Important to the mix here is the presence of faith.[1] If we are going to confess God’s Word to Him, through our High Priest, the Lord Jesus, then we must believe that it works.
Let me ask a question. What happens every time when water vapor exits a plant? The answer to that question is that carbon dioxide (CO2) comes in. And this molecule is absolutely vital to its life and growth and to its eventual fruitfulness.
When we confess God’s Word toward God, what do we believe happens? Why CO2, of course. Confession Outcome times two, because God is famous for doing exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or think—listen closely—according to the power that works in us.[2]
Faith believes it receives now, not later—just like the plant. The fruit that results from this kind of faith begins to form but may not be displayed or realized until later. Receiving what it takes to eventually experience that fruit of answered prayer begins the moment we open our mouth to let the Word of God out. As the Word of God makes its way out our mouth, so we must believe we have simultaneously received.[3]
The plant world functions this way day in and day out all season long. For the sake of its very existence, not to mention its harvested results, it depends on this exact process, namely, a simultaneous exchange of water vapor for carbon dioxide.
The spiritual processes of prayer call for nothing different. Faith-based praying includes the dynamic of a simultaneous exchange of proclamations founded on God’s Word toward ultimate results of answered prayer or confession outcomes—CO2. God’s Word goes out our mouth and our faith simultaneously believes it has received.
In the Biblical record of Daniel’s praying and fasting for twenty-one days, we understand that the angel who responded to that prayer was set in motion on the first day Daniel prayed.[4] The angel revealed that it took twenty-one days of spiritual warfare, while Daniel prayed, before he experienced the angel’s arrival.[5]
The first day, the first time we pray, something begins right then. This is all the more reason to have a prayer life and all the more reason to have prayers and declarations laced with God’s Word, which guides and empowers our praying.
Plants do this continually. We, too, are asked to do some things continually.
David had praise continually in his mouth.[6] Where? His mouth.
The writer of Hebrews says we should offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually and then specifies, namely, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.[7]
The psalmist challenges us to say a particular thing continually, “Let the Lord be magnified who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”[8] I challenge you to obey this one at face value. Just say it all day long.
(For those nervous that various theologies with which they are uncomfortable or unfamiliar might be invoked by the reading and saying of certain verses, let me encourage you. For instance, you may not even have a theology relative to prosperity. But when you open your Bible after all the economies in every nation have fallen into the deepest depressions, this verse and its directive will still be there.[9] So, just say it. And if other verses containing words like healing, favor, increase, abundant life, peace, joy, future, power, and protection[10]—things you might lack or might have lost sight of—find their way to your eyes, your heart and your mouth, don’t be amazed at what the Word of God does to your theology, and eventually to your very life.[11])
And the verse right after that one says, “And my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness and of Your praise all the day long.”[12]
Consider, also, the parable Jesus constructed around a persistent widow.[13] She showed up on a continual basis before an unjust judge, making incessant appeal and saying, “Get justice for me from my adversary.” Eventually, the unjust judge responded affirmatively, not on the basis of his desire to impart justice, but simply on the basis of her continual appeal. I cannot bring this paragraph to a close without quoting verbatim what Jesus then said. Feel the incredible encouragement as Jesus declares, “And shall God not also avenge His own elect who cry out to Him day and night, though He bears long with them. I tell you, He will avenge them speedily.”
Our continual coming, not to an unjust judge, but to the God of all justice, defines the kind of faith Jesus hopes to find upon His return.[14] And, because of their persevering ways, plants everywhere are an undeniable model of this attitude which should be possessed by Christians as well.
What we do continually defines faith. What we do day and night defines our faith. Our continual coming before the Lord—not in doubt and unbelief—defines the kind of faith that He wants to see us practicing upon His return.
To make it more personal, will I be found as one who has faith when Jesus returns? Will the same spirit of the persistent widow be the kind of example I am for my generation? Will I take seriously the kind of model plants are to me and display the kind of persevering faith of which they are witness?
A particular practice mandated in the book of Numbers for the priests of the day was to declare specific words over the children of Israel.[15] God said that if the priests would say these words of blessing over the children of Israel, the name of God would be invoked upon them. This blessing has been said over Jewish people for millennia and, in spite of incredible struggle for survival, they have been a people who have made great contribution to the world. And in keeping with the botanical theme of this book, it is interesting that both Old and New Testaments refer to Israel as trees.[16]
Our family has declared these same words over our children and others for many years. But why? Is it just so much liturgy to provide a good feeling? Is it just an effort that, at best, is only religious diversion but is really inconsequential? Are we only deceiving ourselves with such a practice, and in reality, it is artificial and sterile? Is it just a religious placebo?
Those who take this mandate of Numbers 6 at face value are not just asked to practice this proclamation of blessing on others, but we are to believe it. I believe that when I say these words I am, indeed, invoking the name of God right then and there on those to whom I direct such words.
Mentors from whom we learned this practice of proclaiming blessing over others have children and grandchildren in their churches who come to their parents and grandparents daily to ask and receive blessing. This practice trains children to believe that what is said over them comes to pass.
Because the saying of words of blessings over people to invoke the name of God on their behalf has become such a meaningful concern for me, you might then understand why I have this pet peeve. On more than one occasion I have simply stated to someone, “God bless you.” I might mean it as a simple salutation, but I mean it sincerely. On many occasions the response is, “Oh, He does.” I usually tolerate such a response, but I’m thinking that if someone blessed me in such a manner I would want to say, “Thank you.” After all, I just received a blessing proclaimed from the mouth of a caring individual through which God’s name and blessing were delivered to me, a blessing I would not have had otherwise. “Thank you” is the most appropriate thing to say because I believe those words come to pass.
Jesus asks us to believe that those things which we say shall, indeed, come to pass.[17] If we really believed and embraced this concept, we wouldn’t just change the way we pray, we would change the way we talk.
Because of the analogy we are making between us and plants and the simultaneous exchange of water vapor and carbon dioxide, perhaps the following verses will begin to make a whole lot more sense. Mark 11 says that whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.[18]
What should you do when you pray? Believe you receive the things you ask. Most of the time you don’t receive the results of your praying right then, but you believe you have received.
If plants exercised faith, then the exiting of water through the stomata would be a proclamation that they believe what they are doing now in releasing that water has everything to do with the eventual results—because it literally does.
And then consider this from First John, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”[19]
In the 15th chapter of John’s gospel, where Jesus is called a vine and we are called the branches, He makes some incredible proclamations and accompanying promises about prayer. Answers to prayer are referred to as fruit—another botanical term. He makes clear the critical conditions related to such answered prayer: “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you.” But the result of prayer is one of the most staggering things that Jesus goes on to proclaim: “You shall ask what you will and it shall be done.”[20]
I am sure that, after hearing these words, His audience thought Him audacious. Jesus seems to take a great risk in expressing this part of the heart of God. After all, He is talking to flawed and unruly humans, the majority of whom were not getting much of what He had to say about important subjects and would be of the same group that called for His crucifixion later. But perhaps His audience was all too familiar with the simple idea that branches do indeed bear fruit. And if answered prayer is fruit to the glory of God—like He said—then maybe He’s got something here that imperfect humans can reach out and own, something that would result in personal transformation, and that would steward an impact on their culture. And if that can happen, then the next objectives to influence include their generation, their community, and the world.
But doesn’t Jesus know these humans cannot be trusted, especially with such a daring promise?
Make no doubt about it; Jesus does not trust the human plantings. He trusts the process of His Father at work in their lives to make them what they cannot make of themselves. Think about it. Do we really trust plants to produce food, beauty, and a thousand other things; or do we trust the processes of God the Creator at work—germination, transpiration, and photosynthesis—that turn them into the productive entities they are?
Jesus understood the power of process at work in botanical creation and used this dynamic to make an important point during the Sermon on the Mount. He asked His listeners why they should worry about clothing. He then pointed them to one of nature’s amazing models—lilies in the field that neither toil nor spin cloth. He then compared them to King Solomon, the richest man in the world, who was not arrayed like a single one of these flowers. Jesus acknowledged processes—innately at work—placed in plants by the Creator and that no effort on the plants’ part made it happen. He implied that there are processes at work in creation and that we too can enjoy spiritual processes working to establish God’s intention. If the point is to be well taken, we must, once again, realize God’s work in us through His Word and, like Jesus, tap the wisdom of lilies.
Have you ever considered that sometimes even the best of Christians describe answered prayer as ethereal, arbitrary, undefined, and erratic? Then Jesus comes on the scene and says something like, “Whatever you ask in my name I will do it.”[21] What an incredibly different premise.
Because the Lord Jesus has said these exceptionally powerful and promising things relative to answered prayer, I’ve decided I cannot leave it alone and wink my way around it. I do this in spite of all the many things that might need to be explained regarding prayers going seemingly unanswered or the many complexities of life that often confuse people. The only other option is to spend my energies explaining away these promises and acting as if this Word of God we brag about is, at best, only a feel-good dynamic void of real power to change my life and the world I live in. I reject this latter alternative as not fitting to who I am in Him, namely, a planting of the Lord created to produce fruit to His glory through spoken release.
I don’t pretend to imply clear explanations for all of life, because life in a fallen world doesn’t work like we often want it, especially as we consider God’s answers to prayer, and especially if the Word of God only possesses a secondary level of priority. Because life is what it is, we are tempted to avoid risks, even those supposedly connected to Biblical promise, and retreat to something theologically safer.
We find ways to comfort ourselves in the face of God’s audacious promises, because such audacity makes us painfully uncomfortable. After all, the choice might be to actually believe it and then be required to act accordingly. But maybe the answer is, by the grace of God, to own a Jesus-like audacity that reflects such promise, instead of a religious passivity that deflects it.
I know some of the standard answers at this point, especially when “prayers seem to not get any higher than the ceiling.” One is, “God is sovereign.”
As much as I am convinced of the ultimate rule of God, I nonetheless get the distinct feeling that this all-important concept—God’s sovereignty—finds entrance into the discussion, not because we question such sovereignty, but because discomfort becomes the reality and we nervously look for theological diversion. Since we really don’t want to have to proactively engage our faith, especially in light of the audacious promises of Jesus, and because much of life is inexplicable, then we file the questions we have in the God is sovereign folder—never mind that this same sovereign God certifies even the audacious promises as from His very heart.[22]
To repeat, and hopefully not be misunderstood, I believe wholeheartedly in the sovereignty of God, but the unavoidable question at hand is, “Do I believe God’s Word even when such words demand a level of faith that is beyond the borders of my comfort zone? And if such a God-ordained demand is indeed beyond those borders, how can I be honest and open with God in cooperating with His moving me into new places of Bible-based faith?”
I am not trying to make God into a puppet at the end of strings we control, nor do I want to make human beings puppets at the end of strings He controls. I just want us to tap the Biblical premise that we should see ourselves as the plantings we truly are, pulsating with His purposes and innately responding to how He has made us—like plants in the botanical world might respond to their Creator.
Puppets and puppeteers, on the other hand, have a relationship characterized by artificial interaction, whereas the dynamics of process, formation, growth and productivity speak of something natural and authentic, initiated and worked out by the Creator Himself.[23] We honor God most by seeing ourselves as human plantings of the Lord, naturally and verbally responding to the Word of God inside us, and returning it to the God of heaven where it originated. And then expect—like plants might expect—to actually experience corresponding results for God’s glory in time.
Early Christians realized that Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and the Jews—that would be everybody—had all gathered together against Jesus to do whatever God’s hand and His purpose determined to be done. But with barely taking another breath, they continued, emboldened by this sovereign God to pray, “Grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” That audacious prayer was answered immediately as the place in which they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God with boldness.[24]
A careful reading of this account reveals their referencing an Old Testament verse from Psalm 2 from which they gained the insight to speak with understanding and then to pray with boldness. Therefore, their acknowledgment of God’s determined purpose was directly related to His having spoken ahead of time of rulers gathering together against the Lord. Everyone turning against Christ Jesus then and throughout history is fulfillment of that very word spoken by the prophetic Psalms. This helps us think that sovereignty concepts are not as arbitrary as they seem, especially when so loosely spouted by those who need a catch-all escape hatch and a quick answer to life’s dilemmas.
No one has to take God’s sovereignty from Him in spirit or in practice; just make sure God’s Word is distinctly in the mix. This means responding like a plant might respond.
Even in the middle of divine orchestration of end-time events, revealed in the book of Revelation, is the very real and significant presence of the prayers of the saints.[25] These prayers, like incense, ascend before God. The fact that these prayers are even allowed in the arena of end-time events is noteworthy. God seems to take them into serious consideration.
All this gives me the notion that perhaps God’s sovereignty should be one of the reasons why we should boldly release Word-based prayers and declarations instead of an excuse for why we shouldn’t.
Another of the many religious-sounding detours we look to take in those uncomfortable, confusing times includes, “Well, you know, God has His timing.” I only have one thing to say to that one. Timing issues in general are none of my business; declaring God’s Word in faith is my business. It is always the right time to declare God’s Word.
I think we often get freaked out by being in time. But plants do just fine with what they have to work with in both time and space. The key is that they give themselves without reservation to the processes already at work established by the Creator. They don’t seem to express any concern at all for the issues of God’s timing. I think if we gave ourselves to the processes at work, like plants do, instead of consoling ourselves with nebulous religious concepts, like God’s timing, about which we know so little, we would be better off.
The passing of time is, indeed, a reality as I wait for the harvest God is so gracious to give; but, just like a plant, we must do every day what the processes of His grace are empowering us to do. Plants don’t wait passively. They are actively, but naturally, involved in the process which has everything to do with the results. I don’t believe it is any different for you and me.
The message from botanical creation then is that faith is not a human effort to maneuver God into action but a natural response to the water of His Word as it flows through our lives. We are not the initiator here, He is. We are only returning what was sent. The processes of God’s working bring to pass the results.
And then the famous, “God is allowing this or that.” This question of what God has allowed or not can run cross-grain with effective, faith-based prayer. In general, it can be a real distraction, oftentimes based on guesswork. I do not pretend total comprehension, but shouldn’t we be more interested in the question, “God, what are you allowing me to do?” The Bible-based answer to that question puts us on the offensive and activates responsible faith that prays and speaks into every situation and circumstance.
If we’re not careful, our belief systems become just so much a religious sedative that rocks us to sleep. We end up with a subtle disconnect where true faith is concerned and soothe ourselves with the passive and the trite. Do we live by religious explanations to appease our discomforts or by the Word and the promises of the all-wise God?
The Pharisees of Jesus’ days maneuvered cleverly around the mandates of Scripture to carve out their own traditions and thereby made the Word of God of no effect. This is sad enough; however, the Gospel record says that they took this man-made tradition and “handed (it) down.” This implies that they influenced their own generation with these manipulated religious concepts. They also held sway on their very posterity to make these same compromises a part of the next generation.[26]
By the way, I have no trouble saying, “I don’t know,” as I navigate through life’s questions. And I don’t know the end from the beginning like God does, but I can read. When I read these promises and directives about prayer, I actually think God wants me to believe them, find motivational encouragement in them, and seek His face and His Word for how I might proactively dedicate myself daily to their development and ideals.
I don’t believe the option to passively ignore them is justified. And those who do choose such an option, for whatever the reason, unwittingly take a bite out of ministry effectiveness to a world which desperately needs to be awakened to the reality of a loving and intervening God.
Furthermore, I am comforted by the idea that my not knowing all the answers does not make me any less a planting of the Lord. My daily function then should not be motivated on the premise that I can figure everything out, but that I have a Creator to whom I must respond in faith. I don’t mean to oversimplify, but in a very functional way, He opened His mouth and sends His Word to me, and I open my mouth and return it.
For those who worry exceedingly that such a forthright attempt at faith and prayer might reveal human flaw and find us praying amiss,[27] I say that you and I should quit being so easily distracted by our reflection in the mirror and go ahead and step into prayer and see what God might do. I’m not in denial—praying amiss could easily characterize the prayer attempts of many of us. But where does wrong praying change if not in the presence of God, who course corrects us as we seek the wisdom of His Word and actually do the bold praying that Jesus challenges us to articulate?
Peter didn’t walk on the water until he stepped out of the boat.[28]
[1] Hebrews 11:1, 6; 4:2
[2] Ephesians 3:20
[3] Mark 11:24
[4] Daniel 10:12
[5] Daniel 10:13
[6] Psalm 34:1; 71:6
[7] Hebrews 13:15
[8] Psalm 35:27
[9] 1 Peter 1:25a
[10] This is the short list. The reader is welcome to add any Biblically addressed subject matter they please to this tabulation.
[11] 1 Peter 1:23b
[12] Psalm 35:28
[13] Luke 18:1-8
[14] Luke 18:8
[15] Numbers 6:22-27
[16] Hosea 9:10; Luke 13:6-9; Romans 11:17
[17] Mark 11:23
[18] Mark 11:24; Matthew 21:22
[19] 1 John 5:14-15
[20] John 15:7-8
[21] John 14:13, 14; 15:16; 16:23, 24, 26
[22] It is obviously not audacious to Jesus to express the heart of God. We perceive it as audacious, in the midst of navigating the challenge of our limited outlooks, to think that God’s heart includes such incredible promise that is actually available to believers.
[23] If plants could express theology based on how they are made by God to respond in life, they might be more inclined to say, “God has everything under process” rather than “God has everything under control.”
[24] Acts 4:23-31
[25] Revelation 5:8; 8:3-4
[26] Mark 7:9-13
[27] James 4:3
[28] Matthew 14:29
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