Faith grows when you believe in the power of prayer and faith.
I once heard someone criticize a Bible teacher for “having faith in faith.” In other words, the critic concluded that the teacher in effect had confidence in his faith apart from God. Perhaps the critic felt the teacher was even exalting faith above God, that to get what one wants, God’s will or involvement are not an issue, that all one needs is to have strong faith and use it in certain ways.
Well, there certainly are ways to abuse the teaching of faith, but believing that prayer and faith are powerful is not one of them. Scripture affirms it explicitly. James 5:16 says, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (ESV).
The power of prayer
God says this because he wants us to believe it. It helps your faith when you believe prayer is powerful. It helps your faith not only to know God ultimately is powerful, but also that because of his power prayer secondarily is powerful. The power of prayer is a derived power, but it is definitely powerful.
Peter prayed over the corpse of Dorcas, and she returned to life.
After three years of famine in Israel, Elijah bowed to the ground and prayed atop Mt. Carmel, and a thunderstorm resulted.
When Daniel prayed for understanding, God sent an angel.
The power of faith
Faith also is powerful.
Jesus said, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him” (Mark 11:22–24, ESV).
Similarly, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20).
So Jesus wants us to believe in the power of faith. Speaking figuratively, he says it is so powerful it can move mountains. It can accomplish huge things.
By faith the teenager David slew the giant Goliath.
By faith Joshua caused the sun and moon to stand still in the sky so Israel could finish the defeat of an enemy in battle.
And by faith Moses pointed his staff toward the Red Sea, and it parted.
The power of prayer and faith is secondary
So it is not wrong to make much of the power of faith and prayer if we acknowledge God as the ultimate source of their power.
For nothing happens apart from him. “From him and through him and to him are all things,” including all answers to faith and prayer (Romans 11:36). Methods cannot accomplish anything apart from God.
When we recognize the power of our prayers and faith to move mountains, we are like David, who trusted in God to give him victory over Goliath but also chose his weapons carefully. Saul tried to help David by giving him his armor and weapons. David tried them out and realized they would not help him because he had no training or experience with them. Instead he stayed with the weapons in which he had confidence and experience: his sling and staff.
He ran confidently toward Goliath declaring his faith in God and swirling the sling he had used powerfully in the past to drive predators from his sheep. He knew what that sling could do with God’s help.
We likewise must believe in the power of prayer and faith and what they can accomplish through God.
Two obstacles to faith
The greatest obstacles in Western culture to believing this are a naturalistic worldview and a cessationist theology.
Naturalism believes matter is all that exists, that science can explain everything apart from the existence of God, and that miracles are impossible. The Bible rejects that notion from cover to cover. But even those who believe in God can struggle to escape the effects of a non-supernatural worldview. To do so, they must saturate themselves in Scripture, believe what it says, and recognize the effects of naturalism in their own belief system and expectations.
Cessationism is the belief that the supernatural works narrated in abundance in the four Gospels and the Book of Acts ended when the last of the apostles died. Christians who have cessationist beliefs will have a limited view of the power of faith and prayer.
Life principle
Prayer is powerful, and faith is powerful—through God.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)