Praying By The Rules

22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly[a] I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Mark 11:22–24


Prayer is not effective just because you prayed; prayer is effective if you play solely by the rules. The number one rule of prayer is
to ensure that you add all the components for an effective prayer .
The main component in prayer that makes it effective, IS FAITH 1st john 5:4. From our text, it is obvious that it is not the prayer that overcomes obstacles it is the faith ingredient in the prayer that overcomes obstacles.
Praying without faith is like cooking jollof rice without rice or hamburger without the ham. But faith has four dimensions however, most people practice one dimension or the other leaving out the rest, and then wonder why their faith is ineffective and by extension, their prayer will be ineffective.

From our text in mark 11:22, it is clear that faith has various dimensions:

1. Faith sees
2. Faith believes
3. Faith speaks
4. Faith acts

Faith starts from seeing. Can you see what you are asking God for? Can you see yourself married, wealthy, healed, employed,promoted, pregnant? Until you see it, you can't have it (Gen 15:5)
Next step is to believe (Mark 5:36) You have to believe in your heart that God can and will do what you have asked because he said so in his word. (Jer. 1:12, John 14:13).

God refers to unbelief as an evil heart (Heb 3:13). Believing is where most people stop but Faith doesn't just stop at believing, you have to confess what you believe – Prov. 18:21. The Bible says you need “to say to the mountain”. In other words don't just believe that the mountain will move. You have believed enough. It’s time to start speaking out what you believe.

After speaking, you also need to act (James 2: 19 – 20). You need to take a step of faith and start acting like you have the answer. Jesus would see a blind man and tell him to see . He would see a man with a withered hand and tell him to stretch out his hand. How can you stretch out a withered hand? Jesus was getting them to act out their faith.

Act out your faith today so that your prayers will be effective and have result.
  God Bless You

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