Prayer of Faith

By: Elijah the Messenger of God

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Prologue

          I typed into Google prayer of faith, and came up with 40,500,000 hits.  With so many talking about the Prayer of Faith, you would suppose you could find answers; that is, you should be able to find somebody who can show you how to get your prayers answered, but I tell you this: you will not find ONE PERSON who can help you unless they travel the same road I show you in this study.

Defining words and statements

          I have a new web site that will be very useful to you who study these web sites; it is called BibleDefinitions.org; it gives definitions of words and phrases I use which the church world does not understand, and which must be defined if you expect to understand the Scriptures; words such as Faith, Grace, the will of God, and Sanctification are absolutely necessary to understand.

          Getting prayers answered is on the minds of many, and there are many large web sites talking about it, going into great detail as to HOW to get your prayers answered, but I am going to cut to the chase and tell you in just two words, how to get your prayers answered: OBEY GOD.  If you obey the Word of God and do all that is required, God will hear you; that is the promise, as we may read:

        14 If ye shall ask anything in my name, that will I do.'   (Jn.14.14)

I could become very cynical at this point to illustrate how that God's people do not get their prayers answered using this protocol, and the only reason they receive anything is because God has mercy on the just and unjust, as Jesus said:

 43 You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy: 44 but I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you; 45 that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.'  (Mt.5.43ff)               

          You have to know by now that I am a realist; I tell the truth without any apology or fluff, and the only reason any of God's people receive anything is simply because of His mercy.  It is not because they deserve it.  Of course, some will answer, Well, none of us deserve to have our prayers answered; you can say that, but that is not a true; those who believe that have fallen into the slippery slope of lies and falsehood leading to destruction.

          In the course of this study, I will show you what it means to pray in Jesus name, because therein lies the problems; you are NOT praying in His name; if you knew the truth and did it, NOTHING would be impossible to you, NOTHING.  But there are so many things you need to realize and understand and do, but Jesus was not simply speaking things that are not possible for us.

          I recently receive an email from a person who asked me if I knew: that the name Jesus was a miss translation and that the original name, the one that holds the power is not written in English?  While the Scripture says to avoid unlearned and foolish questions, enough people are into that foolishness so I answered him, His name is called the Word of God from Rev.19.13.  If your heart is not right with God, you will be deceived and go off into such things as Bible Codes and found books of the Bible which should be included in the Canon of the Bible, and how we are the offspring of aliens, and how Satan and Eve mated and brought forth Cain, and on and on, along with a hundred other issues Satan would throw up. 

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Praying In Jesus Name

          As is true in every case, understanding what is spoken in the Bible is not achieved through academics, that is, it is not as you would do in secular education where you get out your authorities and do painstaking research to find the answers; in the things of God, you must approach your research in a particular protocol in order to find the answers, because this is God's business and it is HIS Word we are dealing with, not the works of men, as Paul says:

6 We speak wisdom, however, among them that are full grown: yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing: 7 but we speak Gods wisdom in a mystery, even that which has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory: 8 which none of the rulers of this world hath known: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory: 9 but as it is written,

        Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not,

        And which entered not into the heart of man,

        Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love him.'

        (1 Cor.2.6-9)

Even among those who have come to study with me take this lightly, and do not obey the Gospel, so that God does not open the Word of God to them, but for those who do indeed obey the truth, God pours out upon them all His counsel.

          So, how DO you pray in Jesus name?  In the Hebrew his name is Yehoshua, which makes no matter insofar as God hearing you is concerned, because to get God to hear you is not some secret formula or protocol; it is simply a matter of your heart.  All God's people say at the end of every prayer, in Jesus name, Amen.  But that is not what Jesus said to do.  He did not say to say, in Jesus name, but here, see if you can figure it out before I tell you; consider what he said in this same context:

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.'   (Jn.15.5ff)

Same promise as 14.14, but the protocol seems different; no, it is the same protocol; if you abide in him, and knowing he is the Word of God, then you may realize he is saying that if his words abide in you, and if you are obeying what he says, then you may ask whatsoever you will, and he will do it for you, BECAUSE HIS WORDS ABIDE IN YOU, AND YOU ARE ABIDING IN HIS WORDS.  That is all there is to it

          If you are doing the truth, and if the truth abides in you, then you can ask whatsoever you wish, and it will be done unto you, so that you are not simply saying, in Jesus name, but because you are praying in the truth according to the Word of God, you are in his name, as here:

11 And I saw the heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and he that sat thereon called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he does judge and make war. 12 And his eyes are a flame of fire, and upon his head are many diadems; and he has a name written which no one knows but he himself. 13 And he is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood: and his name is called The Word of God.'  (Rev.19.11ff)

You do not say, in Jesus name; all you do is to make your requests and then end your prayer saying nothing more than Amen if you wish; it is not magic to say, in Jesus name; you might as well say, Open sesame but you need to get to the place where you can say as the cartoon character Pop Eye said it, Open says me.   

          But of course, if that were the end of the story, we could close this, but as always, there is a great deal more because there are many questions that need to be answered.

Faith Healers

          I am going to rehearse quite a few of the things I have on my other sites with respect to faith and how to receive it, because I want this to be a comprehensive study.  I have been listening to others talk about prayer all of my adult life, and have been around God's people even in churches where they claim miracles through prayer.  One church in particular I watched as they laid hands on folks and claimed healing, but it never happened; they only deceived themselves into believing it.

          But, do not get me wrong; God will heal you if the right circumstances exist, and even some times when you are going off to some church, in fact, about every religion has their places where their parishioners can go to get healing, and some do, but there is a problem: staying healed, and truly much of it is psychosomatic. 

          If you have ever gone to the meeting of a healing evangelist, you NEVER hear them quote this:

Now it was the sabbath on that day. 10 So the Jews said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed. 11 But he answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up your bed, and walk. 12 They asked him, Who is the man that said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? 13 But he that was healed knew not who it was; for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus finds him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, you are made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee.'  (Jn.5.10ff)

Go, sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you?  That is right, and I have never heard a preacher of any sort tell their people this, but there is the key to STAYING HEALED, and if you do a word study, you will realize that if you cannot stay healed, neither are you saved.  It is the same thing to be healed and saved (study the Greek word sozo).

          How man folks have gone off to healing evangelists, were healed of something, only to have something else come upon them, or they were unable to keep their first healing!  In fact, I listened to a Church of Christ minister one time tell the story how that he followed around healing evangelists; he would speak to those who were healed a few days after their healing, and he said he could not find a single person who has stayed healed.  Thus, he was convinced that healing was all psychosomatic, it was all in their heads and really did not happen.  Of course the Church of Christ and others are big on this, saying that the spiritual gifts have been done away based upon this text:

8 Love has no end: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; 10 but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.   11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known.'  (1 Cor.13.8ff)

They say that Jesus was that "perfect" that has come, so that the gifts have been done away.  They miss the point that until we are full grown and mature the gifts are necessary; fact is, the spiritual gifts will be necessary as long as there are any who turn to God, and it is for this very reason that the congregation of God has been established; as Paul says here:

11 And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ: 13 till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: 14 that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; 15 but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, even Christ.'  (Eph.4.11ff)

God gave the gifts for the PERFECTING of His people, and until they are full grown and mature the gifts will be necessary.

          In this respect, Paul went on to say:

1 But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he differs nothing from a slave though he is lord of all; 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed of the father. 3 So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world: 4 but when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 that he might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6 And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7 So that you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.'  (Gal.4.1ff)

This is where we all begin, except there is no place to go at this present time where you can submit yourself to a guardian who knows anything about God apart from traditional bias.  This is what God will fix in the years ahead, when this ministry sets up congregations where men of God will take the lead and by their own manner of life will be example of the people, whereas now, you certainly would NOT want to follow the lead of most ministers, else you would become a whoremonger, adulterer, fornicator, robber, and so forth (see 2 Tim.3.1ff); they would bring you into bondage simply by telling you everything is fine with you.  They cannot say otherwise else they would condemn themselves.  

          At this point, however, I want to quote what a preacher once told me in this.  He had a very instructive analogy: You have to be smaller than a thief to hide behind one.  The rest of what he had to say was greatly lacking, but in this there is some truth.  But the point is, it is easy to find fault with others, whereas Jesus said:

1 Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured unto you. 3 And why behold you the straw that is in your brothers eye, but consider not the beam that is in your own eye? 4 Or how will you say to your brother, Let me cast out the straw out of your eye; and lo, the beam is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of your own eye; and then shall you see clearly to cast out the straw out of your brothers eye.'   (Mt.7.1ff)

And, for your edification, I do not preach myself under conviction else God would not use me, but the admonition is, to seek out and do something about your own faults before you try to straighten out somebody else.  A lot of folks are happy when I find fault with the church, but they still are not serious about studying and enlightening themselves.  Finding fault with others is always a popular past time, but in this case it is tragic; a myriad of people are being deceived by Satan right now, and while it appears that he is having things his way, God has other plans to save a great many also.

          But how many times have you heard television evangelists shouting, just release your faith!  Just release your faith! as you watch the people on their feet, shouting and speaking in tongues trying to release their faith, a faith they do not possess, except they have the notion that Jesus said they could move mountains if, and here is what he said, as his disciples were trying in vain to cast the evil spirit out of the son of a disciple:

19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast it out? 20 And he saith unto them, Because of your little faith: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.'  (Mt.17.19ff)

So, everyone suppose that they can do literally ANYTHING, and that there is nothing impossible to them if they could just release (a term not in the Bible) their faith, locked up in that tiny seed!  But consider this also:

31 Another parable set he before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32 which indeed is less than all seeds; but when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the heaven come and lodge in the branches thereof.'  (Mt.13.31ff)

What is the lesson here?  Simple: when Jesus said your faith had to be as a grain of mustard seed, it was not the SIZE of the seed that mattered (which is indeed as fine as dust) but in order for you to have faith worth anything you needed to have it GROW; your faith needs to grow, so understanding how to cause your faith to grow is your next need, if you want God to move for you.

Hearing of Faith

          Now here is something I want you to compare.  This is very instructive and leads to a very important point:

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto deliverance to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 for therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith.'  (Rom.1.16ff)

The gospel is the power of God unto deliverance!  In you Bibles, its says, salvation which, if you do a word study (see pg. 832 soteria, in your concordance), you will find that it is a noun meaning simply deliverance and as a verb (Gr. sozo) , to be delivered, be saved, saved.  Salvation is an illusive word to scholars, but to us who have the mind of Messiah, it is very easy.  And, if you think on it, this will revolutionize your understanding of what it means to be saved.  Then this:

18 For the word of the stauros is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God.'  (1 Cor.1.18)

Now, do you perceive? in the first place he says the gospel is the power of God, and in the second he says the preaching of stauros (KJV says Cross) is the power of God, so that the Gospel and the teaching of the suffering, or the putting to death of our old man is the power of God; much for you to ponder, but here Paul puts it together:

20 I have been put to death with Messiah; and it is no longer I that live, but Messiah living in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, even that which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. 21 I do not make void the omnipotence of God: for if righteousness is through the law, then Messiah died for nothing.'  (Gal.2.19ff)

(Rather than have you go to the Bible Definitions site, omnipotence is in the place of Grace; when you have time, go read the explanation)  Do you see?!  The preaching of the stauros, is the putting to death of our sinful body and mind, and this is the Gospel, and in both cases it says that herein is the POWER OF GOD.  So now, since we know that the Gospel begets power, and since we know that this is the omnipotence of God (ie. grace in the KJV), it is obvious that when we put to death our sinful nature and put on the truth, we obtain the power of God, and in this power we have all things.

          No, I know you do not understand, however the days come in which you will, but I cannot hold back now, so let me continue with this:

1 O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you, before whose eyes Yehoshua* Messiah was openly set forth put to death? 2 This only would I learn from you: Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh? 4 Did ye suffer so many things in vain? if it be indeed in vain. 5 He therefore that supplies to you the Spirit, and works miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?'  (Gal.3.1ff) (* Yehoshua is Jesus name in Hebrew)

Now, I will show you the interpretation:

Oh unlearned Galatians: who did deceive you before whose eyes I portrayed in my body the putting to death of Messiah?  This only would I learn from you: Received you the Spirit by obeying the Law of Moses, or by obedience to the Gospel?  Are you so foolish?!  Having begun by obeying the truth in the putting off the old man, are you now perfected by offering gifts and sacrifice, and observing days, and feasts, and months, and years under the Law of Moses?  Did you suffer so many things as you put to death your passions and lusts for nothing?  He, therefore, who provides you the Spirit and works miracles in you, does he do it by your offering sacrifices and obeying the Law of Moses, or by obeying the Word of God which is to put to death your old man?'  (Gal.3.1ff being interpreted by me)

So, what has this to do with getting your prayers answered?  Okay, let's quote this:

13 Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the congregation; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him.'  (Ja.5.13ff)

You see, what I am doing here I have not done in other studies: I am taking texts and telling you what it all is talking about; in this case the prayer of faith is how you save people; save comes from that little Greek word, sozo which is the verb of soteria (the noun) which is translated to deliverance (salvation in the KJV).  So, in order to be healed you need FAITH, and Paul says here:

          17 So faith comes of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.'  (Rom.10.17)

And, when you do a word study of hearing, you realize that it means to OBEY, hence to increase in faith, you have to obey God; you have to obey the truth of the Word of God, something the church world does not teach, and, continuing: if he has committed sins they will be forgiven because they correct themselves by obedience to the truth, and, when the elders anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord; what they are doing is, by their wisdom and knowledge of the Scriptures, are showing what the person concerned is doing and why they are being judged, since sickness is judgment for sin, as Paul says in 1 Cor.11.30, the name of the Lord is, of course the Word of God (Rev.19.13).

Paying Vows

          HOWEVER, there is more to this than meets the eye; the word, prayer in verse 15 above comes from the Greek word euche used only three times in the New Testament; it means a VOW; its equivalent is found many times in the Old Testament which is neder.  It is used only in these places: in Acts 18.18 and 21.24, and James 5.15 above, so that it is not only praying but requires more.

          Now, let's say that your child is very sick with pneumonia; what have you been taught all your life to do?  You bet: run to the doctor, but let's say that there is no doctor available, what are you going to do.  Well, of course, you will pray; if the child gets sicker you pray more earnestly, but when the child begins to turn blue from lack of oxygen, what will you do?!

          My wife and I have been in this situation, however in our case there was a doctor's office right across the street, and it so happened that this was also about the time that the people belonging to the Church of the First Born, and even a Christian Science church had lost their children because they would not take them to a doctor.  Folks, I am NOT telling you to not take your children to a doctor; what I am telling you is, that there is a better way except that it takes a lot of seeking God and study to get there, and you are not going to get this power until you have been many years seeking after God the way I show you.

          Getting back to the story: what my wife and I did to begin with was to stop eating.  We then we searched our hearts and realized we were coveting some things which we promptly got rid of; then all we could do was wait, and the Lord heard us and our child recovered, but this happened to us not just once, but three times; twice to our youngest daughter and once with our youngest son.  We have been tried with many of the so-called childhood diseases, and in many other ways.  We can testify that vows DO work if you are seeking God seriously.

          But here:

1 Keep your foot when thou go to the house of God; for to draw nigh to hear is better than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they know not that they do evil. 2 Be not rash with your mouth, and let not your heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and you upon earth: therefore let your words be few. 4 When you vow a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools: pay that which you vow. 5 Better is it that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay. 6 Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say before the angel, that, it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?'  (Eccl.5.1ff)

Do you understand this?  He says not to make a vow, then decide not to keep it after you receive what you want, because, he not only will be displeased, but will punish you for it, even though when the trouble comes, you will say, Lord, it was a mistake, I will keep it now.  Too late; once the words have gone out of your mouth you are committed; you are not talking to a man; you are talking to God.

          Consider this:

21 When you shall vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, you shall not be slack to pay it: for the LORD your God will surely require it of you; and it would be sin in thee. 22 But if you shall forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in you. 23 That which is gone out of your lips you shall observe and do; according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD you God, a freewill-offering, which you hast promised with your mouth.'  (Deu.23.21ff)

So, what is this?  Obviously, if you make a vow, if the words go out of your mouth you are committed, so that if you should change your mind, you do sin, and God will deal with you accordingly.

          Now, do not be the fool and do this:

1 Whence come wars and whence come fightings within yourself? come they not hence, even of your pleasures that war in your members? 2 You lust, and have not: ye kill, and covet, and cannot obtain: you fight and war; you have not, because you ask not. 3 You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it in your pleasures. 4 You adulteresses, know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or think you that the scripture speaks in vain? Does the spirit which he made to dwell in us long unto envying?'  (Ja.4.1ff)

What is going on here?  You lust after things of this world, you covet and crave them, yet your conscience resists you because what you want is not right, so there is a war going on inside of you to satisfy that lust you have, and he says you pray and ask for things so that you can consume them in your lust.  This will drive God away from you.

          Here:

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vain glory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides for ever.'  (1 Jn.2.15ff)

Of course, you know this, but if you want God to hear your voice, you will refrain from lusting after worldly things.  You will be content with simple fare and repast.  You will not be going to the top drawer or eating high on the hog.  You will learn to be content with necessary things (see 1 Tim.6.3-9); beyond this, you will find God moving away from you and the Gospel of Jesus Christ hard to receive.

The Faith of Abraham

          Now I want you to consider something you have read in many places about Abraham and his faith, but listen again to James:

14 What does it profit, my brethren, if a man say he has faith, but have not works? can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister be naked and in lack of daily food, 16 and one of you say unto them, Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; and yet ye give them not the things needful to the body; what does it profit? 17 Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead by itself. 18 Yea, a man will say, You have faith, and I have works: show me your faith apart from works, and I by my works will show you faith...20 But will you know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is unproductive? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar? 22 You see that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect; 23  and the scripture was fulfilled which saith, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.'  (Ja.2.14ff)

Whoa!  This statement defies the whitewash theory that all you have to do is to believe in Jesus, never mind obeying.  He says:

46And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? 47 Every one that cometh unto me, and hears my words, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who digged and went deep, and laid a foundation upon the rock: and when a flood arose, the stream brake against that house, and could not shake it: because it had been well built. 49 But he that hears, and doeth not, is like a man that built a house upon the earth without a foundation; against which the stream brake, and straightway it fell in; and the ruin of that house was great.'  (Lk.6.46ff)

So, you can say it is not necessary to obey God in order to receive the promises, but Messiah said you will NOT BE DELIVERED unless you OBEY him, but consider Abraham: God told him to leave his town and people into an unknown place and he left; he did not argue; then the test of all, when he told Abraham to go offer Isaac as a burnt offering, Abraham did not argue or chide, but obeyed, knowing that God could raise Isaac up from the dead if need be to give him the promise He had made to make Isaac his offspring.  Could you have done this?  But the point is that he MOVED; he ACTED; he OBEY GOD, thus he illustrated his faith, and this is what James is saying: obedience begets faith.

Now back to Terrafirma

                You have a myriad of witnesses who are examples of faith.  I have shown you have to grow your faith by your obedience to God; go to Hebrews chapter 11 and read the many examples Paul gives of those who obeyed God and what their faith did for them.

          You have been taught from birth that all you have to do is to do some insipid prayer to receive from God, and you should realize that it is all futile because you do not receive from God, especially when it comes to being healed of sickness.  Proof of that is to talk to these old salty Christians and simply listen and look at them: fat, sick, they limp, they wheeze, they are on all kinds of medication, they have car accidents, slip on banana peels and break their arms; they have every disease and flu bug that comes along, but they profess to believe in Jesus; not so.

          Now I know some of you want to serve the Lord; you have been around the traditional church most of your life and you know there has to be something better, so let me challenge you about something: you hear me talk about the good conscience, and I have never heard any preacher tell you or quote to you this:

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.'   (Rom.8.1)

And this statement comes hard on the heels of Paul talking about the battle we have inwardly struggling against our flesh, then here:

5 But the end of the charge is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned.'  (1 Tim.1.5)

So that the CONSCIENCE is very important in our relationship with God.  Point is, that if you want God to hear you when you pray, you cannot have something on your conscience else He will not hear, as James said:

5  But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and scolds not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubts is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord; 8 a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways.'  (Ja.1.5ff)

But before I comment, consider this:

19 Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before him: 20 because if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God; 22 and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.'    (1 Jn.3.19ff)

          The point of all this is that if you want God to hear you then pay attention to your conscience, because if your conscience is condemning you, you do not have any confidence at all and therefore no faith, because God is showing you where your problems are, and until you deal with them, you might as well go fishing, because God will not hear you; as James says, you are double-minded and let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord.

More will be added...

Amen

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