Figuring Out Faith and Prayer - Church Prayer Leaders Network

In, With, Of, For—Those Pesky Prepositions

By Pat Heston

Peter Marshall, the great preacher of the early 20th century, spoke of “faith . . . as real as fire . . . and prayer as real as potatoes.” That phrase not only appeals to our senses but also reveals the intimate biblical connection between faith and prayer.

Christians know almost instinctively that faith and prayer belong together. But Scripture joins the two words in the same sentence only in rare examples:

James’s insistence that the prayer of faith will make sick people well (James 5:15)
Jesus’ instruction that whatever we ask for in prayer we will receive if we have faith (Matt. 21:22; Mark 11:24)
Jesus’ promise to Peter: “I have prayed for you . . . that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:32).

Though rare grammatically, the link between prayer and faith, however, is a common assumption of nearly every teaching and story about prayer in the Bible. From entreaties of Abram in Genesis to those of saints in Revelation, the words, phrases, cries, and petitions are flooded with faith. From Jesus’ example of prayer to His teachings on the subject, faith is obvious, though seldom named.

Modern Christian jargon has developed a fondness for prepositions that Scripture seems not to share. We speak and write of praying in faith and with faith and for faith, even of offering a prayer of faith, which is the one prepositional phrase the Bible does use.1 The fact that the first three are foreign to Scripture does not render them invalid, however. The concepts are present even if the precise expressions are not.

So what can we learn by considering the nuances of each of these phrases?

Praying in Faith

Today the phrase, praying in faith, is used so freely and loosely that, in practice, it means little more than praying with faith. But that tiny, two-letter preposition, in, deserves to stand on its own. And when it does, it reveals a truly vital element of prayer.

In means exactly what it sounds like: inside, within, contained or enclosed by, e.g., “I put money in your birthday card” or “the cake is in the oven.” To be in is to exist within a specific realm.

My daughter, an actress, lives in Hollywood. It is the realm of her existence. It is where she lives and works, eats and sleeps, auditions and acts. It is that place from which all her goings and comings, and all her social and business contacts originate. She is in Hollywood. She lives there.

To pray in faith is not so much to pray believing as it is to pray from the realm of faith, to pray from where one lives, to pray from a life of faith. It is the example of Elijah. Within the context of a life of faith, he prayed for God to answer and fire fell. He prayed for drought to end and rain fell.

To pray in faith is the essence of James 5:16: “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Not the prayer of any person, but of a righteous person—of one whose prayer flows from where and how he or she lives: in faith.

When our prayers do not issue from a life of faith-in-practice, we are like persons attempting to run a marathon from a life of sloth and gluttony. Or, worse yet, like sons of the Jewish priest Sceva, who wrongly thought that success in casting out demons lay in the act and words themselves, rather than in the life behind them (Acts 19:13–16).

The life behind prayer creates the core of praying in faith.

Praying with Faith

With implies closeness or proximity, being near, alongside, or in the company of, e.g., “I enjoy walks with my wife” or “I like spending time with friends.” It shows faith operating alongside prayer, one incomplete without the other.

But with can also mean “into,” as in “to get just the right color and shade, the artist mixed blue paint with yellow.” That describes an even closer closeness, a comingling where two actually become one. Prayer and faith are that intimately joined.

The Book of James is a microcosm of the Bible’s teaching on praying with faith. The author cannot conceive of prayer operating apart from faith (1:5–8). James’s assertion that prayer is not prayer without faith derives from Jesus’ teachings on the subject (Matt. 21:18–22; Mark 11:22–26). And most great prayers of Scripture2 are phenomenal affirmations of faith.

Without faith, not only are works dead (James 2:17), but so is prayer.

Praying for Faith

The Bible tells of Jacob working 14 years for his wife Rachel (Gen. 29:1–30). In the literal sense of that preposition, he worked “in order to get, to have, or to keep.” Praying for faith is pleading for what we need from an awareness of lack.

It is the prayer of the father of a demon-possessed son in his petition to Jesus: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).
It is the prayer of the disciples who were so unnerved by Jesus’ words that they cried to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5).
It is Jesus’ prayer for Peter, the fisherman-turned-disciple, when he entered the fiercest test of his life. Jesus told him, “I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:32).
It is the early believers’ prayer for boldness in the face of increasing persecution (Acts 4:29–30). In that prayer for faith, they were asking, as Paul did for the Corinthians, that they might stand firm in the faith (1 Cor. 16:13).

When trials reveal chinks in our spiritual armor, gaps in our confidence, or flaws in our courage, a prayer for faith is an urgent—even desperate—plea that we might not fail but stand firm.

Prayer of Faith

The term of faith occurs only in James 5:15, and it comes with a promise: “The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up” (esv).

A prayer of faith is one of assurance based on a definite promise from God. Elijah’s prayer for rain, mentioned by James (5:17–18), was a prayer of faith. Elijah offered that prayer with full assurance because he had a definite promise from God (1 Kings 18:1).

But other prayers—such as those of Jesus in the agony of Gethsemane3—were spoken into the face of uncertainty: “If it is possible” and “if it is not possible.” Here there is no definite promise from God. But it is nonetheless an utterance of faith, for Jesus prayed, “Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

A prayer of faith is one of acceptance, fully surrendered to the will of God.

Where there is a definite promise from God, we pray with expectation. As Andrew Murray says, “Faith in the promises is the fruit of faith in the Promiser.” Where there is no definite promise from God, however, we pray with expectancy, confident that His will is for our good and His glory.

Either way, the prayer is one of faith.

Living Out the Prepositions

At first glance, these prepositions may seem insignificant. But each one unpacks a unique perspective of relating faith to prayer.

Praying in faith assumes lifestyle—which gives prayer its power.
Praying with faith assumes partnership—which allows prayer and faith to operate in sync.
Praying for faith assumes necessity—which means that sometimes we will lack faith, so we pray that our faith may not fail but stand firm.
A prayer of faith assumes trust—which is grounded in the promise of God and the God of the promise.

In the end, prayer and faith are not so much meant to be figured out as they are meant to be lived out.

¹James 5:15: “the prayer of faith will make the sick person well.”²From Hezekiah’s prayer in the face of Sennacherib’s threat (2 Kings 18:17–19:19) to Jonah’s cry from the belly of a great fish (Jonah 2:1–9) to the early Christians’ prayer for boldness (Acts 4:29–30), as only three examples.³Matthew 26:36–46; Mark 14:32–42; Luke 22:39–46.

PAT HESTON is pastor of spiritual formation at Emmanuel Free Methodist Church in Alton, IL. He is a spiritual mentor and leads seminars and retreats.