Blog 19 / Our High Calling
February 26, 2021
Prayer With Rejoicing Faith
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say again: Rejoice.” Phil 4:4. NIV
In my many years with GRN, I have always appreciated that the staff has never seemed overawed or deterred by impossibilities. Field teams have gone to the ends of the earth and have attempted things that seemed utterly impossible because they knew God would not fail them.
They believed God and His promises and gave thanks for what He would do long before they saw the answers.
The key to our ministry is not wishful thinking or even hard work. It is living by spiritual principles upon which the mission was built, knowing they are still relevant for today’s work and essential for tomorrow’s advances.
One of those principles is to seek God’s will before embarking on a new project. Our work must always be done in joyful union with His will. Another is faith, which allows us to believe and act upon what God has said and promised. Then there is the principle of rejoicing, the joyful overflow of a heart that knows, even during the deepest trial, God will not fail.
Effective prayer combines each of these principles. Praying in union with His will must be mixed with faith for without faith it is impossible to please God. And faith needs to be seasoned with rejoicing. Nothing knocks the wind out of the enemy’s sails like rejoicing faith. It confirms our confidence in God and shows we are not deterred by obstacles Satan puts in our path.
Rejoicing faith means that as we pray, we can joyfully thank God now for answers yet to be seen. It was rejoicing faith that enabled Paul and Silas to sing praises in a Philippian jail, and it is rejoicing faith that will enable GRN workers to face impossibilities and overcome them against all odds.
How can we ever count all the blessings and advances in this ministry that have resulted from prayer coupled with rejoicing faith? And how can we ever begin to envision all the countless blessings and advances yet to come? In the face of each new impossibility, we too can act on God’s promises, which allow us to declare with rejoicing faith, “It shall be done!”
Colin Stott
GRN Global Prayer Coordinator
