Magnificent Prayer #36

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Matthew 6:33 KJV

Many have prayed earnestly for some definite blessing and then, when it failed to come, have grown bitter and even cynical. And one hears from such disappointed hearts the frequent refrain, “I have lost faith in prayer.”

The very phrasing of that statement reveals a misunderstanding of the right attitude toward prayer. Faith in prayer is one thing. Prayer in faith is another.

The Christian who starts out with faith in prayer puts too much emphasis upon prayer and not enough upon the God to Whom he prays. He uses prayer as a sort of magic talisman, an “open sesame” to the things he wants, a quick way of getting things he wants from God. Then, when he doesn’t get what he asks for, he gives up prayer much as the heathen beats his fetish when he gets into trouble. Prayer is really his god. Instead of being pious, he is, in a sense, idolatrous. Faith in prayer may be a very childish and inadequate attitude.

The object of our faith should be God rather than prayer. Then, prayer in such faith will not fail. We ought first utterly to commit all we are and have into His hands and leave them in His keeping. We ought to realize that while we can see only a tiny segment of life at a time, God sees the length and breadth of it with all its complications and intricacies. That being true, what we think we want may not, in His sight, be our need at all. So, when we pray in faith, faith in God, we first recognize that all things are in His hands and that He has promised to supply our needs…

Faith in prayer may be a cheap thing, bordering on superstition, like knocking on wood. But prayer in faith, faith in God, is a sturdy, rugged confidence that presents humbly, yet boldly, its claims and leaves the rest with God.

VANCE HAVNER

We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties.

OSWALD CHAMBERS