(Excerpt from the Loving Life Podcast episode “Supercharge Your Prayer Life”)
Our faith journey often requires that we “wait patiently on the Lord,” which means trusting that God has heard our prayer and that it shall come to fruition in God‘s perfect timing. However, we must not make the error of interpreting “waiting patiently” as being a free pass to simply sit back and do nothing after making our needs known to God. There may be times when taking no action on our part is appropriate. However, more often than not, faith requires more than saying a prayer and then waiting for God to act. Faith requires more than thoughts and prayers. It often REQUIRES that we COMBINE PRAYER with ACTION in order to see our dreams fulfilled.
The word of God tells us, in James 2:17, that faith without works is dead. We breathe life into our faith by attaching an action to our positive thoughts and prayers.
Action Plan:
Trust God and his timing
Remain steadfast in meditating on God’s word
Hold tightly to the vision of what you have prayed for [See it in your mind and feel it in your heart as already having come to pass]
Speak only in the affirmative about what you have prayed for [Positive speech is a faith builder. The more you do it the stronger your faith will be]
Avoid all speech that is contrary to what you’ve prayed for. [Negative speech is a faith destroyer. The more you do it the weaker your faith will be]
Difficulties may arise that will challenge our faith. Negative thoughts will come to plant seeds of doubt that the thing we have prayed for won’t materialize. In these times when our faith is being tested it is extremely important to remember that as people of God, we walk by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Regardless of how things look, our faith is in the mighty word of God not in the circumstances.
The word of God encourages us to bring our requests to God by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, and to continue to make our requests known to God. We are also given the assurance that through bringing our needs to God frees us from the burden of worry and anxiety. And that as a result, even in difficult times, we can expect to experience “the peace of God which transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:6-7).
We’ve been given a beautiful gift, which is the invitation to come boldly to the throne of God to make our needs known, let us always do so with graciousness, humility and gratitude.
In Psalm 100:4-5, it is written:
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
AMEN🕊💕