Chapter 8. Step 3: Riding the Victorious Cycle. It is the right disposition of the heart towards God that leads people to outward acts of prayer. And on the other side, it is outward acts of prayer that preserve and strengthen the right disposition of the heart towards God. William Law. The victorious cycle is closely connected with producing kingdom fruit. With reference to such fruit, Jesus has told us that without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5).
In fact, without His help we would not have been able to make a proper examination of ourselves and to have come to real repentance. But how do we tap into His power to be able to produce fruit? Jesus mentions two things that we have to do: pray and obey. Jesus invites us. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, knew how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him? Matthew 7:7-11. So to receive we must ask, which we do through prayer. Millions of people pray to God for the power to live the Christian life. But many of them never receive the power they hope for.
That's because they don't meet the second condition Jesus gives. If you love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He will give you another helper, that He may abide with you forever. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. John 14:15-16 and Chapter 15:10.
Although prayer is the primary channel to bringing God's power to live the Christian life, we need to be living the Christian life for our prayers to be effective. As James said, "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." James 5:16. What about the fervent prayer of an unrighteous man? Apparently, it avails little. Peter makes this point clear in his first epistle. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. 1 Peter 3:12. So God hears the prayers of the righteous, but He turns away from the wicked. Accordingly, our obedience makes a significant difference as to whether our prayers are answered. Peter also points out the purifying effect obedience has on our souls. He writes, "You have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit." 1 Peter 1:22. In this passage, Peter isn't talking about our initial conversion or new birth.
Rather, he is addressing those of us who are born-again Christians. He tells us that obeying the truth has a purifying effect on our souls. Riding a bike. The victorious cycle is a lot like riding a bike. To be able to ride a bike, you must be able to keep your balance. But it's almost impossible to balance yourself on a bike unless it's moving. So you have to be balanced to move, yet you have to be moving to keep your balance. At first, this sounds like a catch-22, but it's not.
Most of us have learned to ride bicycles. You move a little, and that helps you get your balance. Your balance then helps you to move a bit more. That helps you balance even more, enabling you to move that much faster. And before you know it, you're riding a bike. It sounds complicated, but as most of us have experienced, once we get the knack of riding a bicycle, it's something we can do without thinking. The kingdom life is very similar. To live an obedient life, we need power from God.
To have power from God, we must pray. However, for our prayers to be effective, we must be living an obedient life. Once again, it sounds like a catch-22, but it's not. In fact, learning to walk with God is as easy as learning to ride a bike. We pray for power to live an obedient life in a particular area. Then we step out in faith, deny our flesh, and obey that particular commandment. Yes, it is difficult at first. However, this initial obedience enhances our prayer life.
So the next time we pray, our prayers avail more than they did previously. So now our prayers provide us with even more power to obey. As we continue to obey, our prayers become even more effective. This, in turn, gives us even more power to obey. We now can step out in faith to obey other commands that we previously neglected. This, in turn, causes our prayers to avail that much more, giving us additional power to obey, and so on. It's what I call the victorious cycle.
It works like a vicious cycle, except that it operates in reverse. My dictionary defines a vicious cycle as a situation in which an attempt to resolve one problem creates new problems that lead back to the original situation. For example, parents in a developing country may be struggling to provide food, clothing, and housing for their family. So they take their children out of school and put them to work. The income from the children helps the family to survive.
However, without an education, their children are doomed to low-paying jobs as adults. As a result, these adult children struggle to support their own families. So they too take their children out of school to help provide for the family. And the cycle goes on. The victorious cycle works similarly, except that it's something good, and it's something very powerful. The great secret of the kingdom life. The victorious cycle is one of the great secrets of the kingdom life that so many Christians miss.
Too many Christians think they can simply add prayer to an otherwise ungodly, pleasure-driven life and that God is then going to do all of the work for them. It has never worked that way, and it never will. Concerning the need for prayer and obedience to work together, the anonymous author of The Kneeling Christian writes, "This truth is so clearly taught in Scripture that it is amazing that any should try to retain both sin and prayer. Yet very many do this.
David cried long ages ago, 'If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.'" Psalm 66:18. And Isaiah says, "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you." Isaiah 59:2. William Law minces no words in declaring that prayer accompanied by disobedience will get us nowhere. Bended knees, while you are clothed with pride? Heavenly petitions, while you are hoarding up treasures upon earth? Holy devotions, while you live in the follies of the world?
Prayers of meekness and charity, while your heart is the seat of pride and resentment. Spending hours of prayer, while you give up years to idle amusements, impertinent visits, and foolish pleasures. These are all absurd and unacceptable services to God. It's like words of thanksgiving coming from a person who lives in discontent. Unless the common course of our lives is according to the common spirit of our prayers, our prayers are far from being a real or sufficient degree of devotion.
They are nothing but lip service, or, what is worse, flagrant hypocrisy. Adding faith. To make our illustration simple, I've only mentioned two factors: prayer and obedience. But now let's add a third element to strengthen our victorious cycle. That element is faith. Jesus explains, "If you have faith and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it shall happen.
And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." Matthew 21:21-22. So for our prayers to be particularly effective, we need not only obedience, but also faith. When we ask in faith, our prayers are much more apt to be answered. This, in turn, gives us more power to obey God. As we see God's transforming power in our lives, this strengthens our faith further. With stronger faith, our prayers are that much more effective, and so on. So how can we develop a regular prayer life?