The more I study the Bible, and the lives of the saints, and the more I practice praying for healing, deliverance, and nature miracles—the more I’m convinced of Jesus’ saying, “According to your faith will it be done” (Matt. 9:29). In other words, the measure of faith you have for a miracle, is the measure of miracle you will experience. If you have a little faith for a miracle, then know that when you pray for that miracle to happen—you will get only a little result. Weak faith, and weak prayer—results in a weak miracle. But strong faith, and strong prayer—results in a strong miracle. The Bible speaks of the “measure of faith God has given you” (Rom. 12:3). So, there are levels of faith—and levels of miracles that correspond to faith levels in prayer. This applies to healing, casting out demons, and even praying for nature miracles like changing water into wine.
Paul says, “If I have a faith that can move mountains” (1 Cor. 13:2)—his use of the article “a” indicates that he is speaking of “a” special level of faith for mountain-moving miraculous prayer (like when Moses parted the Red Sea). This is a miraculous faith based on divine revelation through either a dream, a vision, a voice, or a sudden impression. So, Paul is speaking of different kinds of faith—faith for different things, faith to accomplish different works. A faith for salvation, a faith for sanctification, a faith for healing paralysis, a faith for healing blindness, a faith for casting out demons (discerning of spirits), a faith for walking on water, a faith to pray for rain, a faith to pray to move mountains. “According to your faith will it be done” (Matt. 9:29)—by the “measure of faith God has given you” (Rom. 12:3). Just as there are different levels of power, and different levels of miracles—there are also different levels of faith for those things.
You might have a faith to pray for someone’s gradual pain removal, but not a faith to pray for their instant and total healing. Oh well! Take what you can get!—“According to your faith will it be done.” A faith to pray for pain removal is better than no faith at all! Thank the Lord.
You might have a faith to pray for a torrential downpour to decrease by 90%, but not 100%. Oh well! Take what you can get! A faith for a 90% rain decrease is better than no faith at all! Thank the Lord.
You might have a faith to pray for a demonically oppressed person’s hallucinations to temporarily go away, but not a faith to completely deliver the person from schizophrenia. Oh well! Take what you can get! A faith to temporarily remove demonic oppression is better than no faith at all! Thank the Lord.
You might have a faith to pray for a blind man to receive some of his sight partially back, but not a faith to make him see 100% perfectly. Oh well! Take what you can get! A faith to heal a blind man partially of blindness is better than no faith at all! Thank the Lord.
There are levels of faith and power. We are all going on to perfection. Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2)—and that means we’re all in process. No Christian has perfect faith; our faith needs to grow. But as our faith grows, our power will grow, and our miracles will grow—in Jesus’ Name and by His grace. Christians can develop their prophetic and miraculous powers—through developing their faith for such things.
John G. Lake, the great Pentecostal healer, preferred to use the word “consciousness” to describe his experience of miraculous faith. Through fasting, praying, and contemplation on Christ—these were the ways he increased his faith consciousness. He also said that praying in tongues is a “faith builder.” The Bible says, “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself” (1 Cor. 14:4). But I will be honest—I don’t really know just exactly what prayer disciplines directly lead to miraculous faith. People quote Jesus all the time—in His reference to casting out demons: “This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29). I acknowledge that, but I don’t understand it just yet. What did Jesus mean? What kind of prayer; and what kind of fasting? In the years to come, I hope to learn more about this from the lives of the saints. I believe this will lead to miraculous faith—the kind we see in the Bible!
Books that shine light on Charismatic prayer and fasting:
4 C. – John Cassian’s The Conferences
1946 – Franklin Hall’s Atomic Power with God with Fasting and Prayer
– 3/19/11 – 2 days after writing the above article, God answered my questions through this booklet that I found as a PDF file on the Internet. It teaches how to fast from food for 40 days, but continuing to stay refreshed on water. This is supposed to increase faith and power to pray for miracles of salvation, healing, deliverance, and nature! The longer the fast, the more power acquired for prayer. It can also open you up to high level revelations such as visitations from Jesus and out-of-body experiences. See also Franklin Hall’s The Fasting Prayer, Gordon Lindsay’s Prayer and Fasting (1974) and Mahesh Chavda’s The Hidden Power of Prayer and Fasting. All of these books teach a prolonged fast from food, consuming only water. And practicing healing prayer while on the fast. Franklin Hall’s Atomic Power with God is available in book form for $4 from Lake Hamilton Bible Camp. I would not recommend this book by Franklin Hall, however, because he often refers to ideas from pagan religions on fasting or to the Zodiac. I would be much more inclined to recommend anything from Gordon Lindsay during the healing revival of the ’50s; and in this case, his book Prayer and Fasting looks like a good one. – 12/4/17
1968 – Arthur Wallis’ God’s Chosen Fast: A Spiritual and Practical Guide to Fasting
1976 – Derek Prince’s How to Fast Successfully
“This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29). What kind of prayer? Healing prayer and deliverance prayer—word of command: “Devil! Come out in Jesus’ Name!” What kind of fasting? Complete abstinence from food of all kinds, drinking only water—anywhere from 2 to 5 weeks (14-40 days). Any prayer that is prayed—including healing prayer—while on this fast will result in miraculous and powerful results! Instant miracles! Instant healings! The trick is training your will power to be able to fast for that long! The first 5 days are especially hard—headaches, hunger, cravings, etc. But if you worship and pray your way through it, drinking plenty of water, the fast will become less torture and more easy. And when you’re “flying high” far along in your fast, that’s when you need to be praying for healing and deliverance by the laying on of hands. Pray for nature miracles too—for the rain to come or stop! Contemplative prayer during such a fast may also result in powerful visions and God’s voice.
12/5/11 – Is It Always Necessary to Fast When Praying for Healing? No. If you deem your faith for miraculous healing to be strong enough, then you can go right ahead and start praying for the sick. But sometimes, if you want to guarantee your faith will be strong, then pray for the sick while on a fast. There is no strict rule. But here are some examples of fasting and healing prayer.
Carrie Judd Montgomery’s The Prayer of Faith (1880) – “I was in the last stages of consumption. Finally my wife was fasting all day, praying the Lord to give me healing-faith, though I knew nothing of it. That very night I called my wife and children to my couch, and asked if they had any faith, and they all replied, ‘yes.’ I then took my Bible, turned with trembling hands, and read several promises on prayer and faith, and also that ‘the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up,’ and we prayed and united our faith, claiming the promise, ‘if two of you shall agree on earth, as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done.’ As we were praying, I felt a sensation from my head down my spine, and to my feet, like the shock from a battery, and I knew I was healed” (Rev. A. P. Moore in Carrie Judd Montgomery’s The Prayer of Faith, pp. 137-138).
Mrs. Edward Mix’s Faith Cures, and Answers to Prayer (1882) – “I can say, to the praise of God, I am healed, I am healed, and I have great faith in fasting and prayer. O, what a glorious Savior we have; yes, our God is mighty to save” (Mrs. Isaac Albertson in Mrs. Edward Mix’s Faith Cures, and Answers to Prayer, p. 107).
A. J. Gordon’s The Ministry of Healing (1882) – “Clement says, in giving directions for visiting the sick and afflicted: ‘Let them, therefore, with fasting and prayer, make their intercessions, and not with the well arranged and fitly ordered words of learning, but as men who have received the gift of healing confidently, to the glory of God‘ [Contra Celsum, 3.24]'” (The Ministry of Healing, p. 61).
A. B. Simpson’s The Gospel of Healing (1890) – Silent on fasting.
Andrew Murray’s Divine Healing (1900) – Silent on fasting.
Maria Woodworth-Etter’s Signs and Wonders (1916) – Silent on fasting.
John G. Lake (d. 1935) – “When it became known the surgeon was dead, the three dying men went into the blackness of despair; all were hopeless. I then told them of my faith in Christ as Healer as well as Savior of men, and begged them to let me minister to them and to trust Him for themselves as best they were able. I spent two days and three nights in fasting and prayer with them. They were healed, and we finished the trip without remedy or preventative medicine of any kind” (John G. Lake on Healing, pp. 137-138).
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