God Is The Power Of Prayer Not Faith

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Mark 11:22-26

Authorized (King James) Version

Fellowship with God

22 And Jesus answering saith unto them,

Have faith in God.

23 For verily I say unto you,

That whosoever shall say unto this mountain,

Be thou removed,

and be thou cast into the sea;

and shall not doubt in his heart,

but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass;

he shall have whatsoever he saith.

24 Therefore I say unto you,

What things soever ye desire, when ye pray,

believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any:

that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

26 But if ye do not forgive,

neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

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Faith Is

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Faith is believing God. Who doesn't believe that God can do miracles, raise the dead and do the impossible, when they hear about it? It makes sense that the Almighty can do miracles, raise the dead and also do the impossible. The Bible tells us that God can do all this. When we hear about it, we believe it. When we read it in the Bible, we believe it. Those words in black, white and red teach us that God can do anything.

Romans 10:13-17

Authorized (King James) Version

{Paraphrased}

The Bible Creates Your Faith in God

13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord {Jesus} shall be saved.

14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?

and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

and how shall they hear without a preacher?

15 and how shall they preach, except they be sent {by God to preach}?

as it is written,

How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace

{with God through faith in His Son Jesus},

and bring glad tidings of good things! {Isa. 52:7}

16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel.

For {Isaiah} saith,

Lord, who hath believed our report? {about You - Isa. 53:1}

17 So then faith {in God} cometh by hearing,

and hearing by {what} the {Bible}

{says about Him}.

Faith & Forgiveness

How Does Jesus Tie Faith with Forgiveness in Mk. 11:22-26?

The topic of faith & forgiveness in Mk. 11:22-26 is prayer. To get your prayers answered, you got to operate in God's laws of faith and forgiveness. But how ... why, does forgiveness work with faith? How and why does faith work with forgiveness?

God is the Power of Prayer Not Faith or Forgiveness

Do you understand that God answers prayer not your faith or forgiveness? When you hear about making prayer to God for something, you got to have faith. This is what Jesus is saying in Mk. 11:22-24. But then in vv. 25, 26 Jesus suddenly adds in "forgiveness". What does forgiveness have to do with faith? This means that God is the power and that though you have faith, you will not get anything from God if you got problems with Him.

God is love (1 Jn. 4:7, 8) and you can't get anything from God in prayer if you're not operating in God's love for people. That's how forgiveness ties in with faith in prayer. It's called "double-minded" (Jms. 1:5-8).

Faith is simply believing that God can do it. It's a tiny sized faith that God can do anything. Called "mustard seed faith" (Lk. 17:6). Have you ever prayed and believed without a doubt that it will happen, and nothing happens? It's Mk. 11:25 hindering your prayer life: unforgiveness in your heart.

When you love, honor and respect God; when you know Him, and forgive others before you pray, you will, as Jesus said in Mk. 11:23, have whatever you say, because your fellowship with God is right. God will withhold nothing from him that is right with God in His fellowship (Ps. 84:11).

Your fellowship with God depends on how much you listen to Him. When you listen to God, your tiny sized faith will do big things because God is answering your prayer. Have you ever seen anyone with real faith not get anything from God? Because he's not right with God in his heart. When you got problems with people, you got problems with God.

I close with three correlating scripture passages about prayer.

Matthew 5:21-24

Authorized (King James) Version

Get Right with God by Forgiving Others Before You Pray to God

21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time,

Thou shalt not kill;

and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

22 but I say unto you,

That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment:

and whosoever shall say to his brother,

Raca,

shall be in danger of the council:

but whosoever shall say,

Thou fool,

shall be in danger of hell fire.

23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar,

and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

24 leave there thy gift before the altar,

and go thy way;

first be reconciled to thy brother,

and then come and offer thy gift.

1 John 5:14-15

Authorized (King James) Version

{Paraphrased}

God Answers Prayer According to His Will

In Faith & Forgiveness

14 And this is the confidence that we have in {God}, that,

if we ask any thing according to his will,

he heareth us:

15 and if we know that he hear us,

whatsoever we ask,

we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

James 1:5-8

Authorized (King James) Version

Unforgiveness Messes Up Your Faith

And Makes You Double Minded

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God,

that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not;

and it shall be given him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.

For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

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God is the Power of Prayer

Not Faith

What I mean by this statement is that when people read Mk. 11:22-26 they think that believing God is how to get prayers answered because Jesus said in Mk. 11:23 that you will have whatever you say if you believe that what you will come to pass. So, people think that faith is what gets prayers answered. But in verse 26 Jesus said to forgive to get prayers answered. It is not faith that answers prayer, but being right with God in your fellowship and connection with the Holy Spirit.

God can do anything and if you are pleasing God with your forgiveness and witnessing, God will do whatever you say in prayer. Whatever you ask God for will be given to you. God will even answer your prayer before you ask Him (Mt. 6:31-33) because you are pleasing Him. This is what Jesus is talking about in Mk. 11:22-26.

You got to know God to understand the Bible. Once you see the Holy Spirit working in your life, you'll begin to understand the Bible. This is why I understand Mk. 11:22-26, because I've seen that God does the tiniest things I want when I'm right with Him. I'm right with God when I love others. I'm in sin when I fight.

1 Corinthians 2:6-16

Living Bible

6 Yet when I am among mature Christians I do speak with words of great wisdom,

but not the kind that comes from here on earth,

and not the kind that appeals to the great men of this world, who are doomed to fall.

7 Our words are wise because they are from God,

telling of God’s wise plan to bring us into the glories of heaven.

This plan was hidden in former times,

though it was made for our benefit before the world began.

8 But the great men of the world have not understood it;

if they had, they never would have crucified the Lord of Glory.

9 That is what is meant by the Scriptures which say that no mere man has ever seen,

heard, or even imagined what wonderful things God has ready for those who love the Lord.

10 But we know about these things because God has sent his Spirit to tell us,

and his Spirit searches out and shows us all of God’s deepest secrets.

11 No one can really know what anyone else is thinking

or what he is really like except that person himself.

And no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.

12 And God has actually given us his Spirit

(not the world’s spirit)

to tell us about the wonderful free gifts of grace and blessing that God has given us.

13 In telling you about these gifts we have even used the very words given to us by the Holy Spirit,

not words that we as men might choose.

So, we use the Holy Spirit’s words to explain the Holy Spirit’s facts,

interpreting spiritual truth in spiritual language.

14 But the man who isn’t a Christian can’t understand and can’t accept these thoughts from God,

which the Holy Spirit teaches us.

They sound foolish to him

because only those who have the Holy Spirit within them

can understand what the Holy Spirit means.

Others just can’t take it in.

15 But the spiritual man has insight into everything,

and that bothers and baffles the man of the world,

who can’t understand him at all.

16 How could he?

For certainly he has never been one to know the Lord’s thoughts,

or to discuss them with him,

or to move the hands of God by prayer and advise him .

But, strange as it seems,

we Christians actually do have within us a portion of the very thoughts and mind of Christ.

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2 Corinthians 13:14

Authorized (King James) Version

14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,

and the love of God,

and the communion of the Holy Ghost,

be with you all.

Amen.

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"Who I Am" (Third Day - 1997)

"Jesus King of Glory" (Third Day - 2000)

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World without end. Amen.