Prayer by Faith

I just started reading "Why Revival Tarries" by Leonard Ravenhill. I thought it was interesting and important how the author mentions prayer in the first few chapters of the book. So today, I asked God what it means to "pray by faith".

First, He told me to hold out my hand in front of me, and keep my eyes closed. He told me to see my hand with the eyes of my heart. Even though I could not see my hand with my physical eyes, I knew that my hand was right in front of me.

God asked me why I knew my hand was right in front of me. I replied that because I had willed it to go there, and I knew that I had the strength in my arm to bring it there. "Those are the key words," He noted, "Will and Strength".

To pray is to ask to know the will of the Lord. When we pray knowing the Will of the Lord, we pray with confidence that He who wills it will also bring it to pass. We also pray because we have confidence that He has to Strength to bring it to pass. Our prayer is an expression of our trust in His Will and His Strength.

We do not see the fulfilment of the prayer with our physical eyes, yet God wants to teach us to see it with the eyes of our heart. With confidence, we know that it is fulfilled, just as I was confident that my hand was in front of me. This faith is important, because without faith, it is impossible to please God.

How to do know if something is the will of the Lord? Put it on the altar, and ask the Lord to burn away anything that is not of Him. He will reveal to you what remains, and if He does not reveal, He will show us what we need to learn or overcome in order to see it with our heart.