Pray to walk in Faith

We pray to walk in faith. Jesus provides much insight as to just how important faith is in the Scriptures. He ends a parable on why we should always pray, with a deep concern in His heart: when He returns, will He find faith on the earth (See Luke 18:1-8). Jesus spoke of a strong connection between faith and healing. He saw their faith and the paralytic was healed in Mark 2:5. He said to a woman, your faith has made you well in Matthew 9:22. He told a blind man that his faith had made him well in Mark 10:52. He told a leaper that his faith had healed him in Luke 17:19. He told His followers to have faith in God (see Mark 11:22). It was said of Stephen he was full of faith and power and did great signs and wonders among the people (see Acts 6:8). Jesus boasted about someone’s faith in Matthew 8:10 and Mark 5:34, but also rebuked some for not having faith in Matthew 6:30; 8:26; 14;31; 16:8; 17:20.  We know from Scripture that we are saved through faith (see Ephesians 2:8-9), that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life (see John 3:15-16; 6:40), and if we confess Jesus as Lord with our mouth and believe in our heart, we shall be saved (see Romans 10:9). And lastly, without faith, it is impossible to please God (see Hebrews 11:6). We read in the Bible at least three ways to receive faith. In Romans 12:3 we are told that each of us has been given a measure of faith; in I Corinthians 12:9 that faith is a gift; and in Romans 10:17 that faith comes from hearing the Word of God. Since faith comes from hearing the Word of God—one way to walk in faith is to pray the Word out loud every day. When I got saved in 1985, the Lord told me to take my wife’s Bible to her church every morning for an hour and He would teach me how to pray. When I got there, He told me to open the Bible and it opened to the Psalms. He then told me to walk around the inside of the sanctuary praying the Psalms out loud and to make it personal for the person(s) or event(s) He was having me pray for. Several positives here: You do not have to worry about falling asleep praying out loud; Praying the Word out loud is so simple, yet so powerful; You never run out of something to pray; You hear the Word of God being prayed out loud and it will get deep into your spirit man—building your faith; You are declaring TRUTH (John 17:17) over the person or situation; You are praying His Word which is “God- breathed” (His very breath) (see I Timothy 3:16; Genesis 2:17) into the person or situation; You are speaking out His Word that cannot return void and goes out to accomplish exactly what God assigned it to do (see Isaiah 54:10-11). Oh, the anticipation, the excitement, the immense joy and deep satisfaction of praying His Word out loud everyday—producing fruit—fruit that remains. Let’s commit to doing this.