Are You a Thermostat or a Thermometer?

What if we could have more confidence in prayer? What if we could pray with greater confidence and really see things change, rather than just praying with little expectation like too many of have a habit of doing, would you and I pray more or pray less? My belief is we would love to pray with confidence, except much of our praying seems more like wishful thinking than confidence.

I recently read a great book by Brother Andrew on how we need to realize how powerful prayer can be if we only understand that God wants to answer our prayers. It challenged me to reconsider my prayers and whether I expect change or just wish for change through my prayers. How do we become more committed to believing God will answer us if we pray with real confidence. Praying with an attitude of biblical faith, rather than wishful hope, is what I am after and I hope you’re after as well.

As background for those who don’t know who Brother Andrew is, he was one of the most successful leaders in the body of Christ in the last 60 years, who took bibles into communist countries when it was under the penalty of death if caught. Brother Andrew believed God will move on our behalf if we move in faith and prayer, with action, in order to advance the kingdom of God. He raised teams of people all over the world to do what he was doing. I was one who was inspired to do a little of what he and others were doing.

In one chapter Brother Andrew asks the question are we a “Thermometer or a Thermostat?” His point is to illustrate that many people just tell the spiritual temperature in the room; but some people, few people, change the spiritual temperature in the room. Using this illustration Brother Andrew speaks about the kind of prayer that changes things both in the spirit and in the natural. How people need to see they can alter what is going on in their own life and stop the enemy’s intent and activities. Can our lives be different if we ask God in prayer with real faith and not just wishful whining? Powerful things would happen, like they did in scripture.

When Jesus taught on prayer he taught his disciples on how to have “EFFECTIVE” prayer, not just praying wishful thoughts with little to no expectation that Father God would change anything for us and others. Jesus taught about having a “Powerful Prayer Expectation” that motivates us not to give up so easily when things don’t change, but to press through the hindrances we face. Jesus taught that persistence in prayer is the only kind of prayer that prevails with God.

Matthew 7:7-8

“Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks.”

Many of us know that prayer is important to our spiritual lives, but how many of us really believe prayer changes things? We pray because we are called to pray. We pray because it’s part of our faith in God, but do we really believe or do we have a haphazard way of confessing our desire which our hearts don’t really believe?

Life experiences teach us what is possible and what to believe in. Unfortunately, they often teach us the wrong things. If we try something and it doesn’t work the first time we give up on trying again. Like riding a bike when you are young. If we fall and skin our knees some of us just quit and refuse to try again because of the pain. What if we are encouraged by our parents to get back on the bike and go for it. Wouldn’t most kids get back up and try again? The ability to overcome our obstacles, let alone our fear and pain, comes when our mindset changes because of someone’s encouragement. If all we only have doubters and naysayers around us we gain the same attitude of “I Can’t” rather than “I Can“.

Prayer is no different than riding a bike. Sometimes we fall off and skin our knee and sometimes we ride without hands screaming with joy. Not everything we pray for in prayer ends up like we hoped. But, if we keep praying and learn from those who know how to pray well, we soon learn the value of prayer and the power of overcoming prayer.

Here are three important keys to prayer that Brother Andrew writes about that can change the success rate in our prayer life.

1) Humility moves the heart of God. Scripture says very clearly in the book of James that humility paves the way for favor with God, yet we so often pray without checking our humility level. Humility is not something we arrive at, but something we need to work at and maintain. More often than not our humility is wanting and so our success rate is impaired.

2) Persistence develops your skill and endurance. We develop persistence when we push through pain and discouragement. The younger generation today believes pain is bad and should be avoided at all cost, or screamed at in protest. Without learning when pain is a good thing we are bound to fail more times than not, and finally fail at just about everything, including prayer.

3) Expectation elevates your faith to believe. How does one grow in expectation? Not by pretending, but by embracing what the word of God says rather than by what our feelings or friends say. If we don’t read the word of God much we have very little reinforcement to overcome discouragement whether in small things or big things. The promises of God must be embraced and then stood on if we hope to gain a better expectation level than what we currently have.

Finally, prayer becomes successful in greater degrees when we take our coaching from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit knows how we should pray and when we should pray. Too often we look at circumstance rather than to the Holy Spirit. “He Is The Key” to overcoming prayer, and so he should be our active counselor. Not the world, or even other believers who struggle with faith in the power of God. Look at what Jesus said about how much the Lord wants to answer our prayer if only we would trust him and his heart through the Holy Spirit.

Luke 11:13

“If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

If we believe God is good, and wants us to learn how to pray well and become successful then we must press in and not give up. We must believe we can become “Thermostats” in the spirit and not just thermometers.

Will you press in today?

Questions:

1) If you were to grade your faith in your prayer life what grade would you give yourself? If you gave yourself a low grade will you trust the Holy Spirit to counsel you to have greater faith?

2) How much expectation and faith do you think you need to move the heart of God? Jesus said faith like a “Mustard Seed” is enough to make the difference. Will you believe for that much faith and pray with expectation?

Wanting to grow in expectation for greater prayer!

Pastor Dale