By: David McFadden

Our faith builds when we experience God’s grace through fellowship with Him. The more we know our heavenly Father, the more faith we have in Him. Faith grows in direct proportion to the amount of time spent in His presence. The extension of that growing and maturing faith manifests itself in what we say and do—His goodness is made available through us to the world around us. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “Anyone who believes in Me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” (John 7:38 NLT)

Prayer is part of that outward extension of His goodness. Having mature faith in God allows us to believe what we pray. Friendship with God promotes the idea of fellowship and yielding to His influence. Do we not willingly yield our life to a friend’s influence? If a close friend makes a solemn promise, are we not bound to him by faith in the fidelity of the relationship? In the same way, we, by faith, yield ourselves to the living God who is trustworthy, faithful and true. 

A decision to engage in intimate fellowship with God means yielding your life to Him—to willingly allow His influence to invade your heart and soul. His glory and love fill your heart, permitting God to have mastery over your life. This depth of surrender makes it easy to believe God’s promises when we ask Him in prayer. Faith in the promise is linked directly to faith in the Promiser. 

Spiritual perception is needed here because prayer is reaching heaven for what is typically regarded as intangible. As believers, we are spirit beings temporarily living in a natural body. However, our true identity is in the spiritual, unseen world. Therefore, through God’s power in prayer, we can bring the unseen promises that God has provided into the seen, tangible world.

Our spiritual identity is beyond human comprehension outside of fellowship with a powerful, creative God. Our fellowship with Him brings His power into our prayers so that His super-natural provision manifests in our natural realm. Put differently, when we, as spiritual beings, bridge the unseen realm of God’s promises to the temporal world of lack and need, we are expressing His goodness and His life-giving nature in our lives.

For instance, our minds cannot entirely conceive how God supersedes the tangible realm to heal a body from metastasizing cancer after prayer. Our finite, rational minds cannot fully grasp the measure of God’s goodness and His desire to intervene in our circumstances. We are left in awe of the unexplainable, choosing to praise God and thank Him for something only He can do. His gifts are too good for the mortal mind to appreciate fully.

Effective prayer is a result of a life of pursuing God in fellowship. Our desire is to attain effectual prayer and not be satisfied with rare one-off happenings. A loose wiring connection will mysteriously cause lights to flicker, go off, and then come on. We do not want an on-and-off connection with God where answered prayer is rare. Effective prayer through consistent, intimate fellowship with God produces the Light of His glory.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16 NKJV) 

Pursuing God in prayer means that we cooperate with Him to bring about His plans and purposes. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that God rewards those who diligently pursue Him. “But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (NKJV)

We have been taught to have faith in God’s promises. This is a subtle error similar to worshiping the creation rather than the Creator—our faith is in the Promiser and not the promise. The promise or principle is true, but the power of the promise is in the Promiser. By embracing the promise, no matter how earnest the effort, we unwittingly risk leaving God out of the equation. Without God as the focus of our petition, we create a loose connection that I mentioned earlier—we limit the power of prayer. Wake up your realization to the reward gained from pursuing God and consistent fellowship with Him. The result will be effectual prayer that brings Him glory.   —Ω

Heavenly Father, You are my all-in-all. You are worthy to be praised. I receive Your Word that tells me to “Abide in You!” I desire to receive Your fullness as I abide in You—grow me and mature me to become fruitful for Your glory. It is You living in me and I in You, that alone can satisfy me.  I trust You as I pursue You. 
LORD, I desire to see the realm of Your Kingdom through Your eyes and know that You have placed conditions on Your promises for a reason—so that my joy will be full. Thank You for Your wisdom and for loving me into a mature relationship with You. Thank You for saving me from having to serve You through laborious duty. Your perfect love carries me into a place of rest. I ask You to continue drawing me deeper into Your rest as I abide in the vine.
LORD, I desire consistent, effective prayer so I commit myself to seek You in fellowship and oneness as I abide in You and You abide in me.  I desire to worship You alone as my provider, knowing that all Your promises are true. Your Word tells me that Your promises are “yes and amen” in Jesus’ name, for Your glory. I ask this in Jesus’ precious name, Amen.

Excerpted and adapted from, “Prayer by the Book”

Available on Amazon.com by clicking here: Prayer by the Book

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