Pray in faith not out of fear

By The NewsDay | Apr. 27, 2013 | 4 Min read

Looking at your aspirations in life and desires from God will show things to pray for, things granted and lastly things still to come.

Looking at your aspirations in life and desires from God will show things to pray for, things granted and lastly things still to come. If we extract your prayer trial balance, it will most likely show that there are more things in the pending and to-do columns as opposed to the accomplished column. Many theories can be used to explain this, but today I will confine myself to one factor which is that many prayers are premised on the fear of the devil as opposed to faith in God.

Sermon of the Week with Pastor Erasmus Makarimayi

Are you praying because of the devil’s threats or because of God’s promises? Sometimes the devil will chase you and your request to God will not be what you really want, but just to get off the hook so to speak. You know how you have bargained for any job on offer, house to rent not to buy, any man or woman that comes your way and the at least opinion. The devil can instil fear in you to the point of negotiating from a weak and defeated point.

Because of religious upbringing and socio-economic and political settings, our desires and expectations from God may be founded on unsound principles. In most cases what we want to have and attain appears far-fetched. Our appeal to God is thus fuelled by fear that evil or the negative things we don’t want may end up prevailing. The devil can give you a lecture on God’s providence and give you wrong definitions of success and extravagance. It may be taught you that getting married, having children and keeping divorce at bay are too big bargains. You have to flush out some stupid philosophies. Divine health and healing are God’s promises not human outrageous demands. It’s not so much a big deal to have a car, house, well paying job or successful business. Never be fooled by the devil to reduce your expectation from God.

There are various requirements for effective prayer which we have covered in this column, faith in God being one of the fundamental ones. It is faith that has the capacity to extract things from the unseen realm of God to the physical arena of man. Fear blocks God’s manifestation. You probably have heard that fear is also faith, but faith in the success of evil. The devil is so cunning that he makes you see God as so far away and hardhearted. The Bible makes it clear that we are joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), but the devil will make you think you are second class citizen and therefore deserve little. Don’t listen to that rubbish; claim your right and heritage.

Continuous fear can also bring things to pass. They tell you that fear is an acronym of false evidence appearing real. The false evidence may settle in your mind and haunt you. Job experienced this and he says in Job 3:25, “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.” In many instances God teaches us not to fear evil, but to have faith in Him and fear His name. Fear of God is reverence of Him not negative appreciation of Him. James 1:6-7 instructs, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.” Satan wants you to doubt God and revise your faith downwards.

You may want to be scholastic and argue that there are cases in the Bible where people prayed that evil may be averted, that’s true. The focal point in such situations is not the preponderance of the mental and spiritual awareness that evil and negative outcome may prevail over results of faith in God. The push is to exalt God that He is able to deliver and that He will. Many times the devil will agree with you that God can but He is not willing to do it for you. When Satan disadvantages you like that, your focus will shift from God’s power and love to fear and trembling that the devil is about to win the battle. You end up just escaping but not finding true comfort, departing not arriving, not poor but not rich and not bound but not enjoying freedom.

Look again at your prayer trial balance. Isn’t it that the devil cornered you and disarmed you and made you to come from a defeated point and bargain with him to ask God less than you want and deserve? Do you think you are right to be jealousy and bitter because some people are seemingly getting too much from God? Don’t be reduced to fear but trust God. Recalibrate your mental disposition and theological limitations. You would not want to go to heaven and find out that God had given you all power on earth which you ended up surrendering to the devil. Don’t settle for less, you are going somewhere.