No. 1, Part Two: The Prayer of Faith; Prayer as Declaration"

We need constantly to be reminded that faith is the one inseparable condition of successful praying. There are other considerations entering into the exercise, but faith is the final, the one indispensable condition of true praying. As it is written: "Without faith, it is impossible to please Him."

Faith must assert itself and bid the foes to prayer depart. Ask God for more faith. Ask Him morning, noon and night, while you walk by the way, while you sit in the house, when you lie down and when you rise up; ask Him simply to impress Divine things more deeply on your heart, to give you more and more of the substance of things hoped for and of the evidence of things not seen.

May faith be yours in increasing measure. One way we see such faith exhibited in the Lord’s model prayer, the Lord’s Prayer. It was taught by Jesus to his disciples. It provided the golden key to the power-house of God. Learning to pray was the one, the only, secret they needed to know to carry the ministry after Jesus' death.

The Lord's Prayer is a prayer of faith that can be said in one quarter of a minute, just fifteen seconds.. The power comes, not in the saying,of the prayer, but in the praying of the prayer from one’s own heart.

Charles Allen, author of 'God's Psychiatry" says, "Praying is not saying words. Words merely form the frame on which the temple of thought is built. The power of the Lord's Prayer is not in the words, but rather in the pattern of thinking in which our minds are formed. When our thoughts begin to flow in the channels of the Lord's Prayer our minds do become new, and we are transformed."

What amazing confidence did our Lord have in us! C. F. Andrews reminds us of an old legend that tells us that when Jesus returned to heaven He was asked by an angel:

"What have you left behind to carry out the work?"

Jesus answered: "A little band of men and women who love me."

"But what if they fail when the trial comes? Will all you have done be defeated?"

"Yes," said Jesus, "if they fail, all I have done will be defeated."

"Is there nothing more?"

"No," said Jesus, "there is nothing more."

'What then?"

Jesus quietly replied "They will not fail."

With a confidence like that, when we face tomorrow, we can triumphantly declare: "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen." 

When we pray the Lord's prayer with meaning, we see the complete victory of God in our own lives and our world. We are declaring God’s thoughts for all the world to hear. We are calling it into existence. It is a prayer of declaration!