Stan & Lana Putalov – Founders & Senior Leaders of Jesus Unltd & GodIsGoodTV Satellite Television Network
Dear Friends and Partners,
Have you noticed that some people say, “Prayer changes things!” while others say the exact opposite: “I prayed, but nothing changed in my life”? Why do people come to such different conclusions? Let’s talk about it.
Do you remember what Jesus said in Mark 11:23–24? — “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
So what is God’s kind of faith? And how can we move the mountains in our lives?
In 1997, we got married and became missionaries in a small village in Karelia. Right in the center of the village, there was a bar. We wanted people to turn to God and change their lives. But instead, people kept going to the bar and spending all their money there. We asked God to intervene, but nothing changed. Then we thought, “Why can’t we do what Jesus taught us to do?”
For the first time in our lives, we used our spiritual authority and prayed the way the Lord teaches in the New Testament. We spoke directly to that bar and said, “Leave this place and get out of our village!” And do you know what happened next? One month later, the bar went bankrupt! After that, the local administration gave our church the very building where the bar used to be. Soon everyone in the village knew the address of our church.
A few years later, when we came to India, we started a project to rescue children from sexual slavery. For many months, our team went into the slums where women were forced into prostitution. Their children lived there too. We tried to build relationships with these women, but nothing worked.
We prayed for two years. During those two years, we stood against the spiritual force that did not want to release its captives. But by then, we already understood something important — if we spoke to this mountain in faith, God would help us and answer our prayers. At first, it seemed like nothing was happening in the visible world. But one day, a breakthrough came. We rescued the first children from the brothel and brought them into our home.
Friends, our prayers remain unanswered not because God does not hear us. The problem is that we often do not pray the way Jesus taught us to pray. Instead of speaking to the mountains and commanding them to leave, we become discouraged and start complaining. We focus on our problems. We tell others how big our troubles are and how impossible they seem to solve.
But our prayers must carry faith. Faith is the ingredient that gives life to prayer. Faith fills us with hope that God will help us and answer us. In other words, we must believe the way Jesus Christ taught in the New Testament. Then our faith will begin to reflect the qualities of God and the power of His Word, and we will be able to move any mountain in our lives.
Here is how Mark 11:23–24 is translated in the Easy Bible: Jesus said, “Your faith must meet God’s standards. I assure you that My words are true. Any one of you can say, ‘Mountain, rise up from your place and throw yourself into the sea!’ But you must not allow doubt into your heart. Instead, believe that the mountain will obey your words. Then you will see the result of what you spoke to the mountain. Therefore I tell you: believe that you have already received everything you ask God for. Then you will see the answer to your prayer.”
#FromHeartToHeart Stan & Lana
Founders & Senior Leaders of Jesus Unltd
& GodIsGoodTV Satellite Television Network
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