2 Chron 7:12-14, Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 
We are using a framework adapted from The Battle Plan for Prayer Bible Study Curriculum, developed by Stephen and Alex Kendrick. We are looking at several practical elements of prayer as the means of the spiritual growth of the Lord’s Church on earth today. 
	Our last consideration of prayer deals with the following question: What does it look like when we are praying in faith? That is the concern before us this morning in our conclusion of this vital study of the practical application of effective prayer. Do we really believe that God will answer our prayers, or do we just give voice to things that we hope will happen in the future? Do we actually just treat prayer as if it were a wish list or a bucket list of those things that we hope God will accomplish before we die?
	We have the rich promise set before us by the Apostle Paul in Eph 3:8-12 in which he detailed the glorious plan of God in Jesus Christ. Please open to it and stand as we read it together.. Eph 3:8-12, To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things; in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. Amen. You may be seated.
	This boldness of access to the very throne of God means that we have no guilt about coming before Him. We have no doubt that He will hear and that He will answer because we come in the faith that we have in His Only Begotten Son. 
    	It is Jesus, Himself, in Matt 21:21+22, Who so tells us that we will receive those things that we ask of the Father, if we do so in faith in Him. 
Matt 21:21+22, And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it shall happen. "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive." 
	As well, Brother James details that we must ask in the bedrock assurance of the Lord’s response in James 1:6-8, as opposed to those who doubt. James 1:6-8, But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. 
	Let me interject a word of caution on this matter that we best keep in our hearts. We are still dealing with the truth that we need to pray after the will of God. We do not pray with the idea that if we believe hard enough and long enough God will have to give us what we want. That is trying to manipulate God and that is something that we dare never attempt! God will not abide nor will He respond positively because of our trying to handle Him. We must always pray in submission to His will being the very basis of each of our prayers. 
	In that truth, with hearts that earnestly desire to express our faith in God, when we pray, we must begin with thanksgiving unto God. We know this from Phil 4:6+7, in that tremendous passage which details the full truth that we are to be anxious, for nothing. We are not to be worried or stressed but rather thanking the Lord for Who He is and for all that He has done. We recount before Him and unto Him the gratitude that fills our beings for His so great and benevolent love to us. Phil 4:6+7, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 
	We pray with faith as we recount those things that God has already done and accomplished in our lives and in the lives of those whom we have lifted before Him. We remind ourselves of God’s ceaseless faithfulness in the past and His continued promise to be faithful all the days of our lives.
	 Let us ever keep in mind what it meant for us to be enabled to pray, always bringing to the forefront of our thanksgiving the truth of what Jesus went through on our behalf to open the doors of heaven to our prayers. The Writer to the Hebrews triumphantly declares this in Heb 4:14-16. Heb 4:14-16, Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. 
	Our prayers can proceed firmly rooted in the magnificent and victorious work of Christ as our faith in Him transports those prayers on our behalf. We can have faith in Him and in what He accomplished, so we can have faith in what God has already done.
	The second reality of this faith embedded prayer life is our constantly bringing to mind the truth that He is our Loving Heavenly Father. As detailed by our Brother Jesus in Matt 7, verses 7-11, if you would please turn to it, we do not need to fear coming unto Him. He wants to answer our prayers as we lay our needs before Him. 
Matt 7:7-11, "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. "Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone? "Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! 
	We can trust Him that He is willing to meet our requests with only the best that He has to offer. We can also count on Him to do so in the perfect manner in His supremely perfect time. He wants to show us how much He loves us to the utmost, now and forever more.
	That leads us to the third recognition that details how we can come to Him in faith as we pray. God loves us and He cares about us. He cares so much that He even helps us to His fullness in the course of how we ought to pray. Please open to Eph 3:14-21, and follow along in this glorious passage which shows how much God wants us to know and to trust Him and to have faith that He will do all that He has promised to do in Jesus Christ. 
	Eph 3:14-21, For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. 
	As this passage points out, the fourth truth of why we can have faith in the Lord answering our prayers is that He can answer them. He is not limited in His power and His wealth of grace and mercy and love. He is able. Nothing is too difficult for God, Nothing! Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
	The next point in this building of the reasons that we can have faith in the reality and knowledge that God hears and answers our prayers is that He knows what is going on in our lives and in the lives of our loved ones. He is Omniscient. He is aware of the needs before we even ask. Jesus pointed out in Matt 6:7+8 that Our Heavenly Father knows us and He knows what our every situation requires. 
Matt 6:7+8, "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. "Therefore do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him. 
	Later in verses 31-33 of this same 6th chapter of Matthew, Jesus reinforced this truth with the disciples in the following manner.  Matt 6:31-33, "Do not be anxious then, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?' "For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you. 
 	In all truth, God often answers our prayers before we even bring them unto Him, as the Prophet Isaiah so fully declared in Is 65:24, from the very mouth of God, Himself. Isa 65:24, "It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. That, in itself, is enough reason to rely on the faithfulness of God in answering our prayers, even before we know that we have the need to pray.
	The truth is that often God will answer a prayer request years before we utter it. As but one example from scripture, of which there are countless, consider the servant of Abraham as he was going to find a wife for Isaac. He prayed that the Lord would show Him exactly the right wife for his master’s son. The truth, however, was that God had been preparing Rebekah for many, many years before that prayer was even uttered. God had worked in her to the point that she was ready and willing to become the wife of Isaac. Then, as the servant prayed for the one who would offer water for both him and his camels, Rebekah responded with that heart of care and concern and service. This was not a whim on her part but the manner in which the Lord had worked in her heart for this precise moment through all the years of her upbringing.
	God is way ahead of us and our needs. He prepares hearts to be ready at the precise time that help and encouragement and strength and service are required. In line with this is the reality that we are not to lose faith in the timing of the Lord’s answer to our prayers. So often, if He chooses not to answer immediately, we will get impatient and even frustrated. We will accuse Him of not caring or not really being interested in what we are going through. The fact is that we need to learn to wait upon the Lord since He is already even answering those prayers that are yet to be uttered. We dare not think that He is late in His answers or slack in His response in any measure. Our having to wait is part of the manner in which He builds up our character and our depth of understanding of Who He is and all that He has done. 
	Again, the Prophet Isaiah so wonderfully makes known the value of our faithfully waiting upon the Lord for His time and for His will in response to our prayers in Isa 40:30+31, one of our most beloved verses of scripture. Isa 40:30+31, Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. 
	When we need to wait for the Lord, we need to do so with the prayer of faith that requests of the Lord to “teach me to wait and to trust You in the waiting that you are shaping and molding and developing my character because You are really more interested in my character than in my comfort.” We need to learn what it means to wait on the Lord, and that is where we will pick up this discussion, Lord willing, next week. So be it!
Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Ps 3:8. Salvation belongs to the Lord; Thy blessing be upon Thy people! Selah. Amen.