The Faith That Takes

Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. MARK 11:24

The middle lessons of With Christ in the School of Prayer are the boldest things Murray ever wrote. They carry titles such as The Certainty of the Answer to Prayer, Prayer Must Be Definite, The Faith That Takes, The Secret of Believing Prayer and The Power of Persevering Prayer. Together they set out what he believed about the prayer of faith: that it is definite, that it rests on God’s word, that it receives before it sees, and that it does not give up. They have strengthened the prayers of many and troubled the consciences of some, and both effects deserve attention.

Say what you want

Murray’s lesson on definite prayer takes the story of blind Bartimaeus. The man had been crying out for mercy, loudly and often. Jesus knew perfectly well what he needed. And yet He stopped and asked him: What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?

And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. MARK 10:51

Why ask? Murray’s answer is wise. Not because Christ does not understand our cry, but for our sake. “Our prayers must not be a vague appeal to His mercy, an indefinite cry for blessing, but the distinct expression of definite need.” Definite prayer searches us. It makes us find out what we really need, test whether our desires are honest, judge them by God’s word, and watch for the answer when it comes.

Murray noticed how vague most prayer is. People pray for deliverance from sin without naming any sin. They pray for revival without any particular place where they are looking for it. They pray for God to bless others without knowing what blessing they are asking. Such prayers can hardly be answered in any way that would be recognised.

Believe that ye receive

The lesson titled The Faith That Takes is built on Mark 11:24. Murray begins by marvelling at the size of the promise: all things whatsoever. He will not let reason cut it down to what seems safe. Faith, he says, is not a mere conclusion drawn from premises. It is the ear that has heard God say what He will do. And so, in his phrase, “faith is the pledge and forerunner of the coming answer.”

Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. MARK 9:23

The distinctive thing in this teaching is the tense. Jesus says, believe that ye receive — or in the older reading Murray used, believe that ye have received. Faith takes the answer from God’s hand before it is seen. It thanks Him for what He has promised as though it were already done, and then waits for it to appear.

The secret: knowing His will

Here a reader must pay close attention, because Murray is often misrepresented at this point, sometimes by his admirers. He strongly resisted the habit of adding if it be Thy will to every prayer as a way of weakening Christ’s promise. But he did not teach that faith can make God do whatever we choose. In the same lesson he writes: “Ere we can believe we must find out and know what God’s will is.” Believing is the act of a soul surrendered to the Word and the Spirit. The prayer of faith is not a lever for our wishes; it is the confident taking of what God has shown us He wills to give.

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. 1 JOHN 5:14–15

This is the key to the whole teaching. Where God has plainly promised — forgiveness, the gift of the Spirit, wisdom, grace to endure, the spread of His kingdom — faith may take boldly and give thanks before it sees. Where God has not made His particular will known, faith seeks it humbly, and may well pray as Christ prayed in the garden.

Do not faint

What if the answer does not come? Murray’s lesson on persevering prayer admits that this is one of the great mysteries of the prayer life. Why should a God who loves to bless need to be asked again and again, sometimes for years? He warned against the easy retreat that looks like piety: deciding that God must have secret reasons and ceasing to pray.

And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint. LUKE 18:1

He used two images. Water must sometimes gather behind a dam before it comes down in force; so prayer may need to accumulate until the measure is full. And a ploughman must take ten thousand steps and sow ten thousand seeds before the harvest; so each persevering prayer is part of the preparation for the answer. Not one is lost.

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. GALATIANS 6:9

The book closes with a study of George Müller of Bristol, who for half a century had asked God alone for the needs of his orphan houses, and in whom Murray saw the lessons of the whole book drawn together: definite petitions, grounded in the Word, sought for the glory of God alone, and held with unwavering trust.

Where care is needed

Murray’s boldness is a gift, and the church needs it. But these lessons, read without their balancing lines, have hurt people. A believer who prays for a sick child, believes that he has received, and then watches the child die, may conclude that his faith was defective and his loss his own fault. That conclusion is false and cruel. Jesus believed perfectly and still prayed, not as I will. Paul prayed in faith and was told that grace would be sufficient instead. Faith rests on God, not on our certainty about an outcome He has not promised. When Murray says that true faith cannot be disappointed, the deepest truth in that sentence is that God never fails those who trust Him — even when He answers otherwise than they asked.

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Take one vague prayer you often pray and make it definite. Write down exactly what you are asking God to do.

2. Find one promise in Scripture that clearly applies to you, and pray it with thanksgiving as though already received.

3. Name something you have stopped praying for through discouragement. Take it up again this week.

4. Before praying about a matter on which God has not made His will plain, ask Him first to show you His will.

5. If you have ever blamed your faith for an answer that did not come, bring that grief to God and lay the blame down.

A PRAYER

Lord Jesus, You asked the blind man what he wanted, and You ask me too. Teach me to pray plainly and definitely.

Where You have promised, give me faith to take what You have given and to thank You before I see it.

Where I do not know Your will, make me humble enough to seek it and ready to say, not as I will, but as You will.

And when the answer tarries, keep me from fainting. Let me pray on until the measure is full. Amen.