THE PRAYER OF FAITH

THE PRAYER OF FAITH

WE ARE combating demons and disease with the Word. The Word is the sword of the recreated spirit. That Word can slay disease, and that Word can heal the sick. The man who walks by faith in the Word requires no evidence of the senses. He has proof that the thing he is praying for has come. You understand that there are two kinds of faith: Sense Knowledge faith that demands physical evidence to satisfy the senses before he can see that he is healed or that he has the thing for which he prayed; and the other kind of faith that depends upon the Word alone.
He finds a passage that covers his need and he makes that his own. Prayer based upon the Word rises above the Senses and contacts the Author of the Word. 2 Corinthians 10:3-7 is a vital scripture: “For although living in the flesh (or senses), my warfare is not waged according to the flesh (or senses). For the weapons which I wield are not fleshly weakness but mighty in the strength of God to overthrow the strongholds of the adversary” (Conybeare).
The Word Versus Sense Knowledge
The mightiest enemy of the prayer life is Sense Knowledge. And the weapon that we use against Sense is the Word of God. It is the Word of the recreated spirit.
Ephesians 6:17 tells us how we overthrow reasoning of the disputer and we pull down all the lofty bulwarks. “And take the helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” We show the world that we are absolutely masters in Christ.
We have never as a church realized the authority and might of the Word.
This Pauline Revelation takes the place of the absent Christ and we act upon the Word as Jesus acted upon the Word of His Father. Jesus used the Father's words to defeat the adversary, to heal the sick, to raise the dead, and to feed the multitudes. We use the Word of God to defeat the enemy. When we approach the Throne we come with our mouths filled with His Word. Then when we go before the world we make our public confession. We cast down reason based on the senses. The senses have evidence of fever, pain, and cancer. These things exalt themselves against the Word of God. As though the cancer spoke, it says: “You cannot unseat me. I have authority over this body. I am holding this one captive. I have filled his heart with fear, and his mouth with a confession of my strength and my ability to slay him.” (Read Ephesians 6:10-18 carefully.)
Now you bring the Living Word of God to combat the reasonings of the Senses. You are not swayed by the things you see- an empty purse, a weak body, or a lack of work. You must never think of your combat as against the thing that you can see or hear or feel. Your combat is with the prince of the power of the air that rules people's feelings and fills them with fear. You are a master. When want faces you, you read Psalm 23:1-3, “Jehovah is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures and He leadeth me beside the waters of gentle stillness.”
You see, I am by the waters of plenty. There is no need that He cannot supply. You say it over and over again, “The Lord is my Shepherd-my Bread-Provider, my Rent-Payer.”
The world's lord may lead one into want, into pain and heartache; but my Lord leads into green pastures. Isaiah 41:10, “Fear thou not for I am with thee; be not dismayed for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; I will uphold thee with the right hand of My Righteousness.” Go over that carefully. “Fear thou not for I am with thee.” He is with you-the Creator of the Universe, the Master Who conquered the storm. Who is in you? The great, mighty Spirit Who raised Jesus from the dead.
Don't you know John 15:5, “I am the Vine and ye are the branches”? Don't you realize that you are the fruit-bearing part of Christ today? Hear Him whisper, “I am thy God.”
That settles it. He opened the Red Sea (Exodus 12). He held the Jordan back by the word of His power. He sent His beloved Son here in the form of a babe to grow up so that He would be tempted in every point like as we are that He might learn the awful lessons that the bride, or the church, has to learn. And He said, “Lo, I am with you always”; and, “All authority has been given unto Me” (Matthew 28:18-19).
“I am backing you to the limit.”
The Authority of the Name
John 14:13-14, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My Name, that will I do.” You remember, this is not prayer; but here Jesus is giving you a legal right to use His Name to cast out demons, to heal the sick, to meet the forces of darkness in every field and to meet them as a conqueror. That is beautiful. John 16:23-24, “In that day ye shall not pray to Me, but verily, verily I say unto you, if ye shall ask anything of the Father, He will give it you in My Name. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My Name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full.” This is the ground for prayer. There is no power this side of Hell that can withstand it. You have a legal approach to God. You have a legal ground for prayer. Prayer is not based upon sufferance or pity but upon the Word of God.
He has said that “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My Name, He will give it.”
This is the legal power of attorney. Several times Jesus said, “In My Name.” He has given us the right to use that Name against the forces of darkness and that Name is identical with Himself. That Name has the same power that was in Christ in His earth walk. In Mark 16:17-20, “And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in My Name they shall cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.”
So after the Lord Jesus had spoken these words to them, “they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word with signs following.”
Now you can see that no demons or disease can stand against the Word. You give out the Word in your lips. Remember, it is the Word in your lips that heals and saves. It is the Word in your lips when you speak to the Father that gives you the answer to your petition. It is the Name in your lips that casts out demons, that breaks the power of Satan, that sets the captive free, that gives you a standing in the Father's presence. Never forget that.
Freedom in Christ
In Hebrews 4:14-16 and 10:19, He asks us to come boldly unto the Throne of Grace. He asks you to visit Him, to fellowship with Him. There is no ground for sin or sin-consciousness because you have become the very righteousness of God in Christ. Let that be a basic thing in your mind. Say it over and over again: “I am the Righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). I have a legal right to stand in the Father's presence with the same liberty and freedom that Jesus had. I am now maintaining my confession before the world that I am what He says I am in the Word.” “Beloved, now are we the sons of God” (1 John 3:1) .
“I am a son of God. `There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus' (Romans 8:1). I am free. I can stand in the Father's presence just as Jesus did. I don't have to die to get my liberty. I have it now. Cancers can't resist the Word in the lips of faith.” Your lips are the lips of faith. Tuberculosis can't resist the Word. It must yield. It is of the devil, and you are a master of demons and their works. Psalm 107:20, “He sent His Word and healed them.”
That Word was Jesus. Then that Word was given to us by Revelation and we have it in the New Testament. That Word is in your heart and lips. Romans 10:8-11. You want to remember this: “The Word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart: that is the Word of Faith which we preach.” And then He tells a man that if he confesses the Lordship of Jesus and believes in his heart that God raised Him from the dead, he is saved. And in the eleventh verse, “For the scripture saith: Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.” You have it. You are a master. You are absolutely an overcomer.
That makes men masters where they served as slaves. We are taking Jesus' place and acting for Him. Your renewed mind must agree with your spirit and the Word. Remember Romans 12:1-2. Your mind will be ruled by Sense Knowledge. Your spirit will repudiate it. The Word repudiates it. Come, take your place and stand your ground, that you are what Jesus says you are.
The Law of Faith
Mark 11:23, 24, “Verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea: and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” That is the law of faith. He was giving it to the Jews that could not understand it any more than the modern Christian can. But you can. Your faith requires no evidence but the Word, requires no proof from the senses. Faith is blind to all but the Word.
It rises above the realm of the senses. It has its own way, its own weapons, its own ground for assurance. It is the Word. 2 Corinthians 5:7, “For we walk by faith and not by sight (or senses).” The believer is a believer. He is not a doubter. It is the most natural thing in the world for him to act on the Word and to take his place as a son or daughter when he knows his place. He does not walk according to the senses; for the testimony of the senses cannot be trusted, but the Word can be. The believer has a legal right to the use of the Word. He has a legal right to the use of the Name. He has a legal right as a child in the Father's family to take his place and to take his rights.
The only thing that he asks is, “Does the Word say that?” Yes. “Well, that ends it.”
“Can the Word be trusted?” Yes, as fully as God himself can be trusted. The man of faith is like the Master. He is continually confessing before the world what he is in Christ and the integrity of the Living Word. He fearlessly faces the impossible as a conqueror. He knows that his resources are all in God. 2 Corinthians 2:14 is the Father's message to his heart: “But thanks be unto God Who leads me on from place to place in the train of His triumph” (Conybeare). We share His victories over the enemies of Christ, and by us He sends forth the knowledge of Himself, a steam of fragrance throughout the world, for Christ is the fragrance which we offer up to God in our prayer life, in our faith walk.
James 5:14-16 says, “The prayer of faith shall save him that is sick and the Lord shall raise him up.”
And, “the supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working.” We have been made righteous, so we are the righteous ones that walk by faith. Hebrews 10:38, “My righteous one shall live by faith, and if he draw back My soul shall have no pleasure in him.” That is, if he draws back from the faith life to the Sense Life, from the Word to feelings, he brings no joy to the Father. You are righteous and you are walking according to the Word. You are walking in the realm of the Word. The Word has become one with you and you have become one with the Word. John 15:7, “If ye abide in Me and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done for you (or brought into being). Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be My disciples.”
What kind of fruit?
Why, the fruit that Jesus bore in His earth walk. You are going to take Jesus' place in His absence. You are going to act as He acted, speak as He spoke, do as He did.
The world is going to be conscious that He is in you. You are another Jesus man or woman. You are not struggling to be righteous, you are not struggling to have faith. You have faith; you have the Word, and faith comes by the Word. The unsaved man may have to struggle to get faith, but you do not. All you have to do is to act upon what He has said. Your faith can only grow as you act upon the Word. Every time you act on the Word, something enters into your spirit that increases your assurance. Every time that you fail to act on the Word, you lose.
You stand in the presence of someone that is sick and you know that they want you to pray for them. You fearlessly do it no matter who is with you or what your surroundings may be. You act on the Word. God honors you and backs up the Word. You do not need faith for the things that are possible to the senses. Faith is needed only for the impossible, and you dare to act on the Word as though the impossible had become a possibility . . . a reality. Jeremiah 1:12, “I watch over My Word to perform it.” And Luke 1:37, “No Word from God is void of power.” Act on these fearlessly, and God will unveil Himself to your spirit.
PRAYER OF FAITH
James 5:16-17, Mk 11:22-23, James 2:19-20

This prayer involves making request to God and making decrees to circumstances for them to line up with God's word.
The just shall live by Faith.
Without Faith its impossible to please God - Heb 11:6
Faith says I have it, though I may not see it physically yet. Now act as such...
Principles of the prayer of faith
1. Specific Desire, the content of your prayer must be directed towards the specific area of need.
Who
2. See the Unseen 2 Cor 4:18 (the fig tree example, Eph 3:20)
3. Use your evidence (Faith is the title deed that substantiate the future) Heb 11:1
Evidence may come as a) note of victory eg Scripture, Song, inner witness ... The extent of your vision is the boundary of your miracle. Yonggi Cho once said “I am pregnant with a chair, a table and a bicycle”
4. Don't doubt after you pray! Believe that you receive Mk 11:22-23 Dont plant and unplant
5. What you say is what you get. Maintain the right confession Mtt18:18, Rom10:10