03/28/2024
This morning, the day after I wrote about my encounter with the stock clerk at Publix, I couldn't sleep and rose early to pray. I was drawn out of bed for a very specific prayer... On the day before I had written about a man I met at Publix whose nine year old son was in a life or death battle against cancer. Now, on this the morning after, my prayers are focused on this boy and his family, and this led me to pray about the trust I have that God heals.
After an extended time of prayer I picked up my devotional, pulled the ribbon to open it, and then flipped one more page to reveal this morning's offering. The title was "Trust from the Heart." As I read the words of Pastor E.M. Bounds some of them leapt from the page at me.
"The trust that inspires our prayer must not only be in the Person of God, and of Christ, but in their ability and willingness to grant the things we pray for." - E.M. Bounds
Then a few sentences further along he wrote...
"The strong promise of our Lord brings faith down to the present and counts on a present answer." - E.M. Bounds
Bounds was driving home a very important point regarding prayer and I had seen the fruit of it in a suffering child's father the afternoon before. This point centers on our trust and is this... Don't pray unless you trust and expect to receive. If you are doing otherwise then you are only hoping and any nonbeliever can do that.
Yesterday afternoon I saw the peace in a father's face who should have been distraught, and yet was not. I listened as he provided witness to the greatness of God... to me... A man he had just met. He wasn't hoping God would heal his son; he was trusting that God would heal him, or use his life for some greater purpose. Then he did something remarkable... He extended that same trust to me through his prayer.
“Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
Psalms 37:3-4 KJV
Yesterday was a day in which I watched faith in action. I saw a man take the faith of a tiny mustard seed and ask God to move the mountain. Then I witnessed something more... his unwavering trust that it would either be so, or had already happened.
This morning when we pray let’s not just pray and then hope God has heard us and will provide; let's be confident that He has heard us, trust in His provision, and hold tight to the goodness of His will and promise. After all, God didn't say “ask and you just might receive it”, He said:
“And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”
Matthew 21:22 KJV
And if you feel your faith is too weak to believe like this then strengthen it by asking the Lord to increase your frail faith. Ask Him to strengthen it so that your trust will be increased as well.
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
Matthew 7:7-8 KJV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for giving me the mustard seed of faith that I first prayed with, but even more, thank you for growing and strengthening that tiny seed of faith in me until it was a full grown mustard tree, and the power in my prayers was only matched by the trust I had in your having answered them. Thank you for making me just like this tree… mighty and strong in your loving care. Thank you for allowing me to bask in the shade of the example that Jesus set as I grew in Him to maturity, and for showing me, through His faith, what mine should one day become.
So today I continue to pray to you “Help me in my unbelief Lord, strengthen me in the power of my prayers, and bolster my faith as I trust in you more.” Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who was, and is, and is to be, the one who tends to my spiritual growth. In you I am continuing to become what no man could see himself becoming without having walked this way with you. On this journey, and by your nurturing hand, I am being strengthened, given power beyond my wildest dreams, and perfected further into the image of your Son Jesus Christ with each passing day. I praise your name today and every day Lord, and I embrace your Word as my branches become strong enough, and my root of faith deep enough, to bear and support it. In you I trust, and with all the faith I can muster I pray for your will to be done in my life… and then I wait patiently until I see your answer clearly. I anticipate the moment when you have not only answered my prayers, but when you will show me those you have already answered, and I have yet been unable to see. This is my trust in you today, and my faith in your promised eternity through my belief in Jesus. This is the glory that is due you, and the strengthened foundation of my trust and love in you. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, and Amen.
“Blessed be the Lord! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed”
Psalm 28:6-8 ESV
Rich Forbes