Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints (Ephesians 6.14-18)
But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation (1 Thess. 5.8).
Faith is confidence in God that he will do whatever we ask him in the name of the Lord Jesus.
To believe in God is a choice. We do not need signs before we can choose to believe or put our faith in Him. Only a wicked and perverse people demand for signs to believe God. People should seek the truth and not signs. The LORD is God. His words and promises are enough for us to believe him. We should believe in him no matter the:
dry ground
surrounding contradictory circumstances
length of time’
customs of men
If we pray according to his will, we should know that he has heard us. If he has heard us, then he will surely answer us. All prayers heard by God are answered. If a prayer is not heard, then it will not be answered. If we are obedient children and we pray according to his will, then we should know that he hears us no matter how we feel.
Abraham believed God and hoped against hope for the promise of a seed even after Sarah had passed child bearing age. He believed, and Sarah gave birth to a son. Joshua believed God and the sun and moon stood still.
The heartfelt continuous prayer of the righteous avails much.
Do I lack faith if I pray incessantly for a request?
Praying incessantly for a thing is not lack of faith if we pray incessantly with confidence that God will answer us. We must be persevering and thankful in our prayers.
Then he told them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread. A friend of mine on a trip has dropped in on me, and I don't have anything to serve him. Suppose he answers from inside, 'Stop bothering me! The door is already locked, and my children are here with us in the bedroom. I can't get up and give you anything! I tell you, even though that man doesn't want to get up and give him anything because he is his friend, he will get up and give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.
So I say to you: Keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened for you, because everyone who keeps asking will receive, and the person who keeps searching will find, and the person who keeps knocking will have the door opened (Luke 11.5-10)
What size of faith do we need for God to hear us?
If we have zero faith, God will not hear us. If we have little faith, God will surely answer us. Even though God is pleased with big faith, he does not demand big faith from us. He answers all prayers of little faith.
Then the apostles told the Lord, "Give us more faith!" The Lord replied, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you! (Luke 17.5-6).
The apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith, but the Lord told them that even small faith can work wonders. They really did not need any increase of faith. Faith as small as a mustard seed can move a mountain.
Lack of faith or zero faith produces no results
Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"
He told them, "Because of your lack of faith. I tell you with certainty, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. (Mat 17.14-20)
All things are possible to him who believes (Mark 9.23). The Lord will do all things for those who believe Him. The Lord Jesus healed many people because of their faith (Matthew 8.10; 9.2, 29; 15.28; Mark 5.34; 10.52). The Lord did not do many signs in his hometown due to their lack of faith (Matthew 13.58).
How Do I get Faith?
Faith comes by hearing the word of God. This is purely spiritual. Some hear and hear but they listen not. Some see and see but they perceive not. We hear God in our heart with the ears of our heart. The ears and eyes of some people are closed. They may read the scriptures but never get to hear God speak. When we hear God’s word in our heart, faith comes, and doubt goes away. It is not the written word that produces faith, it is the living and spiritual word that gives faith. Those who have His Spirit hear him with their hearts.
The battle between good and evil is fierce. The heart of men is the battlefield. In this battle, those who fight for the Good Lord must not seek to satisfy self in any way. The Good One (the Lord) and His army (his disciples) use love to win the hearts of men to the path of righteousness.
The Lord’s disciples walk in love. By the way of love, they are perfected in holiness. Love covers a multitude of sins. When we walk in love, we do not commit many sins.
The children of God must quickly forgive and forget any hurt. They must stop evil by doing good. They will be tortured by the evil one (the devil), but they must brace themselves with love and perseverance to withstand evil. They must face their hurt and pain courageously.
The people of God use enduring love to build the kingdom of God in the hearts of men. The evil one uses hurt, pain and torture to sow and reap evil in the hearts of men. Pain and every kind of torture is meted out on souls to grow evil in the world. Hatred and selfishness are the tools of the evil one.
As fighters for the Good Lord, we must be selfless and loving. We must always be sensitive to the needs of others. We must forget all past hurts and refuse to relive them again in our minds so that the devil will not gain grounds in our hearts. We must not let the evil one to keep us bound through his own evil works perpetrated through others. Repay evil with good.
Do not tolerate sin. Do not be familiar with sin. Do not let sin have its way at any time. Do not relax or be ok with sin, rather resist the temptation of the devil to sin. Resist the devil with the sword of the Spirit (the word of God) in the power of the Holy Spirit. Hate sin. Accept the sufferings, loss, and discomforts for rejecting sin. Even though you may suffer for a while, you will eventually bear the fruit of holiness which is precious in the eyes of God (Heb. 11).
Fear God, submit to him, and he will give you the strength to resist the devil in the hour of temptation. Sternly and faithfully obey the Lord’s commandments. Make yourself a slave of righteousness (do not give yourself the choice of not doing the right thing). Do not let any part of your being serve sin or be used as an instrument of evil.
On the cross, the Lord Jesus destroyed the power of sin. Sin no longer has power over those who are in Christ, those who walk after the Spirit of Christ and not after the human nature. The power of the Holy Spirit enables us to resist sin and live holy. We must acknowledge our weakness and constantly approach the throne of Grace to receive help. Only those who truly acknowledge their weakness and helplessness, receive divine strength to obey.
We must not be lazy to resist sin. We must not accept sin as our nature, nor accept the demands of the human nature but strive to put on the holy nature of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer is making a heartfelt petition to God in the name of the Lord Jesus. For any prayer to be heard by God, it must be a true prayer.
A prayer is true when:
The petition is in accordance to the will of God: Prayer is praying the will of God (Eph. 8.26-27). We must know the will of God regarding all things and align our will to his will. Praying for our carnal desire is not the will of God. God does not hear such prayer (James 4.2-3). The spiritual conditions or maturity of every Christian can be known by their prayer. The matured saints know the will of God and they know the right thing to pray for.
It must be done from the heart (spirit): God always hear a heartfelt prayer made according to his will. God is not interested in many words or fine recited prayer which do not stem from the heart (Mathew 6.5-8).
The prayer is made by the righteous: God hears the prayer of his obedient children. He gives all that they ask of him because they obey him (John 15.7). He turns his face from the sinner and the wicked.
The prayer must be made with thanksgiving (Philippians 4.6).
The prayer must be made in faith: If we ask in doubt, we will receive nothing from the Lord (James 1.6-7). If we pray according to God’s will, we must believe that the Lord is willing and able to do what we want (Mathew 9.28; Mark 11.22; Acts 3.16).
What should we do when our prayers are not quickly answered?
1. Be patient. The human nature is impatient. Our timing does always correspond with that of the Lord. We must learn to wait on the Lord. If we are righteous and if we have asked according to his will, then we must not give up on the Lord nor seek solutions of our own. We must wait on God to answer us. Patience is God’s divine nature and His children must imitate him. Impatience is the nature of the children of the evil one. Impatience is a root cause of rebellion and disobedience.
2. Remember God’s faithful love. We must know the loving nature of the Heavenly Father. He loves us. He will never shut us out nor does he consider our prayers to be burdensome or irrelevant. He will never tell us to handle our problems by ourselves.
3. Remember that God answers prayers. He hears us the very first time that we pray. If he heard us, then he will surely answer us.
4. We must know that he delights in giving us good things. He will give all things that are good for us.
5. We must know that he is a merciful God. God does not follow a rule book. Faith is crucial, but mercy rules every law. Out of compassion, the Lord Jesus raised the widow’s son to life (Luke 7.12-15). Out of compassion the Lord fed the multitude (Mat 15.32-37). None of them had faith, but the merciful Lord attended to their needs. The Lord performed many works out of compassion (Mat 14.14, Mat 30.24, Mark 1.41).
The believer must pray without ceasing till he receives the answer to his prayer. The Heavenly Father is not disturbed by our continuous requests. We should not be discouraged by the number of prayers we have made.
The word of God needs to be stored in our hearts for the day of temptation and trial. The Lord used the scriptures to resist the devil’s temptation in the desert. The truth sets free (John 8.32). We need to know the truth to walk in the dominion of Christ. We do not live the complete salvation of Christ because the mind has not yet been renewed to the mind of Christ. The mind is renewed only in the word of God. When the word of God is received in our hearts, we are transformed in our spirits to the image of Christ.