is our hope, prayer draws us close to you, and those standing in their fields today, and in our memories, are our witnesses to your mercy and grace. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who was, and is, and is to come. Holy are you who meets with us in fields of prayer, and gives us hope and faith beyond our dreams. Hear this prayer today Father as we pray it quietly from closets, chairs, and farmer’s fields around the world, and bring us an increase in your harvest of faith as we lift it up to you.
Amen, Amen, Amen!
“Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you. Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:12-13 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
Rich Forbes