The Principles of Prayer XXII

 If all one ever has is declarative faith in God, they are no better off than the demons. Not only do the demons believe that there is one God, they go one step further and tremble, understanding more about His authority than most superficial believers do, and acknowledging His sovereignty over all things. It’s a heady thing to realize, yet it is nevertheless true.

James 2:19, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe – and tremble!”

When we walk by faith, having full assurance in His guiding hand, and possessing complete trust that He will lead us to green pastures and beside still waters, we have gone beyond a declarative faith, into the domain of experiential faith wherein we act upon that which we believe, and not merely declaring that we believe it.

Making a statement regarding a certain thing and following through with action, proving that they were more than words, are two different things. Some time ago, there was a popular song that got so much airplay that you couldn’t escape it. Whether it's the grocery store, your local coffee shop, or cars passing by, on any given day, you were likely to hear a crooner insist that he believes he can fly. Oddly enough, he never acted on the sentiment, even though he sang it often enough. If he had, we’d know, because his falling off a building while attempting to take flight would have likely made the news.

Men can claim they believe, but their lives tell another tale. Saying it is often easy. Doing it is less so, because it involves the mortification of the flesh, and the denial of oneself in order to walk in faith.

Praying in faith isn’t crying out to God, not really expecting anything to happen, and being uncertain as to whether God hears you. Sure, if your prayer is answered, it will be a pleasant surprise, but it was one of many avenues you pursued in hoping to resolve your situation. You threw a bunch of stuff against a wall and waited to see what stuck.

God is not a last resort. He is not who we run to after we’ve exhausted all other options. For those who possess active, experiential faith, He is the first and only one we run to because we know that none other can do what He can.

The idea that we can keep God in a box, out of sight and out of mind, until our hubris leads us to an untenable position, and only then bother to let Him out and expect Him to fix what we broke, isn’t what faith or the Christian walk are about.

I am the captain of my ship, I’m in the driver’s seat, I am piloting this craft, and no one can tell me any different! That is the attitude of many people today, and only when they find themselves nosediving toward a rock cliff do they relent and give up control because they see themselves as having no other options. Love of God, submission, obedience, or faithfulness never entered the equation. They just need a Mr. Fix-it, and not only are they surprised but grow outright bitter when the God to whom they haven’t spoken in a decade isn’t quick to put the broken pieces of their life back together, even though their rebellion and disobedience were the cause of it in the first place.

Prayer is the means by which we foster, nurture, maintain, and grow our relationship with God. An individual without a prayer life, or one whose prayer life is sporadic, and who only approaches God when they have need of something, isn’t interested in a relationship but in exploiting and manipulating God to serve their ends.

I traveled with my grandfather for ten years. I was his interpreter, and whenever we were on the road, we would share a room. More often than not, whenever I would wake up at random hours of the night, I’d find him kneeling by the side of his bed in prayer. These weren’t five-minute prayers, or something so habitual as to become ordinary, but oftentimes for hours on end, he would kneel by his bedside, and have fellowship with God.

It wasn’t because he had a need or was in some existential crisis, but because the desire of his heart was to have communion with God and be in fellowship with Him. No one demanded this of him, no one was watching, no one was keeping track of how many hours he prayed. There was no competition, he wasn’t trying to make the leader board, and there was no prize for most hours prayed in a given month; it was what gave him joy and peace. It was what satisfied the soul, and even when his body was wracked with pain, and he could barely move, it was the one thing he did consistently and without fail.

I’ve heard some people insist that God wakes them up at odd hours of the night to pray. Personally, I believe that is a misnomer. It’s not so much that God woke them up to pray; it’s that upon waking, their singular desire was to be in His presence and dialogue with Him. Yes, there are times when we get an urging to pray for a specific individual, or a specific situation, but those who are consistent in coming before God before they do anything else on a given morning are doing so not because they were compelled but because it is their true desire.

Do you hunger for God? Do you hunger for His presence? Does He have the place of prominence in your hierarchy of needs wherein everything else pales in comparison to spending time in His presence? These are questions only you can answer for yourself, but know that regardless of where you are in your spiritual walk, the more you desire God, the more of Himself He will reveal to you. He will not force you into fellowship. He will not twist your arm to spend time with Him. It is something voluntary, and must be done with purity of heart, without vested interest or hidden agendas. God sees the truth of it, for all is laid bare before Him.  

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Posted on 10 May 2025 | 11:48 am