Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom 10:17). As we hear the promise of God and meditate upon it, plant it in our hearts, faith starts to come regarding the reception of the promise. This is the very faith that will be released when we pray the actual 'prayer of faith'. The answer is conceived in the believing heart before the prayer even passes the lips.
2. Receiving the promise
As faith develops we must receive the promise we are meditating upon, and personalise it. Jesus for example did not just die for the healing of the world in a general way, He died and received the stripes on His back so I could be healed; "I am healed by His stripes". Apply this principle to whatever area you intend to pray for. Find the promise of God in the Word, and make it your own.
3. Believe it is true for you
This is the most vital step. We have developed faith in our heart through the Word, and received it as a promise for ourselves. We now must believe that it is so. We are no longer 'hoping' that it will one day belong to us, it actually belongs to us right now. Hebrews 11:1 says:
"NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]."Someone with the title deed actually owns the property they have the deed for, even if they have not yet seen the property. It is theirs, because the deed declares it so. They no longer hope for it, it belongs to them. It may even be some time before they actually set foot in the place, but nevertheless, even during that waiting period, the house or property is theirs all along. God's promise is the title deed to the manifestation of the promise. When we believe and receive it as such, we pass from merely hoping to possessing the promise in the present.
(Heb 11:1 AMP)
Jesus said 'believe you receive when you pray', not 'when you finally see and set foot in the property'. When we pray we receive.
Just because we cannot necessarily see or feel the answer right now is beside the point. It is only in the natural that we don't have it at present. In the spirit it is ours right now. To bring that reality in the spirit into the natural realm, God has given us the prayer of faith. Faith reaches into the unseen realities of the spiritual world, and pulls them into the natural realm.
