Praying Using the Promises of God
He leads me …
God’s promises are either a spoken or a written commitment. A promise reveals a truth that will benefit us. It either declares God’s will concerning the good that He will bless us with, or the evil He will take away from us. The Bible contains 7,147 promises, according to Herbert Lockyer in his book, All the Promises of the Bible.[1] This is a huge assurance from God that He wants to help us in what we set out to achieve for Him. If God says He will do something, then He will. If God says He will refrain from doing something, He will. Joshua 21:45 says, ‘Every good thing the Lord had promised them came true. (TLB).’
Our faith in His promises are necessary for their fulfilment. We ask for what we need in faith because there is no point otherwise -
You can never please God without faith, without depending on him. Anyone who wants to come to God must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely look for him (Hebrews 11:6 TLB)
Most Christians at some stage have experienced praying and not getting a breakthrough It was like their prayers were not doing anything. What happened? Maybe there as not enough faith? If so, there is sense that the outcome rests with those who pray. This means that faith is no longer a matter of trusting God, but rather a matter of convincing ourselves that the outcome that we are praying for is going to happen.
When the outcome does not go our way, we blame ourselves saying, ‘If only I had greater faith God would respond the right way.’ That is a heavy responsibility. The alternative is that we resent God saying something like, ‘If God really cared, that is if He ever listened, I would have what I needed and could move on.’ This implies that we are not good enough for the Lord to respond to us.[2]
How do we pray with faith? There are two ways. We can either pray with assurance, or pray with submission. Each is used for different situations.
Praying with assurance is when we have a prompting from the Holy Spirit that the right outcome will be provided. Then the prayer changes to worship and thanksgiving.
It is really easy to take over and fill the prayer time with what we want God to do, but we should allow time for Him to communicate with us too. When we are learning this style of praying, the first thing to do is not to pray, but simply ask, ‘Lord, what do You want me to ask You regarding …?’
We then hold off and tune in to any impressions or promptings that we receive in our head, which should be God telling us what we should be praying for and how to pray for it. This will include any of His promises that relate to the issues being prayed for. As we become more experienced and confident, we will be able to pray and at the same time be aware of what the Lord is saying or showing us as He guides us in what we say. In time we will see that the Lord gives us not just images and things to pray about, but actual words to say when we struggle to say what we mean.
If we have a real peace at the end of our prayer, that is the Lord telling us that He will provide the answer that we are asking for. It may not be exactly what we asked for, but it will be the right answer.
For God alone my soul waits in silence; From Him comes my salvation…. For God alone my soul waits in silence and quietly submits to Him, For my hope is from Him (Psalm 62:1, 5 AMP)[3]
However it is important to see that not all prayers of assurance involve the recognised promises of God.
George Müller (1805 – 1898) was the director of the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol, England.
He built five houses for orphaned children, where 10,000 were cared for before he died in 1898, and the homes closed in 1950. Every child who left his orphanages in Bristol was able to read and write, as well as having a guaranteed job and an allowance for clothing. This was a huge contrast to the harsh workhouse conditions that other children had to endure.
Müller raised £1.5 million during his life, which would today be worth £86 million in Britain (NZ$ 178 million). Right from the beginning George was determined not to ask anyone for funding or to borrow any money. He prayed by faith to God for every need, trusting completely in the Lord’s faithfulness and His provision. George raised everything that he needed for the ministry to the orphans on his knees, through unceasing, persistent, thankful prayer and an unwavering faith in God.
Instead of using the usual promises of God as the foundation of his prayers of assurance, George used one of God’s names - ‘A Father to the fatherless’ found in Psalm 68:5, This was used together with God’s promise found in Psalm 9:10 - ‘And those who know Your name [who have experienced Your precious mercy] will put their confident trust in You, For You, O Lord, have not abandoned those who seek You. (AMP).
These verses became two of his life-texts. As he put it himself, ‘By the help of God, this shall be my argument before Him, respecting the orphans, in the hour of need. He is a Father, and therefore has pledged Himself, as it were, to provide for them; and I have only to remind Him of the need of these poor children in order to have it supplied.’[4]
Having looked at what praying with assurance is, let us now move on to what praying with submission means. This is when God has not disclosed what His outcome is for what is being prayed for. With submission is the best way to pray when we do not know either the right promise of God, or a prompting of the Spirit showing God’s final response to our prayer.
No one should think of the apostle Paul as lacking faith. Yet He submitted to what God wanted when he asked to have the thorn in the flesh removed. He said, ‘Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.’ This was Paul interceding.
God’s response was, “‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9 NLT.) Paul’s faith is not in an assurance of the outcome, but in submission to the outcome from God.[5]
Whether we pray with assurance or with submission, we should allow God to have the kind of intimate relationship through prayer that changes our weakness into strength, our ignorance into wisdom, and our poverty into His wealth according to His word.
Dear Reader – If you have found some value in this blog, please feel free to send a copy on to your family and friends. Kind regards, John
[1] Lockyer, Herbert, All the Promises of the Bible, Zondervan Pub. House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1962;
[2] The Promises of God, Rev. C. G. Finney, Gospel Truth Ministries;
https://www.gospeltruth.net/1849-51Penny_Pulpit/500517pp_promises_of_god.htm
[3] What Does It Mean to Pray with Faith? Colin Smith, Open the Bible;
https://openthebible.org/article/what-does-it-mean-to-pray-with-faith/
[4] The Word Of God And Prayer, Arthur T. Pierson, GeorgeMuller.org;
https://www.georgemuller.org/devotional/the-word-of-god-and-prayer
The Inspiring Life of George Müller, The Editors of Guideposts Books, Guideposts.org;
https://guideposts.org/inspiring-stories/the-inspiring-life-of-george-muller
[5] What Does It Mean to Pray with Faith? Colin Smith, Open the Bible;
https://openthebible.org/article/what-does-it-mean-to-pray-with-faith/
