April 21, 2011
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Praying From Faith, Not From Fear
Recently a friend of mine had a big accident before a big meeting. Despite the accident, my friend said he was fine… that is until a friend of his prayed for him. It was when his friend prayed this prayer, “God, I pray he won’t feel discouraged by this accident…” that my friend suddenly felt discouragement over himself. It was like his friend had planted the discouragement over him when he brought it up in prayer.
His friend’s prayer was an example of praying from fear. I’ve heard many other people pray prayers like this… “God, I pray this person won’t feel fear about speaking in front of everyone” or “God, I pray this person won’t feel stress about all his work.” Think about how much those prayers are rooted in fear. And think about how they plant wrong thoughts that don’t need to be there. Anyone who would say things to another person like, “I hope you don’t feel stupid” or “I hope you don’t feel ugly” will immediately plant thoughts into the other person of, “Should I feel stupid?” or “Should I feel ugly?” If we pray out of fear, or out of doubt, we are only aiding the enemy.
We are called to pray from faith, not from fear. So if we feel someone might feel discouragement (but we aren’t sure), then we should pray, “God, I declare that this person is filled with faith and can do all things because you are with him. I declare your joy being his strength.” If we feel someone might be struggling with fear (but again aren’t sure), then a good way to pray is, “God, I declare this person is filled with your Spirit and is more than a conqueror. I declare your perfect love covers her. She is secure and safe under the shadow of your wings.” Notice how those prayers point the person to faith rather than to self analyzing?
It’s only if we know the person is struggling with someone that we address it in prayer. So if someone says, “I am feeling discouraged” then all we need to do is pray, “God, I reject the discouragement over this person and declare…” and go right back to the prayers of faith. The enemy needs no more recognition than that. If we focus on the negative too much then the negative will only grow stronger in our mind. We need to focus on faith and on the promises and truth of God, both in our thoughts and in our words.
Pray from faith, not from fear!
