PART #23 THE STAFF AND SWORD MINISTRY FEBRUARY 2008

MANIFESTING CHRIST

THE HIDDEN INGREDIENT

by Nancy-TONI Youngbrandt

In recent months, we have received a few letters from individuals who are not seeing theanswers to prayer that they believe they should. Unfortunately, there are no easy answersas to why some Christians receive answers more readily than others, and there are certainlya great many books written on the subect of prayer alone which can show the complexityof the issue. In praying about even writing an article on the subject, I am aware that I canonly scratch the surface in this kind of format, as each situation may be different. However,there are few basic things that I could share upon reflection of my own walk and how prayerhas been answered in my life.

First of all is the realization that all prayer, effective prayer, begins and ends with faiththat comes from God. Faith has to be there to pray to God to begin with and when God givesyou faith, you will receive an answer. As it says in Hebrews 12:2, Jesus is the authorAND finisher of our faith - it begins and comes to completion in Him. It is all too easyfor our self-nature to take credit for choosing to believe on Jesus Christ and to accept Hissalvation and yet even that is actually instigated within by Jesus Christ Himself. Who do youthink it was that gave us the inner awareness of our sin and its effects in our life? It wasChrist, the Spirit of God. It was Christ reaching down and connecting with us on some

unseen level that was the first faith in our life from God. As E.M. Bounds wrote,

"(faith) is the initial quality of the heart of any man who essays to talk to theunseen. He must, out of sheer helplessness, stretch forth hands of faith. He mustbelieve, where he cannot prove."

This begins every Christians walk in Christ as we take those first steps to believe on Him,repent for our sins and give our life over to Him ... and this is also when God's faith firstoperated in our lives.

From here, we begin our walk in Christ and usually part of that walk is time spent inprayer - a time of communicating to God, seeking to connect further with Him and Jesus

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Christ. The truth is that the more one prays and seeks after God and Jesus, the more they arethen imbued with faith, and the more faith one has received the more answers to prayer areseen. It is rather a round-about or circular connection: you need faith to pray; then when youpray, faith comes; and with faith comes answers to prayer which then strengthens your faithto pray even more, and so on. For me, one of the ways I would describe faith, in the sense

that I am speaking of here, is that faith is an awareness, knowing or realization withinthat you have made a connection with God and He has touched you hack. Faith is nota feeling; is not being intellectually convinced; it is not even receiving a vision orrevelation. Again, it is more of a knowing, a certainty within you, that God has heard andanswered your prayer.

And while we can see throughout Scripture the importance of faith in receiving answersto prayer, to me there is also another important ingredient which is present but notnecessarily mentioned by name, and that is TRUST. Really trusting in Jesus to do the thingsHe said He would; trusting in Jesus to meet our needs even when no provision seems to bein sight; and trusting in Jesus that He has our best interest at heart and the He knows bestwhat we need, as well as, when, how and if to even answer our particular prayer.

So now we add the hidden ingredient to receiving answers to prayer and we have theseinitial three: FAITH - PRAYER - TRUST. I say "initial" because this is just the beginningbut it is an important foundation upon we can build a truly blessed life in Christ Jesus.

PRAYERSince we've talked a bit on faith already, let's talk some more about prayer. What is

prayer? What does it mean to you?

For some, prayer is rather like tying a message to a bird's leg and then releasing it, hopingthat it will get to Heaven and that God will reply. One hopes that message got there, but youcan never be sure that something didn't happen to that bird and your message along the way.

For others, it might be more like calling up someone on the other side of the world but theconnection is bad and the call is more one way — you can talk and they can hear you at theother end but you can't hear them back. There is static and the line is broken so you just giveyour message and hope they got it and do something about it, but you are unable to hear anyreply they might give.

For others still, they may be closer and the call is made to a loved one but it is still a bitdistant. The connection gets broken up, there are interruptions or the calls are made few andfar between. This relationship can be rather like one where the Father only hears from Hischild when he or she is in trouble or has a special need.

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PRAYER continuedThen there is the actual face-to-face relationship prayers where a truly two-way connection

is made. Here, more than words are exchanged: warmth, love, joy, good times, bad times,tears -- nothing is withheld and a bond is formed. This occurs when prayer, faith, trust andlove become infused and God's Faith energizes the prayer to know it's been answered andresponded to.

To me, prayer is reaching out to God with all your heart. As Madame Guyon wrote,`` Prayer is the outpouring of your heart to Him." By adding that it is your heart that reachesout and not merely your head, you must realize that you must also desire and yearn for thatwhich you are praying or you're not really praying at all.

As a matter of fact, true prayer can move beyond mere words and can be presented in thespirit or heavenly realm as a picture, an idea, or a desire of the heart. Prayer can be distantand perfunctory or it can be personally involving and motivated — it's up to you.

Madame Guyon wrote about prayer this way:

"What is prayer? Prayer is a certain warmth of love. Ah, but more! Prayer is amelting! Prayer is a dissolving and an uplifting of the soul. This warmth of love, thismelting, this dissolving and uplifting causes the soul to ascend to God.

As the soul is melted, sweet fragrances begin to rise from it. These fragrances pourforth from a consuming fire of love ... and that love is in you. It is a consuming fireof love in your inmost being, a fire of love for God.

Now we must ask the central question: How does the soul ascend to God?The soul ascends to God by giving up self; giving it up to the destroying power of

divine love! Yes, giving up to the annihilating power of divine love!This giving up of self is essential, absolutely essential, if you are to plumb,

experience, and continually dwell in the depths of Jesus Christ. It is only by thedestruction and annihilation of self that you can pay homage to the sovereignty ofGod!"

I also like what Francois Fenelon wrote in Talking with God. He wrote:"True prayer is simply another name for the love of God. Its excellence does not

consist in the multitude of our words, for our Father knows what we have need beforewe ask Him. True prayer is that of the heart, and the heart prays only for what itdesires. To pray, then. is to desire or long for, but desire what God would have usdesire. He who asks, but not from the bottom of his heart, is mistaken in thinking heprays. Even though he spends days in reciting prayers in meditation or in forcinghimself in religious exercises, he does not once truly pray if he really does not desireand yearn for the things he pretends to ask."

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PRAYER continuedI would just qualify these statements to say that it is normal to have the occasional day

when we are more "into" what we are praying than other days. Some day we are filled withthat desire and yearning for that which we are praying and others it might be more difficult— that is normal. And while by what Fenelon is saying, one could assume that if you can'tpray with desire and yearning from the bottom of your heart every time you pray, maybe youshouldn't pray... I would say to keep praying anyway. Some days our soul can act like achild who is bored with what it is doing and so it would be easy to give in and not pray. Butit is best for your soul to give into that feeling of boredom or do you set the example andhave it pray anyway to keep up the discipline and ride out this temporary lack ofenthusiasm? I would say the latter — keep up with your discipline, ride out this current lackof enthusiasm and pray anyway for prayer is more than emotion but an act of faith too. Yousee, while faith initially gives birth to prayer in the believer, it also "grows stronger,strikes deeper, rises higher, in the struggles and wrestlings of mighty petitioning."(E.M. Bounds)

FAITHSo now we come back to faith and its connection with prayer. I like what E. M. Bounds

had to say on the subject. We wrote:"Faith is not an abstract belief in the Word of God, nor a mere mental credence, nor

a simple assent of the understanding and will; nor is it a passive acceptance of facts,however sacred or thorough. Faith is an operation of God, a divine illumination, aholy energy implanted by the Word of God and the Spirit in the human soul -spiritual, divine principle which takes of the supernatural and make it a thingapprehendable by the faculties of time and sense.

Faith deals with God, and is conscious of God. It deals with the Lord Jesus Christand sees in him a savior; it deals with God's Word, and lays hold of the truth; it dealswith the Spirit of God, and is energized and inspired by its holy fire. God is the greatobjective of faith; for faith rests its whole weight on his Word. Faith is not an aimlessact of the soul, but a looking to God and resting upon his promises. Just as love andhope have always an objective so, also, has faith. Faith is not believing just anything;it is believing God, resting in him, trusting his Word.

... Faith does not grow disheartened because prayer is not immediately honored; ittakes God at his Word, lets him take what time he chooses in fulfilling his purposes,and in carrying on his work. There is bound to be much delay and long days ofwaiting for true faith, but faith accepts the conditions -- knows there will be delays inanswering prayer, and regards such delays as times of testing, in the which, it isprivileged to show its mettle, and the stern stuff of which it is made."

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FAITH continuedIn Scripture, faith and patience, and perseverance and diligence, all seem to go hand in

hand. In Hebrews 11:6 it says:"But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must

believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligend seek Him. "

Or in Titus 2:2- "... be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. "

And in Hebrews 6:12 - That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through

faith and patience inherit the p romises. "

There is even the example of an Angel being blocked for 21 days when trying to come inanswer to a man's prayers. That man was Daniel, who was in mourning with fasting forthree weeks when he finally had a vision of an Angel. In the Book of Daniel 10:12-13 theAngel explains: "Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart tounderstand, and to chasten thyself before God, thy words were hears, and 1 am come for thy

words. But the p rince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days.."

I share this because it is a good illustration of how there can be various, unseen reasonsfor a lack or delay to the answer of some of our prayers that we are just not privy to until theright time. We are, however, given the opportunity to find out if we truly have faith in Godand His Word and Promises or if we secretly harbor doubt and fear. And, alas, we find out

if we truly trust in Him or not.

TRUSTThis brings us to the "hidden ingredient" of trust in all of this. However, this is not merely

a trust in the Word of God, or even the revelations of God, but a trust in the person of God,the person of Jesus Christ. E.M. Bounds said it best when he wrote:

The background of prayer is trust. The whole issuance of Christ's ministry andwork was dependent on implicit trust of His Father. The center of trust is God.Mountains of difficulties, and all other hindrances to prayer are moved out of the wayby trust and his virile henchman, faith. When trust is perfect and without doubt,prayer is simply the outstretched hand, ready to receive.... Trust looks to receive thething asked for - and gets it. Trust is not a belief that God can bless, that he willbless, but that he does bless, here and now. Trust always operates in the present time.Hope looks to the future. Trust looks to the present. Hope expects. Trust possesses.Trust receives what prayer acquires. So that what prayer needs, at all times, is abidingand abundant trust."

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TRUST continued

To me, trust strengthens faith and faith strengthens trust, and both strengthen prayer.Likewise, the more time spent in prayer and abiding, the more trust is built and deepened,as is faith. These three literally feed and strengthen each other in a beautiful, blessed way.

A great example of this is the story of Abraham and Isaac. In his case, Abraham no doubthad prayed for some time for a son and heir, and when he was up there in years and hadprobably let go of the hope for a son, God promises him a child. It says in Romans 4.13, 17-21 this about Abraham and his faith.

"For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham,or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith ..

(As it is written, I have made thee father of many nations,) before him whom hebelieved, even God, who quickened the dead, and calleth those things which benot as though they were. Who against hope helieveth in hope, that he mightbecome the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken ofnations was spoken, so shall thy seed be.

And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when hewas about an hundred years old, neither the deadness of Sarah s womb: Hestaggered not at the promise of - God through unbelief but was strong in with,

giving the glory to God; And beingfullypersuaded that, what He promised, Hewas able to perform.

This kind of faith and inner "persuasion" does not come without TRUST, and without arelationship upon which that trust is founded and built upon. Abraham's trust in God is evenmore evident later when he obeys God's command to sacrifice his son to Him. Yes,Abraham had faith in God, and the Bible says he had a healthy "fear of God" when he wentto the altar with Isaac, but I also believe the hidden ingredient that enabled Abraham to bewilling to carry out God's command was his deep trust in God. In all his years, Abraham,no doubt, saw God provide for his needs and bless him in many wonderful ways. Then Godmiraculously blessed him and Sarah with a son when it wasn't even a physical possibiIityin worldly terms. And since God so clearly has His hand on them that far, he must havebelieved and trusted that whatever God had in mind, it would be for the best -- even thoughby all appearances that wouldn't seem to be the case. How many of us today would he ableto do what Abraham did at the command of God ? How many of us really trust in Him to theextent that we would sacrifice everything He has given us to do His Will??

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TRUST continuedThere are certainly quite a few Scriptures that remind us and exhort us to trust in Him.

Here are a few examples to ponder in prayer:

Proverbs 3:5 — "Trust in the Lord with all thine hea rt ."

Job 13:15 -- "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him..."

Psalm 28:7 —"The Lord is my strength, and my shield, my hea rt trusted in Him, andI am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praiseHim."

Psalm 40:4 - "Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust,..."

Psalm 37:5 - " Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring itto pass."

Psalm 84:12 - " 0 Lord of Hosts, blessed is the man that trusts in Thee."

Psalm 118:8 - it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man."

Psalm 125:1 - "They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot bemoved, but abideth for ever."

Jeremiah 17:5-7,14 - "Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusted in man,and maketh flesh his arm, and whose hea rt depa rteth from the Lord. For he shallbe like the heath (tract of open wasteland) in the dese rt , and shall not see when goodcometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt and and notinhabited... Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord^s.

TRUST — PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

The wonderful thing about God is His timelessness and His multi-dimensional Spirit for

with God, He is the same in the past, in the present and in the future —to Him all time is one.

And, by His Spirit, there can be many dimensions to His creation and to His truth - each asvalid and important as the rest. The same can be said even of trust. Take for example 2Corinthians 1:9-10 where it says,"But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust inourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so greata death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us;"

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TRUST – PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE continued

Here, we first see that we should not trust in ourselves because that only brings us death,but we rather should trust in God, who raises the dead and in doing so delivers us fromdeath. But if you look closer, God not only delivers us from death in the past tense but inthe present and future tenses as well. In other words, God has delivered us from death in thatHe sent His Son to pay the price for us so ifwe confess our sins and believe on Jesus Christour soul is then saved. But it doesn't stop there. It then says that He "doth deliver" or, inother words, is delivering us as works out His salvation in our soul and mortal flesh. As Paulsaid, "I die daily" — so the work of Christ and that of His salvation working in us is anongoing work as we are daily to be delivered of this body of sin and death.

Then it goes onto say that He will yet deliver us – so there is a deliverance yet to come.This can be seen as the ultimate deliverance from death as when we die physically and goto Heaven. It could also speak of a yet deeper, closer walk with Jesus to where we manifestHim and His Life in our mortal flesh while still alive on this earth as it says in 2 Corinthians4:11: : "For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, thatthe life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh."

1 share these Scriptures because I see the same could be said of trust – we have trusted in

Jesus, we are to be trusting in Him and we are to continue to trust in Jesus in the future. In

order to be a believer of Jesus Christ, we have at one point in time trusted in Him for our

salvation, and that He paid the ultimate price for our sins. In the present tense, we should

be daily looking to Jesus to continue to work His salvation in us, trusting in Him to give us

victory over the power of sin in our daily lives. Likewise, we are to continue to trust in Jesus

with our future as well; Jesus has even greater things in store for us as we grow in

relationship with Him.

Whether in this life or the next, trusting in God and Jesus Christ remains a vital part of

receiving fully of God's deliverance for us, and His answers to prayer. Hopefully, through

this sharing you can begin to see how trust, faith and prayer begin to round out the

foundation upon which our relationship is to be built so that we all may experience the

futness of God's plan for each of us, in every aspect of our lives. As with all things, I urge

you to seek Jesus in prayer in all you do and open your heart so that you may lea rn to trust

Him more and more ... for He is truly trustworthy. z^;t,^s C.^

Note: The quotes of E.M. Bounds were from the book entitled, The Complete Works of

EM. Bounds on Prayer . Published by Baker Books, PO Box 6287

Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287.

www.bakerbooks.com