Pray And Believe! Series

3. Faith’s Relationship With Prayer

a) Is there faith in our praying? – On the subject of believers praying persistently, Jesus concludes with this question: “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (v. 8b). We cannot escape the implication of this question: the person who prays continually is a person of faith.

This is also the question we began with and that greatly affects our participation in Pray 21. We want to partner with the youth in our church and pray together. Ingrained in this exercise in prayer is the hope that our youth will see that we older folks believe in the God who answers prayer. It is really an exercise in discipleship and passing on our faith. Mind you, these youth can also teach us something about faith and we certainly will learn together. Will they see faith in our prayers?

At the age of 16 I had decided based on a strong calling from God to pursue becoming a pastor. When I shared this with my youth leaders I received some discouraging comments. One leader tried to convince me that pastoring was too hard. Another argued that there were other jobs I could use my voice for. My pastor spoke of the hardships and asked “Why” questions which are judgment questions. No one, not one adult I shared my dream with, sat down and said let’s pray about that dream.

That is something that shows faith in our praying. “I don’t know the answers so let’s pray.” That’s what our teenagers and youth need, not someone saying “no”, but someone who says “That’s a great dream, let’s pray about it.”

Billy Graham said, “Heaven is full of answers to prayers for which no one ever bothered to ask.” Have faith in the God of the dream; let’s ask God to bring the dream to completion. God’s answer is ready; it’s just waiting for our personal and persistent request.

b) What do you want? – We have no idea how bold we can be in asking God for a dream or for the fulfillment of our dreams. There is a story in Matthew 20: 29ff where two blind men cry out to Jesus saying “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” In v. 32 we read, “Jesus stopped and called them. ‘What do you want me to do for you?’” It was rather obvious what they wanted. Why did Jesus ask them this question? Because he wanted them to ask, to boldly make their request.

This week Luciano Pavarotti died. It was said that as a young boy he wanted to be a soccer player but his mother forced him to become a teacher. As an adult he taught for two years. Then one night he was serving as an understudy for an opera singer at the local theater when the star up and quit. He stepped into the role and a legend was born. Not a soccer legend but a singing legend.

You can ask God for your dream but you may find he has an even better dream for you. It begins with asking. God may have something better for you. Ruth Graham said, “If God answered every prayer of mine, I would have married the wrong man seven times!”

c) Do you believe Jesus is able to do it? – In a similar story, another two blind men call out to Jesus to be healed. This time Jesus asked a different question: “Do you believe I am able to do this?” (Mt. 9:28). In asking “what do you want?” I am asking you to consider what your dream is and to share it with your prayer partner and with God. What do you want God to do for you and in you and through you? With this question “Do you believe Jesus is able to do it?” I am asking “How big is your God?” and “Is he big enough for your dream?” If you find that you lack faith in God to fulfill your dream, tell him that too. As our young people and adults share these requests I anticipate a great divide being narrowed; we will grow together as young folks and older folks to understand that we serve the same God.