Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
that ye may abound in hope, through
​the power of the Holy Ghost. Rom 15:13

WE ALL need to abound in Hope. Hope is the artist of the soul.
​
Faith fills us with joy and peace, which brim over in Hope. When Faith brings from God's Word the materials of anticipation and expectation, Hope transfers the fair colors to her palette, and with a few deft dashes of her brush delineates the soul's immortal and unfading hope. Faith thus excites Hope to do her fairest work, until presently the wails of our soul become radiant with frescoes. Our faith rests on God's Word, and hope rests on faith, and such hope cannot be ashamed. It is the anchor of the soul, which enters that which is within the veil, and links us to the shores of eternity (Heb_6:18-19).

​Heb 6:18  That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 
Heb 6:19  Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 

Faith rests on the promises of God. Faith does not calculate on feeling, is indifferent to emotion, but with both hands clings to some word of promise, and looking into God's face, says; "Thou canst not be unfaithful." When God has promised aught to thee, it is as certain as if thou had it in hand. Faith not only takes the Word of God, and rests all the weight on it, but often when hard-pressed goes beyond the Bible back to God Himself, and argues that God is faithful and cannot deny Himself. Because God is God, He must ever act worthily of Himself.

It was thus that Moses argued, when he was with Him in the Holy Mount, to do thus would not be worthy of Thyself! (Num_14:13-20).

Here we are given a powerful example of how hope and faith work together in intercession, as Moses puts before God, His very word, and uses it with skill to make his point, and persuade the Lord, in the petitions he puts before Him.

Moses knew God's heart, and His word, and knew how to put both before Him, to bring solid grounds for the prayer to be answered. This comes by experience, and a long relationship between God, and His servant.​

​Num 14:13  And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;) 
Num 14:14  And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. 
Num 14:15  Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, 
Num 14:16  Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. 
Num 14:17  And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, 
Num 14:18  The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. 
Num 14:19  Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. 

​We may be assailed with a hundred questions of doubt in the day, but must no more notice them than a barking cur. A business man once said that when he is convinced of the rightness of a certain course, he is sometimes assailed by doubts which arise like the cloud-mist of the valley, or the marsh gas from the swamp; but when thus tempted, he turns to the promises of God, often reading three or four chapters of the Old Testament. This brings him in touch with the eternal world, filling him with joy and peace and abounding hope in believing, through the power of the Holy Ghost. They shall not be ashamed that hope in Him.  (Our Daily Walk)

​Moses takes what God had said, next to what God is, as the ground and warrant of his plea and cry to Him for mercy and for forgiveness. What God has promised is given to us to be returned to Him in prayer. The meaning of promises is to suggest and be the language of prayer. Wherever you find a promise in the Bible, there you find the substance, the element, the words of prayer. “All the promises of God in Jesus Christ are Yea and Amen.” They wait for you—dead in themselves on the sacred page—to seize them, translate them into prayer, and return them in that shape to Him who spake them, pleading with Him,—“O Lord, remember Thy power, as Thou hast promised us, saying, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious.” You can never need a prayer-book as long as you have a Bible. You can never plead that you cannot pray as long as you can open the book of Psalms, and see what God has promised; take those beautiful Psalms, which Martin Luther called “A little Bible,” and as you read them, turn their promises into prayer. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.… Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.” Turn that into prayer; and plead with God, that He will never let you want—that He will never forsake you and leave you—that He will be your rod and your staff—that He will furnish your table in the presence of your enemies—that He will let mercy and goodness follow you all the days of your life—and that you may dwell in His house for ever. Take promises so frequent, so full of power in all that can cheer, comfort, and sustain, scattered through every page of this blessed Book, and transmit them back to God in prayer, in the name of Christ Jesus. (John Cumming D.D.)

​​The intercession of Christians, who are already formed, is the leaven which is to leaven the whole earth with Christianity. It is one of the destined instruments, in the hand of God, for hastening the glory of the latter days. Take the world at large, and the doctrine of intercession, as an engine of mighty power, is derided as one of the reveries of fanaticism. This is a subject on which the men of the world are in a deep slumber; but there are watchmen who never hold their peace day nor night, and to them God addresses these remarkable words: “Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest till He establish and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” (T. Chalmers)

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Php 4:6-7

Spreading Our Cares Before God

These two verses contain a great deal of wisdom, and inner content, that could take weeks to study. Some teachings and studies have been chosen, and posted below that touch on some important points-and expand on these verses to give the reader deeper perspective - in hopes to cause you to turn to God for every care and every need, openly and without reservation. He desires our fellowship, and honest sincere dialogue. I'm still learning this, and the answers to many of my prayers, have brought the fruit of peace, and stability. When God is our refuge, there is no place for anxiety, or fear. As we are told-God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. I know this to be true. God keeps His word.

Paul in these words bids the Christians of Philippi to carry all their sorrows and fears to the throne of Christ. He specially bids them remember the nearness of our Lord and the freedom we may use in speaking to Him; and in so doing he has taught us a great and blessed truth, needful for all men in all ages; I mean that a life of prayer is a life of peace.

​Paul here tells us, first of all, that there is One ever near us who can fulfil all our desire and overrule all things in our behalf: "The Lord is at hand." How soon He may reveal Himself in person we know not; but, soon or late, it is certain that, although unseen, He is ever near us. His presence departed not from the Church when He ascended into heaven. He is withdrawn from the eyes of our flesh, but in the sight of our hearts He is always visible; though He be at the right hand of God, yet He is in the Church and in our secret chamber; He is both able and willing to fulfil all our hearts’ desires, and nothing is hid from His sight.

​Paul tells us further that we may make all our desires known unto God; we may speak with Him as a man speaks with his friend. We all know the relief of unburdening ourselves and opening our hidden cares even to an earthly companion; we seem to have laid off a weight when we have told our sorrow: and yet there is a point beyond which we do not reveal ourselves to our fastest and nearest friend. But from God not only is it impossible to conceal, but we do not desire to hide, anything. Though He be the Holy One, and His eyes as a flame of fire, so piercing and so pure, yet we do not shrink from making all known to Him, for though He be perfect in purity, He is likewise perfect in compassion; He is as pitiful as He is holy. Though unworthy to ask the least blessing, yet we may make our requests known unto Him by silent humiliation and by secret appeal to His perfect knowledge. We shall not indeed always have what we ask; but if we ask in faith, we shall always have peace.

Of this we shall never fail--
(1) first, because whatsoever we ask which is truly for our good, that He will give us freely. No father so much delights to give the very thing his children ask for, as our Father in heaven. Whatsoever we desire that is in harmony with the eternal will, with the love of our Redeemer, and with the mind of the Holy Ghost—those things we shall without fail receive. All good things, all good, eternal and created, all blessing, grace, and truth, all the benedictions of. the kingdom of God, all the promises of the Gospel, and all the pledged mercies of redemption—all these we may ask importunately, and shall assuredly receive.
(2) Whatsoever we ask that is not for our good, He will keep it back from us. In this entangled twilight state of probation, where the confines of good and ill so nearly approach and almost seem to intermingle, there needs a keen and strong spiritual eye to discern and know the nature and properties of all things which encompass us about. How awful would be our lot if our wishes should straightway pass into realities.
(3) We know certainly that if God refuse us anything, it is only to give us something better.  (H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. iii., p. 240)

The Apostle speaks of certain things which hinder the ideal peace, and the practical thing for us is to understand these hindrances and remove them.

The evil that he would prohibit is care—over-anxiety about the things of life. The care condemned is an overanxious solicitude about material things; a restless, wearing, fretting anxiety, that cannot let us do our best, and then leave issues in the hands of God’s providence. Exercises of faith are more easy in spiritual things than they are in temporal things. The slightest derangement of our business plans, the least check in our business prosperity, is often too much for our faith. We give way to despondency; every experience seems a presage of evil, every road tangled and rough; we receive no gift of God with joy, we offer no prayer with thanksgiving; we fret ourselves, and perhaps charge God foolishly.

There are things that we have no right to care about at all, things of sheer envy and covetousness. How our cares would be lessened were they limited to things fairly belonging to us. They, too, who are always foreboding evil, always looking on the dark side of things, and if there be a disastrous possibility anticipate it, make cares for themselves. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Every anxiety about duty has its limits, overpassing which it becomes a disqualifying burden, presses down the springs of action, and disables the judgment. I may be so afraid of doing wrong that I never do right.

It is difficult to distinguish between the measure of legitimate desire which is right and the excess of it, which is wrong. Two or three suggestions may help us. The legitimate measure of even lawful care is exceeded when religious trust in God is disabled; when our spirit is so disquieted and absorbed that we cannot pray, save in the utterances of imperious desires; when the care intrudes at all times and overpowers all feelings, so that we absolutely cannot leave the issue with God. Undue care is one of the most inveterate forms of unbelief. It wears out physical energies, takes the vital spirit out of a man; instead of a sound mind in a healthy body, he has to contend with a disordered mind in a body nervously unstrung; he can neither work by day nor sleep by night; full of morbid activity, he does nothing; his over-anxiety has defeated itself.

How is this great hindrance to peace to be counteracted? The strong man armed can be cast out only by a stronger than he; we cannot cast out the evil spirit and leave an empty heart—swept and garnished. Natural human feeling must have something whereon to rest. It rests upon its misfortune and fear; the true remedy is to rest on God. Pray, and the peace of God shall guard your heart and mind.  (H. Allon, The Indwelling Christ, p. 107)

​Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. He is launched on the storm-tossed sea of life. He is a reed which grows up to be shaken of the wind. The pleasantest paths are not without their sorrows. The rose, however sweet it is, has its thorns. What then shall we do with our sorrows?

​1. It is impossible to eradicate them, for in the very resistance we find a new cause of suffering. As the fabled Hydra of old, with one head severed from his body, sprang forward with a hundred in its place, so shall our resisted troubles be.
2. It is folly to resist them; as idiotic a task as Don Quixote’s against the windmills.
3. Shall we suffer, then? We could if we were as strong as Atlas, who bore the world on his shoulders; but we are not Atlases.
4. Take them quickly, then, to the Divine Burden bearer. This is the panacea for all the ills that flesh is heir to.

Be careful for nothing.
1. Because there are higher considerations. Here we spend no end of time and thought on things which are not worth it, and neglect matters which deserve our most earnest attention. “The life is more than meat,” and the soul than life. The doctor’s bell and knocker never seem at rest; nor are the poor patients to be blamed for their importunity; but how is it that the body casket is so cared for and the soul jewel so neglected. Men are careful even to madness about their money, but utterly careless about eternal riches.
2. Because those necessary trifles about which we are obliged to think in some degree are all seen to and arranged by God. Cast, then, “all your care upon Him; He careth for you.”
3. Because the smallest affairs of life are entirely beyond our control. Man can do a great deal—he can flash a message round the world, and through the microphone hear the footstep of a fly, but he cannot add one cubit to his stature.
4. Because nothing is too small for God to arrange for. We are ready to believe that nothing is too great for God to care for, but it is difficult for us to confide in Him in little things. But the God who made the ocean makes the dew drop, and cares for both.

Be prayerful for everything. Some mercies will come unasked for; but those are sweetest which come in answer to prayer.
1. Because of the privilege of prayer. We have not only the care but the heart of God. The blood of God’s dear Son has opened the way to the mercy seat.
2. Because of the power of prayer. It has a soothing effect, as we know from earthly confidences.
3. Because there is no limit to prayer. There is nothing we may not ask Him about. It is His will. “I will be enquired of.”
III. Be thankful for anything.
1. Because we do not deserve anything but wrath.
2. Because ingratitude is one of the worst of sins. We are thankful for the hospitality of earthly friends, and yet though we have so much from God how thankless we are. Thankless hearts are like scentless flowers. (Thomas Spurgeon.)

In everything make your request known unto God, and then be careful for nothing. It is committed into God’s hands, rest and rejoice. These early converts were filled with an overwhelming sense of the blessings with which their lives were crowned. They found it easier to praise than we do.

The principle of deliverance from care is placed by our Lord, in the Sermon on the Mount, in a two-fold light.

The things about which we are tempted to be careful are “things that perish.” Their worth is but for a little time, and stretches but a little way. What matters a little more or less of earthly treasure. The soul’s satisfaction is independent of it. The true and enduring riches are within reach. To men who believed in and pined for the heavenly treasure, the appeal was conclusive. What matters the earthly substance which moth and rust are wasting daily, when we have a glorious treasure which defies decay and violence. They believed this and were careful for nothing. We believe less and are consumed with care.

This superiority to earthly things demands a keen discernment, a pure unworldly heart, which are rare. Who is sufficient for these things. The Savior, pitying our infirmity, has another assurance to meet the needs of our trembling apprehensive natures. “Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.” We are not alone in this great universe, whose awful order, indifferent to our needs, strikes a shivering dread into our hearts. Behind the veil a Father is watching and caring, and by His vigilant providence is adding, in the measure in which He sees we need them, all these things unto us. Be careful for nothing; rest calmly in the care of God.

But we can not only rest but pray. He is no unknown Friend to whom we can commend our cause and then leave it. He is here in the silent sanctuary of our hearts. Perhaps our requests are shortsighted and foolish. Be it so. The best thing that we can do is to take them to God, and lay them before Him. His light will reveal, His fire consume the sensual, selfish element in our petitions; His burning presence will purify our hearts, and make our prayers powerful with Him. Prayer is the channel of communication between the careworn soul and its helper; and it fills its desolation with the sense of a living, loving presence, which charges the very atmosphere with benediction; it quickens a pulse of joy and hope in the numbness of its despair. He who has never known what prayer can do to calm a troubled and uplift a despairing spirit is dead to the deepest, richest experience of life.

But it must be the prayer of faith.
Christians complain bitterly that their prayers are not answered. But they do not understand the conditions. God nowhere binds Himself to answer our shortsighted requests. Did we see more clearly we should tremble lest He should. That would prove His heaviest chastisement. But He binds Himself to answer our prayers, in His own way. No praying soul is sent empty away.

The prayer of faith is the prayer which recognizes God as the supreme and perfect God. No man is in the way of blessing until he understands that in God alone can he be supremely blessed. Until he has made God his portion there is the deepest want of his being unsatisfied. This being recognized his wants fall into their true proportion. They are not extinguished, but they are no more imperative. It is no longer, Give me this or I die; it is, Give me Thyself and I live; and this, Give or withhold at Thy will. I have all, and abound in Thee.

The prayer of faith seeks conformity with the mind of God, without which it is idle to hope or pray for peace. Nine-tenths of our cares grow out of our mad desires for some unreal and delusive good. All cares that eat into the soul arise really from a striving against God. The first request of prayer is, “Show me Thy will, and rule my will by Thine. Root out self-will, tame passion, calm desire, bring me into harmony with Thy pure and perfect mind, and then bestow what Thou seest is for my good.” When a soul has said that, its brooding cares and wearing sorrows have gone as the mists of the morning vanish in the sunlight.

The prayer of faith never leaves out of its account the Hand that is always working for our deliverance, and never so mightily as when the storm gathers, and the great waters seem to overwhelm. And the prayer of faith never fails. (J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.)

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the
​victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of God?  (1Jn 5:4-5)

One of the most important points of successful prayer was taught to me by the Holy Spirit early in my salvation- the prayer of proclamation. This is speaking scripture verses of faith, on what God's word tells me concerning the issue I'm praying about, and standing on these verses, using them as weapons of warfare against the powers of Satan to bring down strongholds.

How long you may need to do this, depends on the seriousness of the situation, and how long that stronghold has been allowed to be in power. There's many aspects of this kind of prayer, that will play a part of this kind of spiritual warfare. If it's intercession for nations, regions, etc., your dealing with strong principalities and powers of darkness, rulers in the heavenlies. It took the angel Michael 3 weeks to get through to Daniel to answer his fasting and intercession. We need to constantly be checking our motives, and our approach in this kind of prayer-self must have no place in this realm of prayer, to receive answers, and results.

The victory of proclamation prayer comes from scripture that addresses Christ as risen from the grave-the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and all verses regarding this-spoken directly to the powers of darkness, and the realm of Satan is legal tender. They proclaim him a defeated enemy. All authority in heaven and earth, has been given to Jesus Christ. Satan is here, and roaming the earth to find all who he can devour-but, he is a usurper, and he knows this. He knows his time is short. In the gospels Jesus told his disciples and they tell us who believe-that Jesus has given us the same authority over demons as the disciples, it's up to us to believe this, and use the authority given to us. But, in this we must always check ourselves, to make sure we are walking rightly with the Lord. Repentance, is an ongoing thing throughout the life of the believer. Everyone, no matter who they are, will stumble and say or do something that is wrong, and sin. That is why we have a Savior, a Redeemer. We do not want to sin, but if we do, we run to Him, not from Him-confess it, and receive the cleansing of His blood again, and His forgiveness.

If we are using the prayer of proclamation as a weapon against attacks on our personal life, you need to examine your own inner life, and allow God to deal with you, to see if there's a need for repentance in any area of your life, before you can stand on the scriptures your using, and have the faith and standing with God, to see them work, and the power of God within them, to answer what your proclaiming. The word of God is not magic, it is wielding the sword of the Spirit in the right way, with a right standing with God, that gives you the authority to use it against the powers of Satan. Both God and the devil knows if you are standing in righteousness, or not.

Those who's faith in Christ is unwavering, will seek the scriptures that are appropriate for the battle they are facing, and how to use them, and speak them in prayer-knowing that God will hear, and answer the proclamation. I recommend reading the stories of those in the Old Testament who knew the voice of God, and obeyed what they were told to do, and the victories that were won, because of their faith, and obedience. Moses stood with his staff in his hand, and told to waters to part-and the sea parted and the people crossed over on dry land. Joshua, his men and the people marched seven days in silence, then on the seventh day-the horns were blown and the sound of them brought down the walls of Jericho. David inquired of God when to go into battle, and when not to, and won each one when he heard God say "go up". God's people can learn to hear, and know the voice of the Lord, and use wisdom in our directions and our decisions that will guide us out of the devil's hands, and help us avoid many pitfalls. The more we use the word of God with wisdom, and understanding, we learn how to use a powerful weapon against the forces of evil, in our own lives, and in intercessions for situations in nations.

It's also important to know how to use this source of prayer, and not tell all of what we are doing to those who would not understand, or have the level of faith to believe with you. Unbelief is a poison, and those who live for this world, and have no real desire to know the ways of God, can be a very effective tool to destroy faith, and receiving answers to prayer. I've learned to keep the most important things God's given me to pray for, to myself, unless I'm clearly shown to share it. There's a time for corporate prayer, and with two or three, but, you have to learn the difference and how to discern it, in every situation. 

Over the years, every answered prayer has been fuel to my spirit, that causes me to be drawn more and more to the presence of God, and seeking Him for His mind, His will and answers to the prayers that I'm still placing before Him. Every answered prayer also teaches me another aspect of Him, and a deeper relationship with Him, that cannot be replaced by anything or anyone else.

Below are some added commentary on this subject, to assist the reader in their own walk with the Lord, and your prayer life. May God bless you, and may you find something here to help you in your journey.
Lorna Couillard

The “begotten” children of God are constantly referred to in this Epistle. The word indicates the communication, in regeneration, of the divine nature, of which the first evidence is love. This love is not a weak sentimentality, but a, strong, vigorous response to the motions of the divine love.
God’s life in the soul also manifests itself in our faith; and as faith is the substance of the unseen and eternal world, it overcomes the fascination and glamour of this transient scene. Let your faith entwine around the risen Lord and you will be weaned from all else. Jesus must become all-in-all to you, else you will miss the crown!
We need not only the water of repentance, but also the blood of propitiation. When these two are admitted, the Holy Spirit will bear His secret witness to the soul. God is ever bearing witness to the Son by the eternal life that He gives to and maintains in those who believe. Eternity begins even here for those who have the Son as their indwelling guest.
​(F.B. Meyer)

And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up
from the roots. 
And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the
​fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away. 
And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. 
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. 
(Mar 11:20-24)

The only mountains faith desires to remove are such as are substantial obstacles in the path of mercy. It is marvelous how many such have been removed,—enormous evils, like the slave-trade of seventy years ago, like slavery in America; degradation and superstition, like those holding the natives of New Guinea; pride and secularity, like that which seemed to make the conversion of the Roman Empire impossible. There is no impossibility to those who can lay hold on God. (R. Glover)

The spirit of doubt is the spirit of weakness.—It cripples the will, so that no life of high resolve is possible to it; it produces unrest and discontent; it looks always at the dark side of the picture; and its prevalence in this age largely accounts for that pessimism which, like a shadow, follows it into all its dreary and desolate places. Trace the social discontent, the destructive tendency of much of our literature, especially in the sphere of philosophy—the socialism, anarchism, and all the grumbling and rebelling against constitutional order and the law of the land,—trace these tendencies of our modern life to their source, and you will find there religious doubt, as one of the essential preconditions accounting to a large extent for what we see amongst a vast class of our population. For I maintain that when a nation or any large community forming part of its organic life loses faith in the verities of religion, when it is given over to the service of selfishness or halts between faith and unbelief, and when this tendency continues for any lengthened period, then there has begun the downward movement of national dismemberment and decay. But, on the other hand, the spirit of faith is the spirit of strength, so that all things are possible to him who believeth. (M. McLellan)

The conditions of effectual prayer. We must pray in truth—that is, we must ask for what we really wish. We must pray in spirit—that is, we must ask for the right thing. We must pray in faith, believing that our prayers will be heard and answered. (J. F. Clarke)

Prayer and its answer. “All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe”—not that ye receive them, but “that ye have received them,” or, still more closely, “that ye received them,” “and ye shall have them.” The answer to the prayer is thus declared to be coincident with the prayer itself. The petition is granted at the very moment when it is framed; the blessing for which we look does not follow at some distant time through any outward events, but is given at once, when, with absolute, childlike trust, we lay the thoughts of our hearts open before our Father. Prayer, in a word, is the conscious and glad acceptance of God’s will for us when we have first endeavored to estimate our own wants. (Bishop Westcott)

Confidence in prayer. It is only when the heart is very childlike that its desires are pure and wise enough to be left with God, and faith strong enough to leave them. If there seem but few prayers answered, it only proves that there are few prayers offered. For it is only good prayers that can be really prayed. Many that we “say” do not lift our desires to God and lodge them in His heart. Let this word shew us how great a thing is prayer, and how great are its issues. The time for the answer is not pledged, and the manner of it may differ from what we expected; but if we really pray we shall be heard. (R. Glover)

Faith the substance of things hoped for. He doth not say, “believe that ye shall receive them,” but that you do receive them, which plainly shews what kind of faith it is that He requires of us, even such a faith as is the very “substance of the things we hope for” (Heb_11:1), and gives a present being and substance to them. Faith is also “the evidence of things not seen.” As by it we enjoy what God hath promised, so by it we behold what He hath revealed to us, though never so much above our reason or beyond our sight. (Bishop Beveridge)

The power of believing prayer. Prayer obtains grace, wisdom, strength, self-mastery, peace, all which the soul dares wish for, for time or eternity; but it obtains more—it gains God. O glorious prerogative of the faith of the simple peasant, ignorant of this world’s knowledge, but having access to Divine! O glorious compendium of Divine illumining, whereby, not as in a mirror nor by laborious process, the soul shall have all knowledge, and shall see the secret cause of all created things, in the light of God, in God! Even gifts of God could not satisfy that vast soul of man—no wisdom, no intelligence, nothing which has any bound or end. Prayer fills this void, which all creation, out of God, could not fill. Prayer is “the ascent of the soul to God”; it is the beginning of that blessed converse which shall be the exhaustless fulness of eternal bliss; it is the continuance or renewal of union with God. (E. B. Pusey, D.D)