“For in Him we live, and move, and have our being… For we are also His offspring” (Acts 17:28, NKJV).
To be effective in the place of prayer, we must know who we are in Christ. This affords us the confidence to approach the throne of God in our righteous standing without a feeling of guilt, shame, or condemnation from sin. This also gives us the assurance that our prayers are answered. As the Apostle John writes, “now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15, NKJV).
Prayer is not trying to twist God's arm to make Him do something. Prayer is receiving by faith what God has already done. Through the knowledge of who we are in Christ, we can pray in confidence.
Without knowing God and His character, the Christian walk will be difficult. God wants to be everything to us. God wants to meet our needs, and indeed, He has already met our every need, but we may be unaware. When we communicate with Him in the place of prayer, we can find out what all belongs to us as sons and then take possession of it.
Faith is primarily a process of identification. During this process the individual ceases to be only himself and becomes part of something eternal. We are being transformed and conformed to the very image of Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18, Romans 8:29). Our desire and conviction then is that whatever Christ is, we also want to be; whatever He can do, we shall also do.
A Christian cannot exercise intelligent faith towards God if he doesn’t know his redemptive realities as shown in God’s Word. He must know that being in Christ affords him great benefits, and also know that Christ being in him (the Christian) demands a great responsibility.
Search out scriptures in the New Testament, especially in the Epistles, that have phrases like: “in Christ”, “in Him”, “by Whom”, “through Whom”.
Read them
Study them
Meditate on them
Confess them daily
Act on them
As you do these, faith will come and you will have confidence in the place of prayer. Remember that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Faith also begins where the will of God is known. His will is His word. We cannot know God apart from His Word. Neither can we pray aright when we pray apart from His will.
Our rights and privileges in Christ are in His Word for us to possess.
In Him we live and move and have our being... Hallelujah!!!
Find out more about RHEMA Bible School in Poland.
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