Living Hope Fellowship Church

PRAYER OF SIN

Training Material

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

PRAYER OF SIN

Preface

(prayer of unbelief)

          Mark 11:22 says, “. . . Have faith in God.”  When you believe God for the promises, and you fulfill the requirements, then you can believe Him for miracles.  Invest your faith in Him, and do something with what He has given you! 

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

Why don’t you believe God for the victory?  Romans 12:3 says, “. . . God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”  Everybody gets the same amount of faith, but what you do with it makes the difference. 

          The devil comes to steal your faith and get you to sin, which is a total cut off of faith.  Unbelief is sin, so let’s believe God! 

PRAYER OF SIN

 by Pastor Kevin Badgley

          Have faith in God!  If you get away from the faith that is in Christ Jesus, you’ve lost Him. 

          Mark 11:12 -14 says, “And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:  And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.  And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.”

Mark 11:20-22 says, “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.”

When you read in the Bible about trees, keep in mind that sometimes He is talking about men’s lives or nations. 

Jesus came against the tree, because it had no fruit.  However, the time of figs was not yet.  Before it is time to pick apples, you should see some blooms or the tiny apples that are coming from them.  Jesus was hungry and checked to see if there was any sign of fruit in the future, but all the thing had was leaves.  There were no blossoms, no unripe fruit, nothing maturing, and nothing getting ready to produce a harvest.  That is why He cursed the thing. 

Mark 11:13 said that He came to check, “. . . if haply he might find any thing thereon. . . .”  He found nothing but leaves.  It was a tree that said, I am alive, born again, saved; look at my leaves!”  If you are alive, where is the fruit?  Jesus said in Matthew 12:33, “. . . the tree is known by his fruit.”  He comes periodically to check the fruit, and see if there are blossoms that might spring forth.  He pours out the rain and the latter rain that you might grow in the Spirit and produce fruit. 

He looks to see if we keep on growing in that good soil, getting the good nutrients from the roots.  We should start producing fruit, because we are the branches in the vine Christ Jesus.  Doctors even call our arms and legs limbs! 

You are a tree of God’s field when you are saved.  Jesus comes checking fruit, and you say, My time is not yet, but He checks to see if there is any sign of you producing any fruit!  Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine, ye are the branches. . . .”  He said His Father is the husbandman.  He checks out the branch, and if it does not produce fruit, He will cut it off and throw it in the fire. If it is producing fruit in a limited amount, He will cut it back so it will do more.  (See John 15:1-5.)  You think you are doing enough, but He wants more out of you! 

God can’t bless you except according to the fruit you bear.  The more fruit you bear, the more rain you have to have.  The greater your burden as you walk with Jesus, the greater the anointing God will send to water you.  Don’t you want to be pruned back a little so you will bush out and produce more fruit?  Then you have to have more anointing.  Come on Jesus, I have more fruit to produce!  We are going through the vine, but God sends the rain, and He gives the increase.

Jesus told the fig tree to die from the roots up.  When the roots are cut off, the tree is dead.  When you cut a tree down it will die, because it is cut off from its source, and nutrients, and water.  It can rain like crazy and get soaking wet, but it cannot grow, because its roots are cut off.  If you get cut off from God, the anointing can rain down, but then it will not help you.

Mark 11:22 says, “. . . Have faith in God.”  Verse 23 says, “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.” 

Verse 24 says, “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”  This is a key, folks.  You have heard erroneous doctrine that claims if you say it enough it will come to pass.  That is “name it and claim it” doctrine and it is out of the pits of hell.  Jesus said when you pray, believe! 

You can pray a sinful prayer, and you pray them to the most High God, not to Satan. 

I’ve done it.  I did not believe it even as I was praying.  I was sinning before God.  It is the same as if I walked up to somebody and said, Look fellow, I am dead broke.  I am starving. I need money for a meal.  I really don’t think you are going to give it to me, but I am going to ask you anyhow.  As a matter of fact, I don’t even think you have five bucks.  How is that going to make him feel?  Do you understand?  How does God feel when we treat HIM that way?   

Philippians 4:19 says, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  He has your blessing, but some people don’t believe He has a blessing for them.  Some believe He has blessings, but they don’t believe He is going to give any to them.

What did He make these things for?  Why did He have His promises to us written in the Bible?  He said, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” 

God did not make this promise to angels, and He sure didn’t promise it to devils!  He made the promise to us, but when we pray, we must BELIEVE.

The church does not pray when they believe.  They send up token prayers.   It is ritualistic.  James 5:15 says, “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” 

Romans 14:23 says, “. . . for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”  Pray with faith or it is sin!  The first time I read that it shook me up.  It does not say whatsoever is not of GREAT faith is sin. 

Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”  We understand by the Scriptures, then, that if we do something other than by faith, we are sinning.  So, when we pray, let’s believe God that there be no sin between Him and us. 

If you pray, I don’t really know if you are going to save my brother.  If you possibly can, save him.  He is not going to answer that prayer.  He wants a righteous people who are bold as a lion.  (See Proverbs 28:1.)  When you go to the heavenly Father with all your sins covered by the blood of Jesus, all you have to do is pray, believing.  Jesus said if you will believe, you will receive.  God wants us to walk a holy life, and if you are, you are a candidate for mighty works in God.  Yet we still doubt God, because in our own thinking, we put Him as down to our capacity, rather than what He says.  Believe what HE says, and shut up the rest of it! 

When my children were little, I told them to go do something, and sometimes they would ask, WHY?  I told them, Just go do it, and I will explain it to you later.  If they asked why the second time, then I got mad. 

We don’t have to know why before we obey God.  He does not have to explain every jot and tittle to us.  God wants us to trust Him.  Jesus said HAVE FAITH IN GOD.  It is too simple for some folks. 

Why don’t you believe God for the victory?  You have as much faith as anybody else.  Romans 12:3 says, “. . . God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”  Everybody gets the same amount of faith.  It is what you do with faith that makes the difference. 

You can hide it under a bushel, or you can say, Praise God!  Jesus is Lord!  It makes your faith rise up.  Hebrews 12:2 says, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. . . .”  The devil hates faith.  The thief comes to steal your faith, to try to get you to sin, which is a total cut off of faith.  He tries to get you to doubt God.  The Lord put Romans 14:23 in the Bible for us so we would know that whatsoever is not of faith is sin!  The devil tries to cut you off from answered prayer! 

If you are walking in faith in God, you’ve got no sin.  You will do what God desires of you.  You will walk a holy life.  If you are not walking totally in faith, you won’t believe that God can satisfy all of your needs.  Jesus said to walk in the Spirit.  Enoch, Elijah, Moses, and Noah walked with God.  They walked in faith, and when they prayed, they got something from God. 

If you pray believing, Jesus said it will happen.  You will get it.  Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Until you get the evidence, you are walking in faith.  You are not in sin, and you can rest assured God will answer your prayer.  I said if you are walking in faith, God will answer your prayer!  It may be right now or a little later, but God will answer your prayer.  Hebrews 13:5 says, “. . .  for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” 

You say you are not doing great things with your faith.  Jesus said if you can have faith as a grain of mustard seed you can do great things (see Matthew 17:20), and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 

Jesus didn’t say that you had to have your measure increased to a bushel basket before He would answer any prayer you’ve got.  He didn’t say that at all.  He said to have faith as the grain of mustard seed.  Just believe God that much with pure faith!  

A household of faith mixed with unbelief needs to be refined and purified by fire.  James 1:3 says, “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.”  If you let Jesus purge your faith, He can get it the size of a mustard seed and pure.  You can talk to the mountain, and it will move!  David slung a stone and killed Goliath.  Jesus gave us something far greater. 

We don’t have to have a rock even the size of the palm of your hand.  You can barely see a mustard seed, but if you will pray believing God, He will move that mountain for you. 

You will look foolish to others if you believe this, but forget your reputation.  Philippians 2:7 says that Jesus, “. . . made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:” 

If you believe God, He will do anything you ask of Him.  Mt. St. Helen has nothing on this.  It doesn’t have to blow into ashes.  He can just pick it up.  He killed the fig tree at the roots.  He can pick up a mountain by the roots.  That is by mustard seed faith.  What could you do with a handful of faith? 

1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

If you can believe God, that is everything.  Believe God, believe His Word, all that Jesus said and did, all the promises, all the obligations, and all the requirements.  When you believe God for that, then you can believe God for miracles.  You invest your faith in Him and do something with what He has given you. 

That mountain could be yours or it could be somebody else’s mountain that you are moving by faith.  That is ministry.  When you pray for the sick, because they don’t have enough faith for themselves, they rely on your faith.  When I pray for them I like to see something happen.  There is a place in God where you can have that. 

1 John 5:10 says, “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.  And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”  The Bible, the Word of God was recorded for you and for me.  It is a written witness, a testimony, a testament. If you believe on the Son of God, you will walk in His footsteps. 

“He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.”  If you have faith in God, you have the witness of what you are asking for - inside of you.  There is an anointing to produce miracles.  A witness brings forth, it testifies.  It makes manifest, if you believe God. 

Jesus said to have faith in God.  If it is the size of a mustard seed, you’ve got what you asked for.  If you believe God, suddenly you have taken hold of the promise, and it is yours, whether it is manifest yet or not.  The witness is in you.  The power of God is in you.  The anointing to produce the thing you are praying for is in you. 

It will come forth as you believe God and obey the Scriptures.  Mark 16:17-18 says, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

These signs shall follow, and that is a witness.  If you believe with pure mustard seed faith, God will do whatever you say.  If you act on what you believe, signs will follow you. 

Some people pray for others, and nothing happens.  God has become to them a liar, because they had unbelief, which is sin according to Romans 14:23.  

          Mark 11:24 says, “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”  When you believe, the witness comes forth within you immediately.  When you act on it, and you say, Yes, Lord. I receive it in Jesus’ name, then it comes forth and manifests.  You receive miracles.  The source of your miracles is to just believe God. 

Romans 12:1-2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” 

Roman 12:3 says, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”  If He had said A measure of faith, it could have varied in measure, but He said THE measure of faith.  He gave the same amount to you as He gave to everybody else.  You have as much as the apostle Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament.  If you have the Holy Ghost, you can have as much power as Paul had. 

BELIEVE GOD when you pray, and He will do whatever comes out of your mouth, when you live holy.  Of course, you have to watch what your mouth says, according to James, Chapter 3.  Let God have it.  He said to present our bodies a living sacrifice to Him, and that includes the tongue.

When you have the same faith Jesus had, He said you can talk to the mountain.  God gave this to anybody who will accept Jesus as Savior and Lord, not just preachers.  You have the same measure of faith to start with as anybody else, and you can receive as much anointing as any of the apostles did.  You can receive the same mantle of Jesus (except the atonement).  In John 20:21 Jesus said, “. . . as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”    

Mark 16:17 says, “And these signs shall follow them that believe. . . .”  Do you believe?  You may have to pray as the father of the lunatic son in Mark 9:24 – “. . . Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” 

These signs shall follow them that believe!  It says SHALL.  How definite is that?  Jesus said it in the Bible, and GOD CAN’T LIE. 

Mark 16:17-18 says, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” 

Look how many times SHALL is in there.  He didn’t want there to be any doubt!  He can back up what you believe.  Can you believe what God can produce? 

 John 7:38 says, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”  Out of your belly shall flow the witness, and signs, wonders, and miracles, if you believe God. 

Nothing else brings revival.  Organized religion and efforts of man will fail.  Mark 16:20 says, “And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”  Those who believed preached everywhere!   Signs don’t follow Unbelievers; God has made them liars. 

I have preached to people in restaurants, in prisons, and lots of places.  You may not be called to preach, but YOU ARE CALLED TO WITNESS!  When you believe God, the witness comes forth in the name of Jesus.  All the power that created heaven and earth just by speaking it is waiting for your tongue to speak LIFE, and it shall come to pass.  If you spoke death, it would be to curse.

God wants to confirm His word.  He yearns for you to do the works of God that He would be glorified.  Psalm 14:2 says, “The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.”  He rewards them that diligently seek Him according to Hebrews 11:6. 

Jesus said in Revelation 22:12, “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” 

If you believe, He will come forth inside of you, and it won’t be your hand, it will be His hand reaching out to the sick, the afflicted, the devil possessed.  He will heal and deliver, because the Lord will work with people who are living by faith.  My God follows His words with signs.  If He doesn’t, somewhere along the line I have unbelief.  That is sin, and I have to get it out. 

Hebrews 12:1 says, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” 

God wants to use YOU.  I pray that God touches every soul and faith rises in the heart of all who read or hear this sermon.  When you get down to pray, believe.  Romans 10:11 says, “For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”  If you pray, believing, you shall not be disappointed, ashamed, or misled.  God will answer your prayer.

There is a faith in God that is pure.  Though it be as small as a grain of mustard seed it is enough to remove mountains!

CONTACT INFORMATION:

PASTOR KEVIN BADGLEY

LIVING HOPE FELLOWSHIP, P. O. BOX 111, GRAND CHAIN, IL  62941

CHURCH / FAX (618) 634-2541

E-mail  livinghopefellowship@lazernetwireless.net

These condensed Bible studies have been published to help new Christians in their new walk with the Lord.  Kevin Badgley, the author, is the pastor of Living Hope Fellowship Church.

This is a Living Hope Fellowship publication.