Making Room

The action of confidence.

One of the statements of faith that has stayed with me over the years is a statement attributed to Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He said: “We must have faith in the form of confidence in God.” I understand this to mean that, our faith in God, should birth and manifest as confidence inside us – not confidence in our selves.

The letter to Philemon was a reconciliatory letter. It was Paul writing to Philemon and addressing therein the rift between Philemon and Onesimus. We can learn a lot from the approach and emphasis. However, Paul in his closing remarks, made a few comments, one of which is our present focus.

But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you.

Philemon 1:22 (KJV)

The Believer as a Person of Prayer.

Paul says ‘…for I trust that through your prayers…’

There are several things that won’t happen in the life of the Believer except he prays. I don’t intend to mean external things. I mean that the life of the believer is meant to evolve and be lived out in the crucible of prayer. The believer is a person of prayer. He ought to be.

We have venerated prayer to an extent, or perhaps assigned it to a select few. But prayer is for men. Every major ‘faith’ system, even the minor ones, has an element of prayer – or, at least the act of it.

Paul, in writing to Philemon, referenced prayer, being sure that Philemon would have been committed to the engagement of prayer. He was certain that Philemon as a disciple of Christ would be committed to the place and ministry of Prayer.

The Prayer of the Believer.

Paul says ‘…for I trust that through your prayers…’

If Paul had said, for I trust that through my (Paul’s) prayers, we would not have batted an eyelid. But Paul was saying that there was going to a result and it was going to be as a result of the prayer of Philemon.

This is important because, sometimes we feel as though our prayers will not be answered simply because we are the ones praying the prayer. This sometimes happens because we think that there are matters are beyond the reach of our prayer endeavour.

And whilst, in some situations (due to various factors), this may be the case, our prayers in general are not ineffective because we are the ones doing the prayers, as though it would be answered simply because someone else did the praying.

God answers the prayer of the believer. Don’t count yourself out simply because you aren’t someone else.

The expectation of an answer.

Paul wrote ‘But withal prepare me also a lodging…’

Herein lies the challenge; most times when we pray, we don’t anticipate answers. We are almost surprised that the prayers are answered.

Think of something that you have been trusting God for in the place of prayers, and ask yourself this question: If God was to answer within the next 24 hours, how prepared are you for the answer? Have you made room? Are you living in anticipation? Are we ready to receive? It’s like a farmer trusting God for rain, yet he hasn’t tilled his ground. How then does he intend to maximize rainfall?

Sometimes we don’t anticipate because we are unsure about the response of God. We are not sure He will answer. Other times we don’t want to make a fool of ourselves, to be a laughingstock for preparing for something that never comes.

However, remember our opening statement, we must have Faith in the form of confidence in God. If we are certain that we haved asked in prayers according to the will of God, and we have secured the hand of God on a matter, we can – like Noah – move in godly fear, knowing that the things we have prayed about will happen.

We can make room. We can live with expectation. We can have confidence.