Praying with Such Faith That It Is No Longer Necessary to Pray

Luke, Chapter 7, beginning with verse 1. At this time, as we seek the face of the Lord with greater intensity and power this week, we want to renew in our hearts that faith in Christ’s power to overcome any situation. And for me, this text that I am going to read illustrates something, and that is the simplicity of prayer. That is the focus God has placed on my heart for this passage.

Sometimes we make prayer so complicated and ritualistic, as though we place so many requirements on it, when in reality prayer is something simple when we look at this passage, and we can approach the Lord with complete confidence. In truth, what is needed to unleash the power of Christ in our lives is something very simple.

Let us look at this. I am not going to get too far ahead of the text itself. Let us read it, and then, in light of the text, I can make the point I want to make. It says here:

“…After He had finished all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum. And the servant of a centurion, whom he—the centurion—loved dearly, was sick and about to die. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some elders of the Jews to Him, asking Him to come and heal his servant. And they came to Jesus and pleaded earnestly with Him, saying, ‘He is worthy for You to grant him this, because he loves our nation and built us a synagogue.’ And Jesus granted their request and went with them. But when they were not far from the house, the centurion sent some friends to Him, saying, ‘Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You; but speak the word, and my servant will be healed.’

Notice how simple this is. Speak the word, and my servant will be healed.

“…For I too am a man placed under authority, and I have soldiers under my command. I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another I say, ‘Come,’ and he comes. And I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it. When Jesus heard this, He marveled at him and, turning around, said to the people who followed Him, ‘I tell you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.’ And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant who had been sick in good health…”

Blessed be the name of the Lord. You know that all the passages in Scripture concerning the life of Jesus were placed there because they are meant to illustrate a truth about Christ’s ministry or about the spiritual life we live as members of the Kingdom of God.

I see something here about… There is a type of character who appears many times in Scripture, and it is what I call the outsider, the person from outside, the person who does not necessarily belong to Israel.

You can think, for example, of the woman with the flow of blood. She was a woman who was not supposed to be in the crowd; she was not supposed to have the right even to approach Jesus. In other words, she was ritually unclean.

We think of Zacchaeus, who was also an immoral man in a sense. He was a thief, he was an oppressor, and he was, in a sense, outside the grace of God. He had no right to approach Jesus.

Let us also think about the friends of the paralyzed man. The Bible says that they wanted to bring their friend so that Jesus might heal him, but when they tried to enter the house where Jesus was, the house was so full of people that they could not get in with the stretcher on which their paralyzed friend was lying.

And I could tell you other stories like that. There was also Bartimaeus, who was a blind man. The Lord was on His way somewhere; He was not looking for him, and Bartimaeus cries out and cries out and cries out, “Lord, attend to me! Lord, attend to me!” And the disciples tell him, “Be quiet. Leave the Master alone.” But he continues and finally gains access to the person of Jesus, though at first it was as if he had no right to be there in the presence of God.

And the more I think about it, I also think of the Syrophoenician woman. She was not from Israel. At first the Lord rejects her: “You are not a member of any tribe of Israel. You have no right for your daughter to be healed.” But she persists and finally receives what she needed.

And if you look at all these people, none of them had a right to receive what they needed and were asking for. But they had something in common, which was great faith and confidence that Christ would not reject them if they approached Him in some way.

Incidentally, I do not want to make the subject too complicated, because what really interests me is that simplicity. But also notice, for our sake, that many times we must overcome obstacles in order to reach the presence of Jesus and receive what we need. All these people persisted and overcame the obstacles in order to reach the presence of Jesus and receive His blessing.

And that happens to us in our prayer lives. Incidentally, I would love it if, the first time I knocked at God’s door, the door immediately—even without my knocking—swung open… so that you almost trip over it because it opens before you even… But unfortunately, we know that it does not work that way. Many times we have to knock and knock and knock, and weeks and months go by, and we ask the Lord for something and do not receive it immediately in the way we desire.

It is a mystery, that almost physical aspect of prayer, how it seems to require exercise, effort, work that we have to do here in the world, because for some reason we have to regard something like the miracle we want to receive as very important, and we have to strive and work and do our part in order to receive what God wants to give us.

Apart from everything else, I want you to understand that it is important, if you are asking the Lord for something in your life—a solution you need, a provision—look, you have to buckle down, as we Dominicans say. You have to buckle down, do your part, and work hard. You cannot give up too easily. You have to fight.

This is not for lazy people. You have to fight. Something that deeply touches me about that passage is that this centurion was a foreigner, a Gentile. He had no right to ask Jesus for anything, yet he dared to ask Jesus to heal his servant.

How many of us sometimes feel as though, “I really have no right to come into the presence of God. If last week I stayed in bed on Sunday morning and did not go to church, how can I come…”

“If I committed a sin or had a bad thought or did something improper, or if I have some bondage, an addiction, or whatever it may be, what right do I have to come into the presence of God? God is not going to listen to me.”

Or some of us are perfectionists by nature and believe that we must have everything neatly pressed and properly arranged, with everything in order, before God can listen to us.

And how many of us have gotten ourselves into a mess through our own foolishness, and when we are in that mess we say, “Well, I cannot ask the Lord to get me out of here if I am the one who got myself into it. How can I ask the Lord to help me?”

And you know what? The devil is well prepared and ready to help us in that process, making us feel guilty and unworthy of coming into the presence of God.

How many of us parents sometimes look back and see that we made mistakes with our children? Perhaps we did not know the Lord, and during those first years when we raised them, we raised them in a very imperfect environment, where these children took part in all the things that happen in a home where the Lord is not known. Then they reach adulthood bearing those wounds, and now they are young people who are rebellious and do not want to come to church, after we have converted to the Lord. And we know that much of what they are suffering is because we unfortunately made mistakes, and then we feel as though, “What right do I have to ask God to help my child, to move him forward, when I myself am the one who put him where he is right now?”

Or we disobeyed our parents and married someone who was not the right person, and now we have to put up with that piece of meat sitting there. We are unhappy, we are suffering, that person is mistreating us, and we say, “Well, what right do I have to ask Him to convert my wife?”—and not only men say this about their wives—“Lord, now all I can do is suffer until I die, and that is all, because I am the one who got myself into this mess. I disobeyed my parents, I disobeyed my pastor,” or whatever it may have been. Many times that can happen as well. So we believe we have no right to come before the Lord and ask Him to get us out of the mess.

You know what I always see, brothers and sisters? God tells me this again and again in my life, in the lives of my loved ones, and in the people I observe: God’s heart is much simpler than we give Him credit for. God is a simple God. I am not saying this, brothers and sisters, so that we may abuse God’s mercy and love. Please understand me.

What I am saying is that again and again I see that what God seeks, brothers and sisters, is a contrite and humbled heart that recognizes that, ultimately, no one has the right to come into the presence of God. No one.

Many times we are suffering and whipping our own backs, believing that we have to walk all the way to Rome on our knees and climb every step of St. Peter’s Basilica before God will listen to us. And God is there, fanning Himself and saying, “Why is this fellow suffering so much when I already told him that all he has to do is come confidently before the throne of Grace and ask, and I will give it to him, because he is My son, she is My daughter, I love him, I love her, I have forgiven them, and I am fine?”

I believe we suffer too much. God’s heart is the heart of a father; it is a generous, tolerant heart, more so than we think.

And I believe that if we could understand that heart of God, we would wear ourselves out less in life and could accomplish more, even becoming holier toward God.

God is infinitely complex, but He is also simple at heart, brothers and sisters. And all God wants is for us to reach the point of acknowledging, “Father, I am nobody. I have no right to You. Nevertheless, You love me, and I am Your child, and I can enter confidently before Your throne and ask You, just as my daughter asks me, or my grandson, my granddaughter, or someone I love so dearly asks me. And I am more than eager to give to them because I love them, period. That is all.”

When your heart is surrendered to God, when you love Him above all things, when you desire to glorify Him with your life, even when you mess up, God is always willing to heal you, forgive you, lift you up, and bless you. That is what I see throughout all of Scripture. There is no need to make life too complicated, brothers and sisters.

You know what? When you learn to live within God’s acceptance, that releases energies within you that then even enable you to be more pleasing to Him and to live the life God wants you to live, instead of living tormented and condemned, continually uncertain and believing that you have to do this and that for God to give you something. That is not how it is.

Look at this word, which is found not in the New Testament—because one could understand it in the New Testament: grace, forgiveness, mercy. No, this is in the Old Testament, Micah, Chapter 6.

I will let you go in just a little while, brothers and sisters—40 more minutes and we will be finished. Look at Chapter 6, verse 6. Take this word with you tonight, brother, sister, and meditate on it. Micah says here—and he is asking this rhetorically because the answer is already known; it is not a question… no, he knows the answer and is asking the question—he says:

“…With what shall I come before the Lord and worship the Most High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with one-year-old calves? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my rebellion, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?…”

In other words, this is what people believe: that in order to come before God and obtain something from Him, they have to stab themselves with a knife and tear out their entrails, and they have to bleed and sacrifice their youngest child, and they have to do something tremendously sacrificial and agonizing so that God will then say, “Oh, are you talking to Me?” and pay attention to what they are saying. “Shall I approach with this, with that?”

Look at what it says. What is the answer to this question? It says:

“…O man, or woman, He has declared to you what is good. He has already told you what you must do, what is necessary, what is good and proper…”

There is something like a note of impatience. God speaking Dominican: “But, boy! Come on, man! Goodness, haven’t I already told you what you have to do?” And what does the Lord require of you? Only—everyone say, “Only”—to do justice, love mercy, and humble yourself before your God.

In other words, you know, brothers and sisters, that is what pleases Him in the end. You can come to church and stay here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, fast every day, lie facedown, and stand on one foot for 24 hours. Do whatever you want; that is not what moves the heart of God.

There are many people who believe that by doing all these things, they will somehow bribe the heart of God and move the little needle slightly in their direction. God’s heart is very simple, brothers and sisters, and what pleases Him is when a man or woman serves Him with sincerity, love, and dedication, loving Him passionately above all things. That is what matters most to God.

And that is why this man, the centurion, [inaudible] what the connection is with the centurion [inaudible] because this man is not from Israel, he has no right to be in Jesus’ presence, he sends other Jews to speak to Jesus and intercede for him, and he sort of sets a very complex machinery in motion. Jesus comes with a large entourage, the Kingdom of God mobilizes on his behalf, he does all the right things, and then the machinery of heaven, as it were, begins to move to grant his request to heal his servant. But look at what happens here.

But suddenly the machinery stops, and this man says, you know what? He sends someone and says, look, wait, the light bulb just went on for me. He does not have to come to my house, because this is so simple: he merely has to give the word, just say the word, and that is all that is needed for my servant to be healed.

The heart of this centurion was a noble heart; he loved the Jews, he loved his servants. How many centurions would be troubled because their servant was sick? What they would do is simply kick him out and get themselves another fresh servant to replace him. But this man had a simple heart; he loved God, he loved his servant, he loved Israel.

And so he says, Lord, you do not have to do all that. You know what? I have realized that I am a soldier and I am an officer, and I tell my subordinates, “Do this,” and they do it, so simply say the word; that is all, Lord, say the word and everything will be resolved. You do not have to come to my house; simply say the word, because I do not consider myself worthy.

Do you see it? That humility, that simple heart. I do not consider myself worthy for you to enter my house. And really, ultimately, it is not necessary; if you are willing, say the word and everything will be resolved.

That is to say, there was no grand ceremony; he did not have to use the phrases or expressions of Judaism; he was not even Jewish, he did not even know Judaism. But his heart was full of faith, love, and trust in Jesus and in the ways of the Kingdom, and that was all that was needed.

And do you know what is interesting about this passage? Nowhere here does it tell me that Jesus said, “Roman centurion, your servant is healed; go, because I have given the word, and he will be well when you get there.” He says nothing. He says absolutely nothing.

The Lord was so amazed by the faith that he even forgot about the problem of that blessed servant. That is, it simply took second place. The Lord marveled at the faith; he rejoiced. And I believe that the Lord’s joy was transmitted and manifested in a healing. The Lord did not even say, “May your servant be healed,” because that is how things are in the Kingdom of God.

Brothers and sisters, I would like that in my life: for my faith in God to be so great that I would not even have to pray. Do you know that I believe that is possible? For the faith of a man or a woman to be so great that they do not even have to ask the Lord for anything, because something about him or her opens the floodgates of heaven, closes, opens, tears down, builds up, because our heart is full of faith, and from that faith flows every good thing we need.

Let me tell you something—and this sounds as if I were some kind of Zen Buddhist—but many times the most powerful prayer is the one that is not spoken; it is the one that is so real there in the heart that it does not even occur to us to say it, because we believe so deeply that we do not have to put it into words. Do you understand what I am telling you?

There are many times when God tells me, “Look, do not pray to me about it, and do that as an offering of faith to me. Do not ask me for what you were going to ask me; simply be quiet and believe that I am going to give it to you.” And God grants me that request.

Sometimes, when you have asked the Lord many times and he already knows, and you have put it to him in Spanish, Chinese, English, and French—look, rest, be quiet, leave it there with the Lord, give thanks to him, and be at rest, because your prayer has already been answered.

So, brothers and sisters, let us remember the simplicity of God’s heart tonight. I believe that the miracle of that sanctuary is already there in God’s heart, and now what we have to do is move forward in that assurance, do our part, and trust in the Lord. God already has that in his heart, and it is going to happen.

And tonight, if there is something in your heart, a request you want to make of God, something great, serious, important, I ask you to adopt the centurion’s faith tonight.

Let us stand right now, and let us place that request, that need, before God and say to him, “Lord, I trust that you will give me what my heart longs for. I believe it tonight, and I thank you for it, Lord.”

Rest in the Lord now; surrender it to the Lord; trust in the Lord. You can continue praying for it—I am not telling you not to—but do it from a posture of faith and confidence that your request has been granted because your heart is right with God. God loves you. God rejoices with you; rest in him tonight. God is.

So, Lord, in the name of Jesus, we take hold of that faith of the centurion tonight, and we declare that we will live a life from victory to victory, from power to power; you will give us the desires of our heart. Thank you that we do not have to strain ourselves, because you already want to give us the desires of our heart.

Thank you for your love for this congregation. Thank you for the dreams you have placed in our spirit. Thank you that you take us from victory to victory, from height to height, and we believe that the generous heart of our Father will always be willing to give good things to those of us who ask him.

Thank you, Lord, because you are a merciful God. Tonight, fill us with the joy of your heart; bless our brothers and sisters. I bless them in the name of Jesus. We declare the grace of the Lord over your life. May God grant you joy and peace and blessing, prosperity and power, the desires of your heart and the petitions of your soul; may he [inaudible] your land and heal your family and your home and give you his peace tonight.

I declare God’s goodwill over your life. I declare the breeze of God that carries away everything bad and negative that the devil wants to hurl upon your life. I declare blessing and hope over your life. Thank you, Lord; we love you, we worship you because you are good and because your mercy endures forever, Lord. Hallelujah!

Give the Lord a great round of applause filled with joy and gratitude. Thank you, Jesus; we love you, we bless you. Hallelujah! Thank you, Lord, because you are good, because of your Father’s heart, because you love us and we are secure in you, Lord. Amen.