God’s book
teaches that there is a difference between believing something to be true, and
putting faith in the truth revealed. We must believe something is true in order
to have faith, but we can believe things to be true without any faith at all. We
can also put faith in beliefs that are false, causing us do things that are in
conflict with the will of God.
Demons believe
that God is one,[1]
but have no faith in God whatsoever. Paul acted in faith that “the Way” was a
man-centered, blasphemous cult and so persecuted them out of his sincerely held
beliefs.[2]
However, what he believed was not true, so his faith was actually persecution
of Jesus Christ himself.[3]
When we come
to God’s teachings on prayer, our freedom to “pray without ceasing,”[4]is
an issue of both belief and faith. When our beliefs are true, and we connect
with those truths by faith, we find an inner wellspring of desire and longing
to pray without hindrance or restriction. When our beliefs about God are wrong,
or we do not have faith in the things we believe, we lose much of our
motivation to pour out our hearts to God in prayer.[5]
After
considering Paul’s uplifting example of prayer in Ephesians 3:14-19, I have
been moved with the significance of his expression of praise that immediately
follows.
20 Now to him who is able to do far
more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work
within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all
generations, forever and ever. Amen.[6]
What strikes
me right off is that Paul’s prayers were the expression of deeply settled faith
in true beliefs. He absolutely knew it was true that he was praying to “him who is able to do far more abundantly
than all that we ask or think,” and so his praying was the expression of
implicit faith that God would act in perfect consistency with who he is.
The first part
of this phrase is a doctrinal statement of the perfections of God in relation
to the limitations of man. Paul would not have considered that his limitations
would limit God in the least, but saw that everything to do with God was so
superlatively above his greatest strengths and worst weaknesses that there was
no way he would let inner, sarky, beliefs limit what he expected God to do in
response to prayer.
In the
previous paragraph, the one phrase of the prayer that stood out to me the most
is the central part of his request, “that
according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with
power through his Spirit in your inner being.”[7]
When I combine
that truth with the first line of Paul’s benediction of praise, my faith rises
up to believe and trust that God is fully able to do far more abundantly than
all I could ever ask him to do in strengthening me with power through his
Spirit in my inner being. He is able to do exceptionally and exceedingly
greater things to strengthen me, to grant me his resurrection power, to fill me
with his Holy Spirit, and to give my innermost being the delight of knowing the
indwelling presence of Jesus Christ filling my heart by faith,[8] than
I could ever think, or imagine.
Because of
these beautiful expressions of prayer and praise given to the New Testament
Church, and because I know that, “without
faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must
believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him,”[9] I
know that God is working within me “both
to will and to work for his good pleasure,”[10]
so that I would work out “with fear and
trembling,”[11]
the purity of faith that takes God at his word, and prays accordingly.
This beautiful
benediction of our older brother Paul has so much more treasures to mine
through meditation on God’s words. However, for the moment, I want to encourage
us all to examine our hearts to see what is going on in our inner beings when
we read of what God is able to do for all his children.
If there is
any discrepancy between what is clearly revealed, and the beliefs, and doubts,
and little faith inside, make that the thing you ask God to help you with on
the basis of how he “is able to do far
more abundantly than all that we ask or think.” Ask him to strengthen you
with power through his Spirit in your inner being so that you can know him by
faith the way Paul knew him by faith.
Remember, God doesn’t
need you to have perfect faith in what he will do, since he is always able to
do “far more abundantly” than even
our best prayers. Just ask him to bring you to know him like that, and then get
to know your loving heavenly Father who has been working on your complete joy
long before you even knew he was there.[12]
Now that you
do know God is there, get to know him for who he really is. And be like a
little kid who won’t shut up asking him for it until you know your prayer has
been answered!
© 2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
No comments:
Post a Comment