Tag Archives: Bible

He Is Our Hope

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Some years ago, a young man came to our office in India for a job interview. I will never forget that evening. This man was seeking to join the staff and teach at one of our Bible schools. He was an extremely brilliant man, having received his doctorate in biblical studies from a very prestigious university.

As we sat down to talk, the first thing he said was, “Brother K.P., I am spiritually bankrupt.” This startled me! This was the first time meeting him, and he says “I am spiritually bankrupt”? He went on to explain the experience he had gained and the positions he had held in the past, listing the salary for each. Then he said, “Brother K.P., I could do a good job here for you. But please don’t take me because I can do a good job. Take me because I need help. I know all the doctrines, the Greek and Hebrew; whatever you want, I can teach it. But my heart is empty. I feel if I can be here, I will find Jesus again. And if I can be a help to you in the process, I would be glad to teach here.” With all his knowledge about the Bible and theology, he was still far away from the Lord Himself.

Only in Him

The truth is, we can learn all the doctrines and be fundamental in our convictions yet still live with emptiness and be spiritually blinded. The way back begins with taking that first step-confessing our spiritual need. Through honesty and repentance, we are given clear eyes to see the glory of Jesus once again, and the veil that clouds our hearts is removed (see 2 Corinthians 3:16).

Our survival and hope are not based on how much we can do or how well we can obey. Our hope is not in how many verses we can memorize or how much doctrine we know. Our survival is only in the person of Jesus. In Him is everything we need. He is our hope.

To the one who has lost sight, slipped or failed, Jesus is waiting to receive him. He does not say, “Okay, tell me about all the sins you have done.” In Luke 15, the father never asked of the prodigal son, “Where did you go? How much money did you spend? How many sins did you commit? What did you do? Tell me before I make a decision about what to do next.” No. There was not a word said along those lines. When the son came back, it was all embracing, consolation and joy.

Who Has Not Failed?

The question is, who has not failed? We all are weak, failing people. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,1 Edmund, one of the four children who first entered the land of Narnia through the wardrobe, falls prey to the evil White Witch who turned the glorious Narnia into a cold land of constant winter. Edmund had betrayed his fellow companions, and the Deep Magic of Narnia said that all those who were traitors rightfully belonged to the White Witch, who now planned to kill Edmund. The only thing that could reverse the law of Deep Magic was a sacrifice of blood.

But Aslan, the great Lion who sang Narnia into existence, came to defeat the White Witch and kill all who belong to her—which now included Edmund, whom Aslan loves. Some alternative had to be reached to save the life of Edmund.

In private, Aslan speaks with the White Witch and chooses to give up his life as a ransom so that Edmund may live.

The scene is very moving and graphic as Aslan walks alone to the stone table and submits himself, without any resistance, to be tied up before his enemies. They mock and jeer, clipping off his long mane and beating him. Finally, after all this, the long dagger of the White Witch is thrust into Aslan’s heart, and he dies.
This was the only way Edmund’s betrayal could be reversed and his life spared. True, he had failed and betrayed, and a price must therefore be paid. Aslan became that ransom for the life of Edmund.

Didn’t Aslan—being all-knowing and all-powerful—know that Edmund had fallen prey to the White Witch and was a betrayer? Surely Aslan knew. He knew all that Edmund had done and all that he would do in the future. But Aslan also knew that the only solution was to sacrifice his own life on the stone table.

You see, this is a picture of Christ dying on the cross for our sins. Once while counseling a brother who was in despair because of the sins and the failures in his life, I reminded him, “When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, He forgave all your sins, no matter what you have done or how you have failed. The sins you commit now and everything that you will ever do until the last second of your life here on earth—all of it is covered by Christ.”

When we fail, the Enemy often uses those times to fill our hearts with guilt and pain. This can even drive some people to the verge of suicide. But there is power in recalling what Christ has done and why He did it! It was His love for us—His everlasting love (see Jeremiah 31:3). If only we would turn our eyes away from ourselves and our failures and see Christ.

Jesus died on the cross not only to take away our sins and to spare us from hell, but also to continue to deliver us from the power of Satan. He does that through teaching us and training us to grow and become strong through failures and struggles.

How incredibly significant are the sacrifice and price our Lord Jesus paid for our lives to be ransomed from the Enemy. But how sad for us to so often forget it, especially in the times we need to remember it the most.

If ever we find that we have lost sight of Jesus or have failed in some way, we can always turn back to Him. Even if the whole world writes you off because of your failures, Jesus is always there. Jesus didn’t give up on Peter even when he denied Him three times. In fact, even before Peter messed up, Jesus had prayed for his restoration. Jesus told Peter, “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:32).

Even when everyone around picks up stones to hurl at you, Jesus will be there. He will never join in the condemning. He will say, like He said to the woman caught in adultery and about to die at the hand of her accusers, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (John 8:11).

Notes:

1 C.S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1950).

© 2003 by KP Yohannan, the president and founder of Gospel for Asia. It was written with the intention of encouraging and edifying the Body of Christ. To learn more about Gospel for Asia or to receive additional free resources, visit Gospel for Asia’s website.

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Concluding Remarks – Learning to Pray by KP Yohannan

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I want to encourage you to pray. The opportunity to turn nations upside down is within our reach. But to do that God must go before us. Prayer lets God go before us. It acknowledges our dependence on Him for everything and exalts Him as Lord. This is an incredible time in which we live. It is a time for God to work and for us to see the Kingdom’s work established. It is a time for us to pray.

Prayer
Lord, draw us near to You in prayer. Protect and direct our prayer times. Guard our thoughts from wandering. Help us to draw near to Your heart so that we can hear Your concerns. Help us to pray always in Your will, not for our own selfish desires. Give us Your burdens and then give us perseverance and patience to present our petitions. And Lord, thank You for Your example and Your joy in all of this. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

For a free downloadable copy of this great resource, click the image above. If you’d like to order a copy of this book, please click here http://www.gfa.org/store/journey-with-jesus/.

© 2004 by KP Yohannan, the president and founder of Gospel for Asia. It was written with the intention of encouraging and edifying the Body of Christ. To learn more about Gospel for Asia or to receive additional free resources, visit Gospel for Asia’s website.

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Prayer in Action

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We on the mission field have an awareness that we are on the verge of some major breakthroughs for the kingdom in many of the countries in which we are working. We hear statements such as: “Soon the whole country of Nepal will have a Christian witness in every village!” “India shall be saved!” “No matter what, one of these days Bhutan will be saved!”

Those statements are not made casually. There is a depth to them because God has impressed these things on our hearts. Because of that, we feel the time given to us now should be filled with prayer and serious commitment in seeking God for what He wants to do.

Miracles Happen

I will never forget some of the answers to prayer that God has given us. One such incident happened in the early days of our radio listeners’ crusade in India. More than 25,000 people had gathered in the meeting place to hear the message that evening. As we were driving toward the meeting place, we saw dark clouds over the town. It was obvious that it could rain at any moment. I thought the meeting was going to have to be called off. But the brother traveling with me in the car said, “Well, Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed and it didn’t rain.”

When we got to the meeting ground, we could hear the roar of rain in the distance. Then it began to drizzle slightly. I was on the stage as the meeting was just about to start and felt that I should tell the people that Jesus would answer prayer tonight and hold off the rain.

You know, sometimes we pray with unbelief. I prayed that way that evening. I wasn’t so sure that the rain really would be held off. But praise God there was prayer going up from other concerned people who did believe.

Would you believe, it was like somebody was holding an umbrella over that ground! In just that meeting place, there was not one drop of rain. Rain was pouring down all around us, but our meeting was dry.

Suppose no one had prayed. It would have been so natural for me to say, “You know, there’s no hope. This meeting is rained out. It’s not going to work. Let’s go home.” Suppose no one had believed. I can tell you what would have happened. The whole place would have been flooded. There is no doubt about it. But God gave us the grace to pray and to believe a little bit for the answer. And He did it.

Another illustration of the power of prayer happened some years ago. In our Indian headquarters, the leadership felt the need to really seek the Lord for His guidance. As the Lord burdened our hearts, we called for four days of fasting and prayer. During that time of ministry to the Lord, the Lord spoke to us through one of our brothers. Because of this man’s godliness and intimate walk with the Lord, we took the words very seriously. The instruction was that there would be a major investigation from the government with the intention to hinder the ministry. The admonition from the Lord was, “Seek My face. They will come as lions and leave as lambs.”

We were all doing well. We had never had any major problems with government authorities before. If it were not for this particular brother’s groundedness in the Lord, I would have thought that his imagination was running wild. But we took it seriously and began to pray and ask the Lord to go before us.

As we took the time to seek Him in this, He began to burden our hearts with specific things to pray. We knew the Lord was calling us to stand in the gap with prayer for the ministry more than ever before. Ezekiel 22:30 became a key verse for us: “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.”

If you read the rest of that chapter, you will find that the people did not take seriously the call to pray. It was in God’s power to save that nation, but because no one prayed, they were destroyed.

So we prayed. Some weeks went by, and suddenly we got a letter from the government, saying, “Seven of us are coming. We’ll be there in five days. We are coming to study and investigate your organization.” At the bottom of the letter was a man’s signature. When we read the name, we were all scared. This man was a very well-known, righteous Brahmin and a high government official. We knew they had the ability to hinder us in the ministry. But because of the word from the Lord and the prayer that came from that, we were prepared.

Sure enough, at the time designated, this official came with his people and stayed several days at our office. They went through all our books and records. They studied the way we worked. They asked question after question. It was clear that they were trying to find out if we had broken any laws, misused funds or were doing anything to hurt the government in any way.

I’ll never forget the day these men left. I had a brief talk with the head official as he left our office building. He turned to me and said, “I came with the intention of sealing your doors and closing down your organization. Looking at the expanse of the ministry, I could not convince myself things could be right. But I can tell you, I’ve never been to one institution that is so upright. I can’t find a single thing that is even questionable.”

We continued talking, and he began to tell me his life story. During the Pakistan-India division in 1947, he ended up in Pakistan but soon escaped to India. He worked as a coolie in the railway station, got himself into the university and then became one of the highest government officials.

As our conversation came to an end, he said, “Would you pray for me? I’m not well. My back is hurting all the time.” This devout Hindu knelt and asked me to lay my hand on him and pray for him! Then he said, “If I can ever do anything to help you and your people, please contact me.”

Through this whole process, we remembered the word the Lord had spoken to us earlier: “Seek My face. They will come as lions and leave as lambs.” The first two or three days, the investigators were not friendly and very suspicious. But just as the Lord had spoken, they left smiling and as wonderful friends.

This was one of those experiences that the Lord allowed us to go through to teach us that if we walk with Him, He will guide us. His work is not a business. It is not something in which we plan, scheme and work out the details. He is teaching us to be childlike so that He can instruct us and lead us as we seek His face. That is just one of the many, many experiences that have shown us the importance of being led by Him and the power of prayer.

No Magic Formula

People often ask about our organization. They want to know how we do things. They want to know how we run a particular part of the ministry or how we handle a certain kind of problem. They are seeking to figure out the reason for our success and growth. But there is no magic formula. All I can do is encourage them with how the organization began with prayer and continues with prayer.

Sometimes these people call us back and say, “Yes, prayer, but what else?” All I can tell them is, “We didn’t know what we were doing most of the time and we still don’t. We go along as the Lord guides and leads us. We make mistakes, we change things and we go on seeking His face. I do not know any magic formula.”

In all the 25 years of this ministry, every major breakthrough we have seen in the work has come through prayer. Through prayer, we let God be God, yielding ourselves as earthen vessels and becoming channels for His work. I am deeply convinced that the shortest route to getting things done is by prayer.

On the other hand, my nature is opposed to this. I want to make changes and get things accomplished. I like to think and say, “If we don’t do this or that, it isn’t going to happen.” But then I remember that every failure we have had and every setback we have experienced was always because we calculated and did something out of careful planning, but not careful prayer.

Why did the Lord caution the Ephesian Church in Revelation 2 that He might remove their lampstand from its place? Why, in spite of their sound doctrine and hard work for Him, was Christ grieved? What was it that the Lord saw that caused Him to say that they had left their first love?

The answer is found in how the Ephesians became self-sufficient in their own eyes. Their reputation, money, resources, expertise and carefully planned strategies caused them to rely on themselves. They began to think that they no longer needed to come to Him, to fellowship with Him or to depend on Him.

Our praying speaks of our ever-present need for the Lord and shows how much we truly depend on Him. Only through prayer will we accomplish His purposes.

In The Reality of Prayer, E.M. Bounds says, “Non-praying is lawlessness, discord, anarchy. Prayer, in the moral government of God, is as strong and far-reaching as the law of gravitation in the material world, and it is as necessary as gravitation to hold things in their proper sphere and in life.”1 There is no magic formula; there is only the absolute necessity of prayer.

The most efficient and effective way—the only way—to see the things around us change and His purposes come about is to depend on Him in prayer.

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Foundations in Prayer

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God has of His own motion placed Himself under the law of prayer, and has obligated Himself to answer the prayers of men. He has ordained prayer as a means whereby He will do things through men as they pray, which He would not otherwise do. . . . If prayer puts God to work on earth, then, by the same token, prayerlessness rules God out of the world’s affairs, and prevents Him from working.1

Those words perfectly communicate the importance of God’s people praying. Prayer is no light thing, yet at the same time it is simple communication between the Father God and His children, and as E.M. Bounds said in his book Purpose in Prayer, “The driving power, the conquering force in God’s cause is God Himself. ‘Call upon Me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not,’ is God’s challenge to prayer. Prayer puts God in full force into God’s work.”2

Let us then receive His challenge and engage ourselves in a life of fervent prayer. For “the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16).

Why Should We Pray?

Pray because God tells you to. What more reason do we need? It’s a command that we are given over and over again. Luke 18:1 says, “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.” Philippians 4:6 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Ephesians 6:18 also instructs us to pray. Pray about everything, small things, big things and all things. “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Pray because God has promised to answer. If you want to see things accomplished, ask. God says, “Yet you do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2). Do you want to see Bhutan, India, Mongolia or some other nations changed? Do you want to see another 50 people added to the staff of Gospel for Asia? Do you want to see more workers raised up on the fields? Do we need funds for various projects? Are there dreams and visions you want fulfilled? You can talk about it all you want, but it won’t happen unless you ask. Without prayer, nothing of lasting value is going to happen.

God delights in answering the prayer of faith. The last part of Hebrews 11:6 says, “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” In Matthew 7:7 Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” John 15:7 says, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” We are given this promise over and over again in Scripture. God answers prayer.

Cornelius, a Gentile, prayed, and God sent Peter to talk to him (see Acts 10:1–2). God is eager to answer our cries for help.

Elijah was a man, weak like all of us (see James 5:17). Yet he prayed that there would be no rain, and for three and a half years there was a drought. Then he prayed for rain, and a storm came.

Daniel prayed, stood firm in his God and saw the victory (see Daniel 9).

From the belly of the fish Jonah prayed, and God heard him (see Jonah 2:1). Hagar prayed. Moses prayed. God answered them. I think also about people that I know. Our own experiences tell us that God really does answer prayer.

Let me tell you a story from the village in which I was born and raised. One particular year, the entire rice crop was failing. It was a disastrous year for our community. But there was one believer who really trusted the Lord. When the rice crops began to fail, he said, “I belong to the Lord. My field belongs to the Lord. I know the entire community is facing this problem, but I trust my God to take care of my crops.” He fasted and prayed, amazingly, God did a miracle that no one could explain. In the midst of thousands of acres of failing rice fields, his five or ten acres were protected.

Week after week in GFA’s headquarters, we read letters from people who write to us saying, “Would you please pray for this?” We get prayer requests from all over, and we take these requests seriously and pray. Later we hear the praise reports: “Nobody can explain how it happened, but God answered prayer . . . The money that we needed came in . . . We found the perfect individual to do the work . . . The Lord healed him.” All kinds of unbelievable things happen when people pray.

Pray because major events must transpire in our lifetime. God wants things to happen. The work’s forward progress depends on our praying. It really does. Let this sink in. God really answers prayer. As you ask Him, He answers specifically and miraculously. I have seen it so many times.

Prayer is a sure way to see God do miracles on our behalf. Gideon, Moses, Daniel, Elijah and Paul all prayed, and things happened. Jesus prayed before He raised Lazarus from the dead and before He fed the five thousand. The Bible is filled with people praying and things happening in answer to those prayers. Right now God is waiting to answer the prayers from your lips. Sometimes the answer may take longer in coming, but keep on asking. Keep on seeking. Keep on knocking. God truly answers prayer.

Pray so that your joy may be full. In John 16:24 Jesus said, “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

Do you want to be full of joy? Then let God show you some answers to prayer. All of us can testify to the joy of answered prayer.

When our children were growing up, we encouraged them to pray for their needs. One time my son, Daniel, was praying for a particular pair of tennis shoes. A stranger who knew nothing about this prayer bought the exact shoes that Daniel was praying for and gave them to him as a gift. Imagine the joy and the thrill of a young heart experiencing God’s answer to prayer! So it is with us as adults too.

Pray because it is the best cure for worry and concerns. When we pray, we leave the matter in God’s hands and are free from worry and concern.

Someone once said, “Why pray when you can worry about it?” But Philippians 4:6–7 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” God has given us the invitation to cast all our cares upon Him, for He cares for us (see 1 Peter 5:7). What is bothering you? Please, just pray. When you are troubled about anything, pray.

Pray because it makes our God happy. Hebrews 11:6 tells us, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.” It brings joy to the heart of God when we turn to Him in prayer, depending on Him to move in the circumstances of our lives.

How Should We Pray?

Pray with absolute confidence that God is on our side. When we pray, the devil will bombard us and make us feel sinful and horrible about ourselves. We will never come to the place of being holy enough for God to hear our prayer. Rather, we stand before the Lord pure, transparent and righteous because it is a gift He has given us through His Son. It is not something we can earn. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. It is nothing we attain. It is only by grace that we are children of God. As we come to Him and say “Father,” He truly is our Father. He is our confidence.

He answers prayer not based on how great or mighty or holy we are. No. It is His grace. “[Nothing] shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). This truth needs to be drilled into our hearts and minds if we are to have a confident, effective prayer life.

Pray with a thankful heart. Be committed to thank Him for what He has done, for who He is and for what He will do. Praise Him. Give Him glory. Say, “Lord, let Your name be praised. Hallowed be Thy name. May Your name be lifted up.”

When you come before the Lord, look back and see what He has already done for you and thank Him for all that. Look forward also to see what the Lord has promised to do and thank Him in advance for what He will do.

Pray remembering your relationships with others. “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). When you pray, make sure there is no bitterness, anger or unforgiveness in your heart toward anyone. This is very important. If you have these sort of feelings, ask the Lord to give you true forgiveness and love for the individual. Ask the Lord to help you love him as He loves him.

Be specific in your prayers. Matthew 6:11 says, “Give us this day . . .” Ask Him for exactly what you need. What do you need today to sustain His work and accomplish His will? Don’t pray in general terms. Have specific things that you want God to answer. Tell Him the name and place. Let Him know who, what, where and so forth. Tell God specifically. Don’t tell Him how to answer, but be specific in what the needs are.

Pray with a burden. Breakthrough in prayer comes through a heart that has been burdened by the Holy Spirit. Read Nehemiah 1. Nehemiah was so burdened that he could not even regulate his own expression and emotion because of the grief he had over the suffering of God’s people.

Study the lives of Hannah, Moses, David and Paul. You will find this passion in their prayers as well. In Ephesians, you read about Paul praying for these people. It’s like he is in anguish. He talks about his “tribulations” for them (see Ephesians 3:13). In Galatians he says, “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19).

How do we get this burden? We simply seek it. We ask God to change our heart. We say, “Lord, what is on Your heart? What is Your concern? Lord, please let me understand it.” Then He brings the thoughts and gives us the burden to intercede. We cannot create this burden on our own. God does not care about lip service. He wants us to enter into the reality of what He feels for the suffering humanity all around us. He wants to share with us His burdens and His joy in seeing these prayers answered.

I was in Singapore for a leaders meeting in 1971. There I heard Dr. Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision, tell of his early years when he visited China. He said that when he saw the multitudes in China, he was broken-hearted. He wept on the streets of that nation. Then he took his Bible and wrote on the leaflet inside, “Let my heart break for the things that break God’s heart.” Let that be our prayer also.

Pray in faith. We must believe. Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24). Matthew 17:19–20 says, “Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.’ ”

“All things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23). I don’t understand how it works, but God said as we pray we must keep believing that He has answered our prayer. The believing comes from Him. He is the author and finisher of our faith (see Hebrews 12:2). Faith is not something we can work up in ourselves. We can’t convince ourselves to believe. We have to ask Him for believing faith. The father of the afflicted son did that. He said to Jesus, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

Pray in the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we don’t know how to pray when God lays a burden upon our hearts. But the Holy Spirit can pray through us. It can be in a language that nobody understands. It can be in groanings and cryings too deep for words. Please don’t try to figure this out. God is so wonderful that when we don’t know how to pray, the Holy Spirit intercedes through us. When our ability to pray comes to an end, God takes over (see Romans 8:26).

Our God is eager to hear our prayers. Let us then come before Him in the morning, in the evening, while we are waiting in line, driving to work or washing the dishes. Prayer need not be an activity we engage in for only an hour each morning. Rather, let us live in the atmosphere of prayer, our hearts continually being lifted up in prayer to Him. In doing so, we will come to experience the wonder of being colaborers with God as He works through our prayers (see 1 Corinthians 3:9).

Notes:

1 E.M. Bounds, The Weapon of Prayer (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 1996).
2 E.M. Bounds, Purpose in Prayer (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 1997).

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What is Prayer?

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If you’ve had similar experiences as I, you may have found how oftentimes in prayer, either public or private, people change their voices and stretch their words, as if talking to some unknown, powerful being a million light years away. Their voice may fluctuate and they may sound as though they were giving a speech or trying to convince God to do something. This, my brothers and sisters, is not to be defined as prayer.

Contrary to a lot of religious examples, prayer need not be just some mystical, superspiritual activity. Simply put, prayer is conversation between Father and child.

Have you ever noticed how a child comes and talks to his mom or dad? You never need to look for a dictionary to find out the meaning of the words children use. They come just as they are. They come simply. You will never find a child getting into a frenzy and fluctuating his voice as he talks. All you will hear is a small voice, in simple conversation, looking up into the mom’s or dad’s eyes.

One of the most exhilarating experiences for me is when I get a chance to hear a little child pray. It will make you both laugh and cry at the same time. Read some of these prayers from children:

Dear Lord,
Thank you for the nice day today. You even fooled the TV weatherman. Hank (age 7)

Dear Lord,
Do you ever get mad? My mother gets mad all the time but she is only human. Yours truly, David (age 8 )

Dear Lord,
I need a raise in my allowance. Could you have one of your angels tell my father? Thank you, David (age 7) 1

In Matthew 18:3, Jesus turned to the disciples gathered around Him and taught them an important lesson: “Unless you . . . become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” The way a child prays, in simplicity and trust, is the perfect portrait of prayer.

When we look at the prayer of Jesus in John 17, we find the same picture. Jesus was never closing His eyes and praying in a different tone of voice. In fact, we are told that “Jesus . . . lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: ‘Father’ ” (John 17:1, emphasis added).

What a beautiful portrait of His relationship with the Father! Through this example, Jesus was showing us that prayer is simply talking to God—not just as the almighty Creator of the universe, but as the caring, lovesick Father who waits for His child to come, a Father who delights to be with His children.

Come Just as You Are to the Father

We have need to remember this through our days. So easily we can forget that the Father loves us just as He loved Jesus. Then, instead of coming to Him because of whom He is, we are kept at bay, consumed more with who we are or are not.

I believe the enemy has numerous tactics to keep us from praying because he knows that it is the greatest way for the kingdom of God to expand. He also understands how our hearts and perspective on the situations of life are changed through prayer.

Perhaps you are one who truly desires to pray, yet when you do, you are soon bogged down with all the ways you fail, remembering how you aren’t matching up to the spiritual person you want to be, until eventually all motivation to pray is lost in guilt.

Our Father in heaven knows us. And I believe that is why Jesus told the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. Although it is often taught with the emphasis being on the prodigal son, I believe Jesus was trying more to paint a clear picture of our God and Father.

He [the prodigal son] arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

But the father said to his servants, “Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” And they began to be merry (Luke 15:20–24).

I share this with you because I know how easily guilt can keep us from talking with our Father. Please see how the father rejoiced at his son’s return. Instead of reprimanding him, punishing him, demanding he say sorry or make some sort of restitution, the father embraced his son, rejoiced and even called for a celebration. Remember this promise: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:15–16, emphasis added).

So then, let us pray, remembering whom it is we call Father and realizing that prayer is coming to Him and listening to what He has to say. Prayer is waiting before Him and meditating long enough in His presence until our hearts are touched and moved with His concerns and burdens, so that we become channels for Him to work through.

Prayer is our willingness to say no to our own desires and accept suffering in the flesh to experience the pain and agony the Lord feels for the events and people in our generation.

Prayer is our willingness to join with the unseen Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and experience His pain and heartbreak for a world that is lying in utter darkness, plunging into eternity to perish forever.

Prayer is standing in the gap on behalf of the needy and hurting, asking the Father to heal and to save before it is too late (see Ezekiel 22:30).

E.M. Bounds said it perfectly: “Prayer is the outstretched arms of the child for the Father’s help.”2

The Nearness of God

So then we see that prayer has less to do with words and posture and more to do with intimacy and closeness, like a child has with his father or mother.
The nearness of God is not determined by space and time, but rather by the inner relationship and intimate fellowship we have with Him in our hearts.

Just the other day, I was meeting with a few of my coworkers in the ministry. Before we started to discuss some things we were dealing with, I said, “Let us pray.”

Gathered in my office and sitting in our chairs, I began to pray, “Lord, You are the One who promised that when we gather like this You will be with us. Right now we are here because of You and in Your name. We are Your sons and daughters.”

All of a sudden, I felt like we should have another chair in the room because Jesus was certainly present with us. In my mind, I did not want Jesus standing somewhere while we were all sitting down. You see, in my Asian culture, it is terribly impolite and unacceptable for a subordinate to sit while there is a superior standing. This is why when a superior walks into a room everyone stands up until the superior sits down and asks for everyone else to please sit as well. This thought came to my mind, and I prayed right in the middle of it, “Lord, I feel like we should have a chair for You because You are right here with us.” In fact, Jesus assured us that “where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).

In all of our prayers, whether private or public, let us have this attitude and frame of reference for sharing our prayer: We are talking to a Father who is closer to us than our own thoughts. He is near, so near that no words can describe it.

In Psalm 73, we read of a godly man who, in the midst of tremendous discouragement and inner struggles, finally recognized the nearness of God. After all was said and done, he cried out saying, “The nearness of God is my good” (Psalm 73:28, NASB). His prayer is no longer directed to somebody far away, but to someone who is near to him. It is the understanding of this that changed his view on the situations of his life and even changed his own heart.

Let us then remember that when we pray there is no reason we should close our eyes and imagine some strange being far away. Rather, let us have the honest attitude of a little child talking to his father.

I believe the Lord is so delighted when we approach Him with a childlike heart, sharing our concerns and burdens with Him in this manner.

Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one’s heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend. Tell Him your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may sober them; tell Him your longings, that He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you to conquer them; talk to Him of your temptations, that He may shield you from them; show Him the wounds of your heart, that He may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved tastes for evil, your instability. Tell Him how self-love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself and others.

If you thus pour out all your weakness, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have no secrets from each other never want for subject of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to say. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration they say just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God.3

Notes:

1 Bill Adler, Dear Lord (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1982).
2 E.M. Bounds, The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1990), p. 231.
3 Francois Fenelon, quoted in The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart by Charles R. Swindoll (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 1998), p. 309.

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A Secret Foundation

Learning to Pray

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A few years ago, I heard the story of one missionary serving with our organization who, in a short time, had planted five churches in a difficult part of Northeast India. Curious of how this young brother did it, I called one of our senior leaders and asked him if he could tell me more about this brother’s ministry.

All that I knew was that he was from a tribal background and didn’t have any college education, yet regardless, it seemed that God was with him in a remarkable way. The first church he planted began with the healing of a Hindu priest who was paralyzed. Then, one after another, four more churches were born. I was more than curious to find out this brother’s secret.

Our senior leader said he would check into it and let me know what he found out. When he called to tell me, he said, “There is nothing unusual about him. I found nothing special except for one thing—he gets up very early each morning and spends two or three hours in prayer and then an hour or two reading the Bible. This habit began while he was studying in one of our Bible colleges.”

Let me give another example. One morning I was talking to a senior leader in our work on the mission field. He was traveling throughout North India to meet with many of our leaders and appoint new workers to projects that had recently been started. In our conversation we were discussing who might be able to take a certain new position. I asked him, “What do you think about this particular brother? He seems to be a really godly man. Why don’t we think about putting him in that position?”

We talked back and forth about this brother’s abilities, his lack of experience and the seriousness of the challenge in this new area of work. But finally we both agreed to trust him with the particular job. There was something about him that caused us to make that decision: He spends nearly four hours in prayer each day.

Our decision was not based on the fact that he had started a dozen churches or that he was able to oversee a large region of the country quite well. Our decision was based on the fact that God was with him and that he knew how to pray.

You see, prayer is God’s method of carrying out His purposes upon this earth. There is a mystery to the truth that God waits to hear and answer the prayers of His people. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 9:37–38? “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (emphasis added).

There are many people all throughout Christian history who knew the power of prayer. John Hyde was one of them. In the late 1800s, he left his home in Illinois to serve the Lord as a missionary to the people of India. There he labored, not just physically but, more important, in prayer. He was known to stay up late into the night praying, as well as rising very early each morning, crying out to God, “Give me souls, O God, or I die!” He was so gripped with passion for the lost, and he knew that the strongholds the enemy had upon the people could only be broken through prayer. And so pray he did.

In fact, he prayed so much that the position of his heart had shifted in his chest, later causing the complications that led to his death. But because of his prayers, in 1904 the northwestern states of India where he had labored for years experienced one of the greatest revivals the nation has ever known!

Just like Praying Hyde, we too can learn to pray and see God accomplish great things through our prayers. But we must learn. You could read every book ever written on prayer, but that won’t make you a person of prayer. We learn to pray by doing it.

In The Last Days Newsletter, Leonard Ravenhill tells about a group of tourists who were visiting a picturesque village. As they walked by an old man sitting beside a fence, one tourist, in a rather patronizing way, turned to the old man and asked, “Were any great men born in this village?” The old man simply turned and replied, “Nope, only babies.”

My brothers and sisters, we must grow into the life of prayer. Let us begin today, taking the first steps toward becoming people great in prayer. As we do, we will see incredible things happen in our lifetime. “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results” (James 5:16, NLT).

I know firsthand just how effective the prayers of those who trust the Lord and continue in prayer are. For three and one-half years my mother fasted and prayed for the Lord to call one of her six sons into full-time ministry. One after the other, each of my brothers started their careers, with only me, the youngest and shyest, left as my mother’s last hope.

But when I was 16, the Lord answered my mother’s prayers and called me to the ministry. The call on my life is a direct result of her prayers.
As John Wesley once said, “God will do nothing but in answer to prayer.”1

I believe John Wesley first learned the importance of prayer and how to pray through the example he saw in his mother, Susanna Wesley. This woman of God and mother of 19 children was known for her devoted prayer life. In the midst of her busy household and numerous duties, she consistently made time to pray by pulling her apron over her head to find solitude with God. It was out of her prayers that two of her sons—John and Charles Wesley—became key leaders in the Church in the 1700s.

“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3). Let us receive His invitation and begin to walk this road of learning to pray.

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Learning to Pray

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“The potency of prayer hath subdued the strength of fire; it hath bridled the rage of lions, hushed anarchy to rest, extinguished wars, appeased the elements, expelled the demons, burst the chains of death, expanded the gates of heaven, assuaged diseases, repelled frauds, rescued cities from destruction, stayed the sun in its course, and arrested the progress of the thunderbolt. Prayer is all-efficient panoply, a treasure undiminished, a mine which is never exhausted, a sky unobscured by clouds, a heaven unruffled by storm. It is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings.”
~Chrysostom

How often have you heard someone say, “I will pray for you” or ask, “Please pray for me”? Of the thousands of letters I receive, a significant number of them always have some kind of prayer request included.

The need for prayer is felt in all aspects of our lives. Whether it has to do with our families, children, education, daily needs, ministry, relatives, friends or the many other concerns that can fill our days, the necessity of prayer is always present.

But despite that, the question remains: Do we honestly take time to pray? If we do pray, how much time do we really spend in prayer? We may spend hours each day talking to friends and family members about the things in our lives, but do we even spend at least one hour with the Lord in prayer, talking with Him?

I believe our lack of prayer is because so few of us truly know how to pray. I know that in the early days of my Christian life, I had no clue what prayer really was. I would close my eyes, and in a few short minutes, I would run out of things to say. It wasn’t until learning from older brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as from books on prayer, especially those of E.M. Bounds, that I began to grow in my prayer life.

May this booklet serve to give you the beginning steps for building your life on the solid foundation of prayer. And may the Lord use this to help you come near to Him and be a child again, simply talking to your Father. He is waiting for you.

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Conclusion – Living By Faith Not By Sight

Living By Faith Not By Sight

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God wants faith to permeate all of our lives, every moment of every day. He doesn’t want us to just fall back on faith when someone is sick and the doctors are unable to help or when the finances are low. Please let us not just use faith when trials or difficulties come our way. Every moment of every day is a time for faith.

Put your life into gear. Believe the promises of God. Step out on faith. Real faith isn’t afraid to take a risk. It puts us in places where we can see God in action. Let your faith be alive and active, not dead. Scripture says, “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). Don’t just say, “I am going to write a better prayer letter and get my support raised.” Instead, look at the Scripture and say, “God, You said it!” God honors our faith, whether we have a lot or a little. He gave us the faith in the first place, and He cannot deny Himself. Your willingness to grasp the promises and stake your life on what God said will bring miracles. He is a wonderful God. Take hold of His promises today!

If you see a promise God has made, grasp it in faith. “All things work together for good to those who love God” (Romans 8:28). Take that promise and see beyond the natural circumstances to the substance of things not seen. Grasp the promise in 2 Corinthians about the “light affliction, which is but for a moment . . . working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Grasp promises for healing. Exodus 15:26 says, “For I am the LORD who heals you.” Claim His direction and guidance. “He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3).

And when there is no strength in you to lay hold of the promises—when your faith is so low that it seems you cannot go on—praise Him because He is your strength. The best part about living by faith and not by sight is that through it all He supplies everything that we need. He is “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). He works with us, never giving up on us. Even when we are so weak that we cannot lift our heads to gaze on that which is invisible, He lifts our heads. Psalm 3:3 says, “But You, O LORD, are a shield for me, my glory and the One who lifts up my head.” Faith doesn’t come from us—it comes from God.

I pray that somehow you would take God’s Word and put your life in a whole different frame of reference. I want you to walk by faith and fix your eyes on the Eternal, Invisible, Almighty God. I want you to be able to say, “You know what? I am going to continue on by faith. Things will work out because my God is an awesome God, and I’m going to trust Him with everything.”

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Seeing Him Who Is Invisible

Living By Faith, Not By Sight

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Hebrews 11:27 says, “By faith [Moses] forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” Oftentimes when we read these Bible verses, we skip over them so fast, never really understanding the struggles these people went through. Moses endured. Do you realize what he endured? They were not easy things. Moses first had to deal with the fact that what he had known as his “family” indeed was not. Then he forsook everything that was given to him—the robes, the title, the honor, the food and the riches—to become numbered among his own people, the slaves of the day. Moses then had to flee into the desert and become a lowly shepherd for years. The only reason he persevered for 40 years, in that hot, dry place that wasn’t his home was because he saw “Him who is invisible.”

And Moses continued to endure all his life. Chosen by God, Moses was sent to challenge the greatest empire and leader in his world at the time. He came against Pharaoh—the guy he grew up with, whom he once knew as his brother—not just once, but numerous times. Pharaoh wasn’t exactly happy about his authority being challenged. Yet Moses continued to endure until He saw the promises of God.

Only faith can enable us to live like that and to see those things done that others consider impossible. Moses’ faith gave him sight and set his hope on what God promised. Faith let him see beyond the realm of the natural into the realm of the supernatural, where God dwells and operates.

When we face struggles, problems and needs, it is easy to get discouraged. We want to give up the battle because the natural man tells us the problem is too big. I know this because it happens to me. But we cannot endure in this life without faith. We cannot endure unless we choose to see the invisible. My precious brothers and sisters, please fix your eyes on Him who is invisible. Be certain of what you do not see, “hold fast the confession of [your] hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).

Can It Be Done?

One afternoon, 10 or 15 years ago, an incredible thing happened. My wife, Gisela, and I, along with some staff members, were sitting in McDonalds reminiscing on our days with Operation Mobilization when we’d travel all over the place in vans, preaching the Gospel and seeing hundreds come to Christ.

All of a sudden, in the midst of our conversation, it was as though there was a burst of energy and hope. Remembering those “good old days” and the ministry we were able to do by traveling in vans got me thinking. In the midst of all the reminiscing and dreaming, I said out loud, “Why can’t we believe God for 100 vehicles to go forth and preach the Gospel and win millions to Jesus Christ?” If you had known our financial budget at the time, you’d understand how absolutely crazy and ridiculous this idea was! There was just no way we could make that happen. We’re talking 100 vehicles, at $12,000 to $15,000 per vehicle!

I remember that day so clearly. Right there at the table, I pulled out my wallet and opened it up. I only had about four one-dollar bills in my wallet. I took them out and, with my red felt pen that was in my pocket, I wrote on those dollar bills “the first down payment, by faith, toward buying 100 vehicles,” believing the Lord that these vehicles would be fully equipped with everything needed to preach the Gospel. Right there in McDonalds, we laid our hands on the dollar bills and prayed, saying, “Lord, we are just helpless people, but we want to believe You, the great God who owns the whole world. You can do it. And this is our first down payment as a commitment to believe You for these 100 vehicles.”

When we got back to the office, I gave Margaret, the woman who handles our finances, those four dollar bills. I told her, “Please don’t spend this money yet, but put it in an envelope and keep it.” Until this day, the money is still sitting in that envelope, marked with my handwriting the date and the time when we first committed those four dollar bills to the miracle of God.

Do you know what soon happened? Before we even had time to tell this to anyone, money began to come in for vehicles! Today we now have well over 100 vehicles, plus enough money for more. How did that happen? From the days of my old reasoning, I would have said, “This is absolutely insane!” But God has chosen the “foolish” things and His ways above the smart, wise and logical things of our world. Anything is possible with our God!

His Promises Are True

When my children, Danny and Sarah, were growing up, I used to struggle with what would happen to them in the American culture. I was afraid they would get sidetracked from the faith. I would tell Gisela, “We must relocate to India. I don’t want to live in America. Our children are going to be lost here. This country will ruin them.” I even remember thinking that it was better not to have children in America than to have children and see them drift away.

Some people see me as a man of faith. But in this issue, all the faith was up in my head where it wasn’t doing any good. I was focusing only on what I could see, not walking by faith. I had a bunch of knowledge in my head, but it was not alive or active. James 2:20 talks about this kind of faith. “But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” I lived with a lot of agony because I wouldn’t step out on faith and let God fulfill His promises in Danny’s and Sarah’s lives.

It was in those times that Gisela would remind me of how she grew up, saying, “But I was born in Germany. I was raised in a culture like this, and God protected me and preserved me. I believe my children will not be lost. I believe God will watch over them. I believe His promises are true for them.” But it was so hard for me to believe that for them. “Okay, you believe,” I would say, “but it won’t work!”

As time went by, her believing in God began to change me. Gradually I began to confess His promises for our children also. God protected Daniel and his friends when they were teenagers alone in Babylon. Samuel grew up in the religious deadness of Eli’s house, and God preserved him. It doesn’t matter where our children are or what they are doing. God is bigger than culture, confusion and tragedies. He is still able to preserve our children and protect them. Yes, we have a responsibility to live a righteous life before them and be an example. But that alone is not going to be the answer. Ultimately, we have to live by faith, not by sight. The best thing in the world we can do for our children is to confess God’s promises for their lives and believe the Lord for them. And according to our faith it shall be.

I want to encourage you to understand this. It is so important and so crucial that day by day, in every situation, in every way, we choose to walk by faith. I can say from years and years of experience in this journey, those who are willing to take God’s Word at face value and act in belief are the ones who experience His promises. But for those who try to explain it, figure it out or work out the promises on their own, there is only defeat.

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By Faith, Not Sight

Living By Faith, Not By Sight

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Second Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Here we see that there is a clear distinction between faith and sight. The two are opposites; each excludes the other. When we walk by faith, we don’t have to worry about how things look. If we walk by sight, there is no room for faith. We can see where we are going and so we simply follow the path we see. If you know how something is going to happen or know how to solve your problems on your own, you don’t need faith. You don’t need God if you can work it out without Him. But the truth is we always need God. Thus, we must always live by faith.

But in this quest to live by faith, we run into the very real conflict between our old nature and our new nature. There is a continual war between the two—the flesh and the Spirit, the temporal and the eternal, the walking by sight and the walking by faith. Our old nature demands to see, to experience, to understand. But the new nature is different. It is able to believe without seeing and feeling, because God has created that new nature in us.

We are a culture that demands to see proof. Scientists spend years running experiments just to show that some medicine or treatment works. Much like Thomas, who wouldn’t believe the Lord Jesus had risen until he put his hand in His pierced side, we find it hard to believe anything we cannot see, declaring “seeing is believing.” Please, let us not be like this. Jesus said in John 20:29, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The Bible shows us a way of life that isn’t dependent on only what we can see. Psalm 27:13 says, “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (emphasis added). Matthew 21:22 says, “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (emphasis added). Acts 16:31 says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (emphasis added). In each of these passages, which comes first, believing or seeing? Believing, of course! First we believe and then we see! So, if you want to see something happen, start believing. Stop trying to see it first.

In John 11 there is the story of Lazarus, Jesus’ close friend who died. Martha, Lazarus’s sister, was crushed inside by the death of her brother, as I’m sure anyone would be. At the same time, it also seemed that she was a bit upset with Jesus. In John 11:20–21 we read, “Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.’ ” But Jesus answered Martha by gently reminding her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40, emphasis added).

Martha was focused on the natural and concentrating on the facts. When Jesus had finally arrived on the scene, Lazarus had been dead for four days. There would be an odor assuring everyone of that fact. But Jesus said (paraphrase), “Please don’t look at the facts, only believe. Believe first and then you will see.” We cannot figure this out—yet we don’t always need to. God requires nothing but our belief, even if it is only as small as a mustard seed. Have you ever seen a mustard seed? They are incredibly small, like a tiny little speck, the smallest seed of all plants! Even faith just that small, Jesus said, is able to move mountains! “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20, NIV). Even when believing is difficult, He wants us to cry out, as the man with the epileptic son did, and say, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

In Waiting

Abraham didn’t walk by faith to obtain the promised son until it became clear that walking by sight with his own plans guiding him just wouldn’t accomplish the purposes of God. God had promised Abraham and Sarah a son, and they had waited a long time for the fulfillment of that promise. As time went by, it seemed nothing was ever going to happen, and both of them grew impatient. This inspired Sarah to think of a plan: Abraham could lay with Hagar the maidservant and receive the promised son that way. In Genesis 16:2 we read that Abraham “heeded the voice of Sarai,” listening to the voice of his wife rather than the voice of God. He lay with Hagar and, sure enough, she bore the son Ishmael. But this was a plan of the flesh to bring about the plan of God—and that will never work.

Later on in Genesis 17:18–19 it says, “And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!’ Then God said: ‘No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.’ ” God basically said to Abraham, “Yes, you got yourself a son, but no, I cannot bless a product of the flesh. Live by faith and let Me do it My way.”

Until Abraham didn’t know how to get a child, he didn’t need faith. He walked by sight first, obtaining Ishmael, but he was not the son God had promised. Only when it was completely impossible—when both he and Sarah were too old and when their schemes to get a child their own way had failed—did Abraham have the faith to let God do it His way.

Most examples of the futility of walking by sight aren’t so clear as this one. You can make your life look spiritual by obeying the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. You can walk by sight and it can look okay, even good. Mahatma Gandhiji, the father of my nation, was known as a man who literally obeyed the Sermon on the Mount. When he died (as seen in the movie Gandhi), the last thing he said, translated in English, was, “O God!” But that translation can be deceiving. Gandhi was not calling out “O God!” to the God of the Sermon on the Mount or the God of the Ten Commandments, which he was so known for following. He was actually calling out “Hare Ram” or “O God!” to lord Ram, the Hindu god whom he followed. Even though Gandhi knew the good things Jesus said and even followed them, he still had no faith in Jesus Christ to save him. He walked by sight, by the good things he did, never having faith for salvation.

With deliberate willpower, people can rightly obey the laws and modify their behavior. This was the case with the story in Luke 18 of the rich young ruler who obeyed the Ten Commandments. He was the model individual, but just because he was perfect in obedience doesn’t mean he lived by faith. The Bible says, “Whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). Sin is walking your own road, regardless of whether the road you choose looks good or bad to the rest of society.

Even today, a lot of Christian work is done by sight. There are Christian people who think they know how to carry out God’s work. They think they know how to win the lost, grow fruitful ministries or attract the youth. But the truth is that if what you are doing is not done by faith, God will not bless it. God is deeply concerned that we do His work, His way, by faith. It is simply how things function in the kingdom of God.

Looking to God to Accomplish

Sometimes walking by faith seems passive and slow in coming to pass. Look at David’s life. In the book of 1 Samuel, we can see how David endured much, yet he never resorted to fighting to make sure the crown God promised him would be his. He had faith that God would fulfill the promises He had made.

David started out as a mere child taking care of his father’s sheep. On the day the prophet Samuel came to anoint the new king, chosen from David’s family, his own father didn’t even regard young David as one to be considered. It wasn’t until Samuel had passed over all the older sons that David’s name was even mentioned. Then, when David was finally acknowledged and Samuel poured the oil on David’s head, anointing him as the chosen king, what did David do? Go and demand the crown and begin reigning? Not at all! He went right back to his simple sheep-herding.

It was only later, when David brought food to his brothers who were fighting the Philistines, that God showed His favor upon him, giving David the victory to defeat Goliath. When King Saul found out about this, he didn’t step down right then and say, “Alright David, now you are the king.” No. David’s journey of obtaining the promise from God was, from then on, filled with dodging spears, running for his life and living in caves in the wilderness, hungry and destitute. Even David’s wife gave up on him, and several times his band of followers threatened to leave. Once he even had to pretend to be a madman just to escape his adversaries.

Finally, after many years, David had the upper hand. King Saul, unattended and alone, came into the cave where David was hiding. This was David’s opportunity to kill the king who had so earnestly sought his life, or at least to capture him! All those years of running could finally come to an end. Saul’s life was in David’s hand and at his mercy. But God did not want David to act on the opportunity this way. The temptation to walk by sight must have been so great. Yet trusting in God and not choosing his own ways, David allowed Saul to escape so that God could fulfill the promise of making him king in His own way and in His own timing.

Even after this incident, Saul didn’t change. He was soon after David once more. This time God caused a deep sleep to come upon Saul’s army, making it possible for David and his men to walk right up and take the spear from near the sleeping king’s head. The men with David urged him to kill Saul. One said (paraphrase), “God has delivered Saul into your hands. What are you waiting for? Weren’t you praying that God would fulfill His promise that He made to you? And here he is, just one jab with the spear and you can kill him!”

To strike Saul at this point would not have required scheming or conniving on David’s part at all. There would have been no manipulation or tricks. But still David would not do it. He would not do it because he believed God and His way of bringing things about. This journey of trusting God was not a one-or two-year struggle. It went on for many years. But David continued to live by faith, not by sight, choosing God’s way above his own.

Now take that into your world. Take David’s example of living by faith and apply it to your situation. I am saying this to you so that you would continue to lay aside your cleverness, abilities and intelligence. We must choose to walk by faith, trusting God to fulfill His promise in His way and timing.

I have my own experiences and lessons the Lord has taught me in choosing to walk by faith, trusting Him rather than my ability. For example, things don’t always go the way I would like them to in some of my meetings. I remember distinctly a couple of past experiences while speaking in churches, when, toward the end of my message, I would think to myself, “If only I could just say a few more persuasive words. If only I could present the need in this particular way, then I could get the job done. I could get that fruitful response. I could see them make that commitment.” But in those times, I also clearly remember how in my heart I felt, “If I say one more thing I will be operating in the realm of sight. I will be manipulating. I will be forcing it. If I say that, I will be using my God-given ability to convince people. I may get the job done, but it will be nothing but another Ishmael, my way of producing what God promised.” And I back off. By God’s grace, I let it go.

Seeing Things That Are Not Seen

In 2 Corinthians 4:17–18 Paul says, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

The momentary and light afflictions that Paul spoke of weren’t easy, little problems. No! What he called “momentary and light” were big things—being shipwrecked, beaten, stoned and whipped! He was cold, imprisoned and hungry (see 2 Corinthians 11). Yet he called these afflictions “light” and “but for a moment.” He could say this because compared to the eternal weight of glory, they were just that—pale in comparison to what they were producing in him. Paul knew that the hardships were working in him something good and of great weight that would last forever.

There is a paradox, too, in what Paul is saying. How can we look at things that we don’t see? In 2 Corinthians 4:18 he writes, “[We look at] the things which are not seen.” How does that work? It’s like a man who is blind saying that he is “going to see a movie.” How can you see things that you don’t have the natural ability to see? We find the answer in the example of Moses, for this is exactly what he did and what kept him trusting. “By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27, NIV, emphasis added). It’s that gaze—that looking to Christ—which gives us the grace to persevere in our journey of faith.

When I am faced with problems, disappointments, lack of resources or sickness, if I fix my eyes on the things that are visible, then all those difficulties discourage me and I get weighed down by the impossibilities. But when I turn my eyes to the invisible, fixing them on God, all those difficulties become instruments He uses to help me live by faith. By faith, those afflictions are used to change me on the inside so that I reflect His glory. These pains and hardships will lead to the benefits and rewards that He promised, if I would only trust Him in the situations of life. But if I do not keep my eyes focused beyond the problems, beyond the struggles and beyond the here and now and on God, then those promises will not come about, simply because I am not putting my faith to work.

I remember back to when I was 16 years old serving with Operation Mobilization. It was there that I first began to understand that every disagreement, every problem, every tension, every irritation happens in our lives because God has orchestrated it. He has designed it. God put us in that situation or with that person so that we would be changed into His image. You may say, “I don’t want this kind of problem.” But He has designed it just for you, to be an instrument to make you like Him.

The team I was on during this time consisted of eight or nine people, all from different parts of India. We all had different ways of doing things, and it was very difficult for us to get along. It was so bad that some days we couldn’t even be involved in outreach ministry because of the disagreements we had with one another. But one day, as we were all fighting and arguing, our leader explained to the team the lessons found in the life of Jacob and his experience with his uncle, Laban.

Jacob was a smart, shrewd, very cunning individual, his name originally meaning “deceiver.” Jacob tricked his father out of his own brother’s birthright and blessing. After doing this, he ran away from his father’s house to stay with his uncle, Laban. I’m sure Jacob thought that he had made a clean getaway, safely hiding out with his uncle. But you know what happened? For the 20 years Jacob lived with Laban, he got the same medicine of deceit and trickery that he dished out to his father and brother. God put Jacob with someone just like himself to create a broken and contrite heart in him. God wanted repentance and humility to replace the scheming and greed. And God used that difficult individual, Laban, to change Jacob’s heart so he would become the man God wanted.

We need to recognize the purposes of God in placing difficult individuals or situations in our lives. We must see that it is through these adverse circumstances, like lack of food or funding, that we are able to experience the miracles of God. We have to see beyond the visible and look at the things that are invisible. This is what it means to live by faith. See your life through the eyes of faith and let God use the difficult things for your eternal betterment, for your blessing and for His glory. This is what He has promised, and this is what He will do.

By faith we can embrace difficulties rather than despise them. This is the message given in James 1:2–4. “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” By faith you can say, “Lord, I thank You that You have put me with this difficult individual. I thank You for these adverse circumstances. Lord, You knew all this long before I was born. You put me here. You have something on Your mind. You want to do something through these hard situations that I cannot see. I submit, Lord. I don’t want to fight. Take it and work it for Your eternal purpose.”

Just Like Jesus

Regarding His death on the cross, Jesus said, “Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?” (John 18:11). Do you notice whom the cup was from? Jesus knew that Pilate hadn’t given Him the cup. He knew that the Jewish people hadn’t given Him the cup. He knew that the cup had not been given Him by Judas. Jesus called it, “the cup which My Father has given Me.” This was a cup of suffering and sacrifice of the greatest and most difficult kind, designed specifically by God for His own precious Son! Jesus recognized this and knew this. And because of that He was able to see beyond the natural to the eternal, infinite purposes of God. Can we say that with our little problems? When we can, then we are truly living by faith. Everything that comes our way comes only by God’s approval, and He only approves of things that are meant for our eternal benefit.

Rest assured; God has a plan even in the midst of tears and tension. Look at the faith of those in Hebrews 11. There we read of miraculous healings and amazing victories. But please don’t miss the fact that the road to those victories was paved with great perseverance, in the face of persecution and intense difficulties. God knows what is best for us, and He knows how to perfectly work in us His very own character, giving us the strength to endure the process. In every situation and with every hard-to-deal-with individual, He is “working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). When we live in the reality of this truth, we are able to accept with joy whatever He brings into our lives because we trust Him.

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