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The Necessity of Prayer – Lesson XIII, Prayer and Trust
REVIEW EL PID ZO
1) el-pid'-zo From G1680; to expect or confide:—(have, thing) hope (-d) (for), trust.
Matthew 12:21, And in his name shall the Gentiles trust (el-pid'-zo )(hope).
Romans 15:12, And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust(el-pid'-zo ). expect or confide or hope
2) G3982 ðåßèù peithoô , pi'-tho
A primary verb; to convince (by argument, true or false); by analogy to pacify or conciliate (by other fair means); reflexively or passively to assent (to evidence or authority), to rely (by inward certainty):—agree, assure, believe, have confidence, be (wax) content, make friend, obey, persuade, trust, yield.
Mark 10:24, And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust (pi tho)(persuaded to rely upon) in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!
What do you persuade your children to rely upon?
Hebrews 2:13, And again, I will put my trust (pi tho) in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.
The Greek word pi'-tho which is translated trust or persuade or confidence or obey or believed in the New Testament is used 55 times.
22 of the 55 times it is translated to the word persuade.
10 of the 55 times it is translated to the word trust.
Also 10 of the 55 times it is translated to the word confidence.
Paul said in 2 Tim 2:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded (“Pi tho” ) that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. The word persuaded in this verse is from the Greek “Pi tho” which as I said is translated to the word trust in other verses. Paul had hope because he was persuaded. Hope stems from faith. Faith comes by being persuaded by the word of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So again I believe that the word trust as used on many occasions in the New Testament from the Greek word “pi tho” attaches itself more to the New Testament word faith than the Old Testament word trust. 3) G4100 ðéóôåýù pisteuoô, pist-yoo'-o From G4102; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), that is, credit; by implication to entrust (especially one’s spiritual well being to Christ):—believe (-r), commit (to trust), put in trust with. Luke 16:11, If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust (pist-yoo'-o) the true riches?
(who will entrust to you the true riches) mostly translated believe
1 Thessalonians 2:4, But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust (we are entrusted with the Gospel) with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.
1 Timothy 1:11, According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. The Greek word pist-yoo-o is used 220 times in the New Testament. It is only translated to the word trust 3 times. Most other times it is translated to the word believe. A few times to the word commit. Here again we see the use of the word trust in the New Testament to have a meaning which attaches to the the word faith than the Old Testament meaning of the word trust. 4) pep-oy'-thay-sis
2 Corinthians 3:4, And such trust (reliance) have we through Christ to God-ward:
G4006 ðåðïßèçóéò pepoitheôsis pep-oy'-thay-sis From the perfect of the alternate of G3958; reliance:—confidence, trust.
The Greek word pep-oy'-thay-sis is translated to the word trust only one time although it is used in the New Testament 6 times.
All other times it is translated to the word confidence.
So we see that the difference in the word trust between the Testaments is different enough to take note of and to consider when we study the scriptures.
The trust of the Old Testament, ie, fleeing for refuge to God is a very descripture picture of a trust that God’s people should have.
The trust of the New Testament leans more toward what we think of as faith.
It is used many times where the words hope or confidence or persuade or faith or believe could also have been used.
In any case the trust that is a must to effective prayer is the trust that is pictured as a fleeing to God for refuge.
It is a trust that communicates a heart whereby God is the only frame on which to lean.
God is the only fortress that will stand.
God is the only real security in this life and the next.
All other frames of this world, regardless of how sweet or of how strong we may think they are, are without merit and will fail.
There is only one frame that will go with you when you leave this life and that is God.
God expects his children to always know this and to not go to this world for help.
We are not to love the world as our security. Love not the world.
We are not to adopt the world system that has been set in place by Satan as our security but we are to always go to God as our security.
Satan has put this world system in place in order to rob God of his glory.
And a part of his glory is for his children to rely on Him at all times as their place of refuge.
But the constant and consistent aim of man though the centuries past as guided by Satan and man’s sinful nature, is to provide security apart from God.
But all securities apart from God are but vain and empty and bring one to have other gods before our God.
God expects as reasonable service that his children have a daily walk in trust that always puts God first in every situation.
It is the trust that a little child has in her mother.
It is the trust where Christ is pre-imminent.
It is the kind of trust that moves God because it is a trust that comes from great faith.
We must remember that, that it all stems from faith which is what pleases God.
Faith and the trust that comes from faith is the very foundation of praying.
The reason and impetus of prayer is trust.
Christ’s ministry and work was dependent on implicit trust in His Father.
I and my Father are One tells us of that implicit trust.
This is the pattern for anyone working the ministry of the Father.
The center of trust is God.
All difficulties, anything that hinders prayer are moved out of the way by faith and trust.
When trust is perfect and without doubt, prayer is the stretched out hand ready to receive from the father.
Trust looks to receive the thing asked for—and gets it.
Trust is not a belief that God can bless, that He will bless, but that He does bless, here and now.
Trust always operates in the present tense.
Hope looks toward the future. Trust looks to the present.
Hope expects. Trust possesses. Trust receives what prayer acquires. So that what prayer needs, at all times, is abiding and abundant trust. This is what the disciples needed when they failed to bring a cure to the boy who was afflicted by the devil. Christ was on the Mount of Transfiguation and they had been sent to do the Father’s will. They had been commissioned to cast out the devil from the boy, but they had failed. The devil was too much for them.
Did Jesus Christ provide sympathy for their failure?
Did he try to make their failure appear less failing?
Did he try to mitigate their failure?
No, he rebuked them as faithless and perverse.
“Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour. And when He was come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And He said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting.” (Matt 17:17-18; Mark 9:28-29) How would you like to be rebuked for not being able to cast out the devil? But Christ thought it a normal thing for his disciples to do this? Don’t they have the same Father in whom to flee for refuge? By bringing prayer and fasting into the picture the Lord indicates the the disciples had been negligent in cultivating their faith by prayer and fasting, (fasting is simply that which would bring more time for prayer), and, as a consequence, their trust failed completely. See how prayer and trust are so intricately linked. God gives instruction for his ministry but he expects you to stay in touch with him though prayer.
I and my father are One.
How do you stay One with the Father?
By being intricately linked though prayer. How do you stay one with your mate. By being intricately linked through communication.
The disciples trusted in themselves as the power to cast out the devil.
Christ’s lesson was that the power did not lie in themselves but lay in God and was to be received though prayer founded upon faith and trust.
Does the power to move your car lie in you or is the power only turned on by you connecting the car to the gas pump?
Failure of ministry results from a lack of trust which comes from weak faith, and this, in turn results in a lack in prayer.
Faith must be nurtured and made powerful by prayer.
Neglect of the prayer closet, neglect of being alone with God is the reason for spiritual failure.
Above all people, God’s people have no reason to fail.
How do you know that God is with you if you neglect that private communion with Him in the closet?
Trust is so simple that children trust without being taught how to trust. Example after example is given in the scriptures of simple trust and how Christ honored trust. To the woman with the issue of blood, who stood tremblingly before Him, He said:
“Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.” (Mark 5:34)
As the two blind men followed Him, pressing their way into the house, He said:
“According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened.” (Matt 9:29-30)
When the paralytic was let down through the roof of the house, where Jesus was teaching, and placed before Him by four of his friends, it is recorded after this fashion:
“And Jesus seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy: Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.” (Matt 9:2)
When Jesus dismissed the centurion whose servant was seriously ill, and who had come to Jesus with the prayer that He speak the healing word, without even going to his house, He did it in the manner following:
“And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.” (Matt 8:13)
When the poor leper fell at the feet of Jesus and cried out for relief,
“Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean,” Jesus immediately granted his request, and the man glorified Him with a loud voice. Then Jesus said unto him, “Arise, go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.”
The Syrophoenician woman came to Jesus with the case of her afflicted daughter, making the case her own, with the prayer, “Lord, help me,” making a fearful and heroic struggle. Jesus honors her faith and prayer, saying:
“O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.” (Matt 15:28)
After the disciples had utterly failed to cast the devil out of the epileptic boy, the father of the stricken lad came to Jesus with the plaintive and almost despairing cry, “If Thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” But Jesus replied, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”
Blind Bartimaeus sitting by the wayside, hears our Lord as He passes by, and cries out pitifully and almost despairingly, “Jesus, Thou son of David, have mercy on me.” The keen ears of our Lord immediately catch the sound of prayer, and He says to the beggar/
“Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.” (Mark 10:52)
To the weeping, penitent woman, washing His feet with her tears and wiping them with the hair of her head, Jesus speaks cheering, soul-comforting words: “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.”
One day Jesus healed ten lepers at one time, in answer to their united prayer, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us,” and He told them to go and show themselves to the priests. “And it came to pass as they went, they were cleansed.”
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