Prayer and the Covenant of Grace
The covenant of grace promises eternal life for all people who have faith in Christ. He also promises the Holy Spirit to the elect to give them willingness and ability to believe.
Prayer is an important part of this covenant of grace. 1 John 5:14-15 “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
John 15:7-9. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
Mark 11:24 “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
Our blessing is wrapped around the word ‘shall’ or ‘shalt’. This word is frequently part if the rendering of a future tense of a verb (action). Lets go to the Word of God to see what we should do after we believe that we receive.
Phil. 4:6 “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Not withstanding God is a God of miracles and He gives miracles to who He wishes.
2 Cor. 4:18 “while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
The accuser, your enemy, is not going to roll over and play dead and let you get your blessing during the “shall” time. He will bring doubt, condemnation, anything for you to distrust God and his Word. You have to find a verse in God’s Word that meets your need.
Romans 4:20 “he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;”
For example Phil. 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
God is the unfailing, unlimited source of my supply. My financial income now increases as the blessing of the Lord overtakes me.
Be careful what you are saying. The things you say can hinder your answer to your prayer—like “nothing ever works for me”; “Every thing I do seems to go wrong.”
You have to trust God. He will work it out.
(Contributed by Clive, at the
Fayette County Senior Center. Scriptures are from
the Authorized King James Version)