A Prince Prevailing

Great were the strides in his understanding of prayer in those days.  His own exercises in prayer gave him experiences in the things of God, a knowledge of God, a friendship with God.  His study of prayer in the Bible gave him a grasp of the whole vital subject in relation to the work of God.  The Holy Spirit was opening up to him a whole new dimension of power through which he could become a prince with God and prevail…

He had come to see that in past years he had wasted much time praying prayers that were not effective at all.  Praying without faith was “like trying to cut with a blunt knife—much labor is expended to little purpose.”  The work accomplished by labor in prayer depended on faith.  “According to your faith,”  not labor, “be it unto you.”

He was impressed with the thought that people failed in praying the prayer of faith because they did not believe God had answered, but only that He would answer their petitions.  “They rise from their knees feeling that God will answer some time or another, but not that He has answered already.”

This was not, as he saw it, the faith that made prayer effective.

“True faith glories in the present tense, and does not trouble itself about the future.  God’s promises are in the present tense, and are quite secure enough to set our hearts at rest.  Their full outworking is often in the future, but God’s word is as good as His bond and we need have no anxiety. 

Sometimes he gives at once what we ask, but more often He just gives His promise (Mark 11:24). Perhaps He is more glorified in this latter case, for it means that our faith is tried and strengthened….”

taken from Mountain Rain, A Biography of James O Fraser