Effective Prayer

In Mark 11: 22 to 24 Jesus tells us to have faith in God. Another way to say this is we are to have the same kind of faith that God has, or we are to use faith in the same way that God uses faith.

The simplest definition of faith is that 'faith is what you believe': What you have a strong conviction of, fully persuaded of, is your faith. It's important that we believe like God believes. It's important that we believe the same things that God believes. Our faith needs to line up with God's Word. If we don't have God's Word as the basis of our faith, then for all we know we are just making it up.

Even then, having the same faith as God (having the same beliefs as God) does not guarantee us the same results as God. We can have faith and still that faith does us no good. The book of James talks about ‘dead’ faith. Dead faith is faith that is not effective; it’s as though you don’t even have that faith.

We are to have faith in the same way that God has faith. You can have faith in a way that is not effective- it doesn't do you any good. You can have faith in a way that is a little effective. Or, you can have faith in a way that is highly effective.

James 5 also says that the prayer of faith will heal the sick. Then it goes on to say that the effective prayer of a righteous person will be effective. Likewise, ineffective prayer will bring ineffective results. So a righteous person can have a prayer that is effective, and a righteous person can have a prayer that is not effective. It is effective prayer only that achieves results. Prayer that is not effective will achieve nothing except leave you frustrated and cause you to think that God doesn't want to answer your prayer.

I heard a story of a couple and their young boy working on a farm in the mid-west USA. Locals called the boy ‘simple’. The family were out working in the field when a tornado cloud formed over a nearby paddock. The family started running toward their house to get into their tornado shelter when the parents dropped to their knees and started crying and wailing asking God to save them. The boy, who had kept running, called back at them, “you better keep running, cause a fearful prayer isn’t going to help you”. That boy had enough spiritual sense to know what the apostle James knew, that there is effective prayer and ineffective prayer and that only prayer that is offered effectively will be effective.

Some people say that God answers your prayer with yes, no, or wait. That is not what the Bible says. The Bible says that effective prayer accomplishes much. God says that a prayer that is offered in faith will be effective. It will achieve what it was sent forth to do.

It is important to note at this stage that effective prayer includes speaking God's will in faith. James uses the example of Elijah praying for rain. But if you go back and read about Elijah, you will see that he literally commanded rain. (1 Kings 17 &18) He heard from God and commanded what God had told him. So effective prayer includes commanding God's will into being. If God has instructed us to do something or to command something, then it is rude to ask it of him. We can't expect God to do what he has commanded us to do.

If you gave your employee a job to do and the resources to do it, how would you feel if they turned around and asked you to do it?

In Mark 11, the disciples were astounded that the tree which Jesus had spoken to had withered and died. It had withered overnight. Jesus had spoken to it on the way into Jerusalem one day. They would have travelled past the same tree on the way back that night, but there is no comment from the disciples about the tree. It was the next morning, on the way back into Jerusalem, Peter noticed that the tree had withered. Peter couldn’t help himself; he pointed out the withered tree to Jesus. Then Jesus used the tree as an illustration on how to operate faith the same way God uses His faith.

Having faith is one thing. Using it is another. I have some tools, but I’m not very good at using them. They sit in my garage and collect dust. When I do use them, I’m not very effective with them. I have a son-in-law that’s a tradesman, and my son is pretty handy with tools as well. They can do wonders with my tools because they have learnt to use them effectively.

In Mark 11, Jesus shows us how to pray the prayer of faith, effectively.

There are some things here that Jesus said was required for a prayer of faith to be effective.

Jesus said ‘whoever does not doubt in their heart, but believes what they say is going to happen’. This is a condition that Jesus placed on effective prayers of faith. Jesus told us what we are to believe- we are to believe that what we say is going to happen. We are to believe that what we say will arise; it will become a physical reality. Notice that Jesus used the present tense when he spoke to the fig tree and present tense when he talked about speaking to the mountain. He said, ‘be removed and cast into the sea’ not ‘you will be removed’. If we’re keeping the answer to our prayer way off in the future, they may never happen. We are to speak in the here and now what we expect to come to pass.

This is how faith works, because faith is the guarantee, or the title deed, of what we haven’t seen yet. (Heb 11:1). In Romans 4, the Bible says that Abraham believed just like God, ‘who calls into being things that don’t exist’ or as one translation says, ‘he calls those things which be not as though they are’.

Jesus has told us what we are to believe if we expect to get results with our faith. We are to believe that 'what we say is going to happen’.

Notice also, that Jesus said, ‘you will have what you say’. Jesus also said, ‘whoever says’. He doesn’t say ‘whoever believes’. It is the person who puts words and actions to their faith that will move mountains.

Then Jesus said, ‘and does not doubt in their heart’. People can be very emotional in times of trial. We can feel like things aren’t working out. We are to look deep down in our hearts and ask ourselves what it is that we believe: then we can choose to act on our faith. When Jesus said, ‘and does not doubt in his heart’, he was saying that we aren’t to waver in what we believe.

James said the one who wavers could not expect to receive anything from God:

So once we have spoken to our mountain, we are to guard our faith so as not to waver. This means we will need to continue to feed our faith on God’s word so that we do not become weary in believing.

Then Jesus qualified the prayer of faith still more. He said 'all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.’ Some translations say what you 'ask in prayer’, but that’s not the full translation. The word ‘ask’ also means to require or to command. Notice that the immediate context refers to speaking to a mountain and requiring it be removed. In the context of the story, Jesus spoke to the fig tree, saying ‘No one will ever eat from you again’.

There are some things that we are to command or demand that they come in line with God’s Word. These are things that God has already given us authority over. In most cases Jesus didn’t pray about sickness. When others came to him wanting to be healed, Jesus commanded the disease to leave. This is a prayer of command, where we are acting on the authority God has given us, to do his work and his will in a situation.

Either way, whether we are commanding or praying to the Father in Jesus name, Jesus has told us precisely what we are to believe. We are to ‘believe that we receive’ what we have asked for.

Think about what it means to believe you have received. In the natural, if you were to ask your boss if you could have the next day off and your boss said yes, what would you do or say if you had ‘believed you received’ the next day off. For a start, you would go home that day with a spring in your step. You would make arrangements to do what you planned to do. Believing you receive means you are fully persuaded that what you have asked for has been given to you.

Jesus said, "believe you have received and you shall have it.”

In summary, we are told by Jesus to use our faith in the same way that he used it, and the same way that God uses it. We are to believe that what we say will come to pass, and we are to believe that we have received that for which we require or pray.

Written by Grant Peterson