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Truth #11 (part a) – Faith Can Grow

On our own we have zero capacity for faith in the true God revealed in the Bible. Therefore to grow in faith we need the God-given means of faith.

grow in faith

Have you ever wondered why Jesus admonished his disciples for their lack of faith in situations that would have tested even people of much faith?

The most surprising example of this was when a violent storm had nearly swamped the boat they were in, as Jesus slept peacefully on pillow. When the panicked disciples woke him, “he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?’ Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm” (Matthew 8:26).

We naturally think that it would take enormous faith not to be afraid in that situation. But Jesus faulted them for their fear, for their “little faith.” He did the same on other occasions. When the disciples could not cast out one particularly stubborn demon and the disciples asked him why, he pulled no punches, explaining, “Because of your little faith” (Matthew 17:20).

He said if they had faith only as small as a mustard seed they could move mountains. Yet the disciples did show faith when they left everything to follow him. So why did he fault them on other occasions?

The answer must be they had failed to rightly and fully employ the means of grace God had provided. They had neglected to use the ways God has given us all to grow in faith, and as a result they were men of little faith.

One of those means of growing in faith is reason.

1. Reason

Contrast the twelve disciples with the centurion—a gentile, no less—who rightly employed one of the means of faith, so much so that Jesus marveled. He asked Jesus to come and heal his servant and told him not to bother coming to his home but merely speak a word of command and the servant would be healed.

He explained, “For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” (Matthew 8:9).

Jesus remarked that he had never seen such great faith with anyone in Israel. On what did the centurion’s faith rest? On the foundation of reason. He had reasoned that if soldiers under his authority had to obey his words, then nature, including the disease in his servant’s body, had to obey the words of someone as manifestly authoritative as Jesus.

Although no one can come to saving faith in God by using unaided human wisdom and philosophy, God has ordained that human reason does play an important role in faith. That is why observing nature, for example, can lead to faith. It is obvious to any sane person without a sinful bias that a world of such amazing beauty, design, wisdom, and glory could not have come about except by an all-powerful and all-wise Creator. That is the right use of reason, and it leads to faith.

Let’s look at more God-given means to great faith.

2. The natural world

In the paragraph above we saw that reason can learn things about God from the natural world, and that is because it also is one of the most important means of faith.

Romans 1:19–20 says, “What can be known about God is plain to [unrighteous people], because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

The natural world shouts, There is a God! He has eternal power! He is divine!

Psalm 19:1–2 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.”

Contemplating God’s role in the natural world can not only cause people to believe that God exists, it increases the faith of those who already believe. Ponder the complex design of the human body, for example, and you can grow in faith as you realize how great is the wisdom required to create and sustain life (see Psalm 139). And then you reason, If God can do that, he can do this.

3. Obedience

In large measure, faith is an act of obedience. We humbly choose to believe what God says, whether we understand it or not, whether we like it or not.

Romans 16:26 speaks of “the obedience of faith.”

Second Thessalonians 2:10 speaks of “those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” Such refusal is an act of the will. It is a choice. Such refusal is an act of intellectual disobedience.

Jesus told a group of people who raised questions about his credentials for teaching: “If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority” (John 7:17).

In other words, the reason many people do not believe Jesus is they do not want to do God’s will. They attempt to hide their disobedient hearts by raising an unending list of questions and objections to this and that about God and the Bible, which they claim causes them not to believe. But Jesus says the real issue is they do not believe because they do not want to believe. They want to sin; they are in rebellion; and they rationalize it with unbelief.

Christians too can disobey intellectually

So how does this principle affect a sincere follower of Jesus? Even after we become Christians, pride and intellectual disobedience can be a problem. Thinking we know better than the Bible in certain issues is common even for Christians, especially when in those issues the Scriptures go against the grain of the wider culture. If we regularly find ourselves questioning, even challenging, the Bible, whether it is true and inerrant in all it maintains, we need to humble ourselves and accept the authority of Scripture over our minds and beliefs.

Faith is an act of obedience. I choose to believe what the Scripture says whether I understand it or not, whether I like it or not, whether our current culture approves or not. Why? Because Jesus always treated the written Scriptures as the inspired, inerrant, Word of God, and I believe that his life and ministry and resurrection from the dead validate his claim to be the Son of God. He knows what he is talking about.

I do not. I am a limited, erring human trying to figure out what is real. Proverbs 28:26 says, “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool.” I therefore have chosen to obey the one who I am convinced knows the truth. And so I obey him by believing what he says. Faith is a matter of obedience to one who has shown he knows what he is talking about.

The mindset I have just described would be disastrous if I have chosen to follow a person or philosophy that is false. That would be “drinking the Kool-Aid.” But having surveyed the field, there is no doubt in my mind that only one person and one book have stood the tests of time, reason, history, proven wisdom, science, conscience, and cogency concerning every aspect of life from family to finances to mental health. No one else holds a candle to the blazing light manifest in Jesus and the Bible.

It is the willingness to obey and believe that determines whether other means of faith given by God—such as nature and the Bible and reason and miracles—result in increased faith.

Next week we will continue looking at further God-given means of faith.

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)

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Truth #10 – Faith Is Tested

Is God testing people?

testing

On day one of a college class, teachers hand out a syllabus and explain point-by-point what students must do to learn and succeed. The syllabus lists reading assignments, papers, projects, and tests. Good students pay close attention to everything, and in particular they note how many tests and papers to expect. Students who do not prepare for testing will not perform as well as those who do.

Christians who deliberately use their faith to see God’s promises fulfilled in their lives also understand that testing is a normal part of how God works with believers. Our faith will be tested to see if it is genuine. It is on the syllabus. We should not be surprised by it.

The testing of your faith

James 1:2–4 says, “2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Verse 3 speaks of “the testing of your faith.”

Abraham’s life is a pattern for the faith life, and he experienced the testing of his faith. His faith had to endure 25 years of waiting for the Lord to fulfill his Word.

And even after he received his promised child Isaac, he had to pass another hard trial. Genesis 22:1 says, “After these things God tested Abraham.” God told him to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering. Later God provided a ram to sacrifice in Isaac’s place, but Abraham did not know how this all would work out until his knife was raised. Only by faith could Abraham do that.

Being prepared

So God tests our faith (see also 1 Thessalonians 2:4). As we exercise our faith, and it takes longer than we hoped for the answer to come, and we wonder how long it will take for the answer, or how much pain we must endure—or whether God will ever answer—we need to remember that our faith is being tested. The period of waiting is not a surprise, nor are the circumstances that deny what we believe. If the symptoms of disease continue when we are believing for healing, it is a test of faith. If bills keep coming that we cannot pay even as we believe for full provision, it is a test of faith.

Perfect and complete

James 1:3–4 revealed one of God’s good reasons for this testing: “…the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

The purpose of testing faith is that in the end we be “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” That is now and eternally valuable. And what brings about this precious result is a test that requires steadfastness in faith.

So testing is on the syllabus of faith. Do not be surprised by it. We should enter a faith situation with the awareness that it might resemble the process a medical student goes through to become a licensed physician. If God does not answer in the short term, prepare yourself for the test of whether you believe enough to endure for however long it takes. True faith is steadfast and patient.

The tested genuineness of your faith

First Peter 1:6–7 provides further motivation for those in a spiritual examination. “…now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

The motivation is found at the end of the verse. Peter says that the result of faith that is tested and found genuine is “praise and glory and honor” when Jesus comes again. We might initially assume that the one receiving the praise and glory and honor is Jesus. Well, he certainly will receive that in great supply, but this verse is not speaking about his praise. It is talking about the praise and glory and honor that will come to those who have genuine faith.

The New Testament teaches this repeatedly. Jesus said, “If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him” (John 12:26). Romans 2:10 says there will be “glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good.” Romans 2:29 speaks of those “whose praise is not from men but from God” (NKJV).

Although 1 Peter 1:6–7 is speaking specifically about the faith in Jesus that brings salvation, I expect that the same principle extends to the faith that believes any of God’s promises. God loves our faith. He rewards and praises faith, as he did with the centurion, who caused Jesus to marvel and proclaim, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.”

Proven faith pleases God

And this pleasure of God in faith is one reason we choose to be people of faith in all that God says. God is honored by faith and dishonored by unbelief. We exercise our faith not merely because we want something from God, but also because we want something for God. We want him to be pleased by our faith. And we want him to be exalted through it, praised through it, given thanks for what it accomplishes through his mighty power.

For God has always gotten his glory through his daughters and sons who believed him. From Enoch to Noah, from Abraham to Sarah, from Job to Daniel, from David to Mary. When our faith is tested and we endure, no matter how long it takes or how much we suffer, God is pleased and in the end will get much glory. All because our faith is genuine, worthy of a God as great as ours, and to God worth infinitely more than gold.

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)

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Truth #9 – Faith Speaks

Living faith speaks and by speaking grows stronger.

faith speaks

King David knew lots about faith. In Psalm 23 he demonstrates the important principle we will explore today.

In verse 1 David writes, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” That is a statement of faith. Similarly, the last verse in the psalm speaks words of faith: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (v. 6).

Speaking confident words about what God will do in the future is a normal part of David’s psalms. Is that presumptuous? Should he attach to each statement of faith the words “Not my will but yours be done,” as Jesus used in the Garden of Gethsemane?

Was David presumptuous when he shouted to Goliath in the hearing of the soldiers nearby, “This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand.” (1 Samuel 17:45–47)

That is as bold a declaration of faith as you will ever see. And as correct as the words “Lord willing” are, David does not say that. He believes he knows God’s will in this matter, and he speaks it out for all to hear. Judging by the results, we can conclude that God approved of David’s confidence in him.

Faith speaks

Living faith speaks and by speaking grows stronger.

Faith must speak, for Jesus said, “The mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Luke 6:45). There is an unavoidable unity between the heart and the tongue.

A heart brimming with faith delights to put that faith into words.

Faith declarations are a fruit of faith feelings. Words are organic to faith. They are like roots growing down from a seed into the earth and like the stem sprouting up from that seed and reaching for the sun.

Unbelief speaks

Unbelief certainly speaks. When we do not truly believe, we can scarcely hold back our negativity, complaints, grumbling, and forebodings.

When the twelve spies sent by Moses to explore the Promised Land returned, ten of them tried to say something positive but then spoke the fear that had taken over their hearts:

“We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.” (Numbers 13:27–28)

Two of the twelve spies—Joshua and Caleb—had faith, and they answered the fears of the ten with a verbal declaration of confidence in what God would do. “Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, ‘Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.’” (Numbers 13:30)

Fearing that the faith of Caleb and Joshua might persuade the nation to invade and fight, the ten spies then spoke the terror and doubt that had taken over their souls:

“‘We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.’ So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, ‘The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.’” (Numbers 13:31–33)

Unbelief speaks and by speaking grows stronger.

The spirituality of words

Spoken words are spiritual and powerful. They are an inevitable, organic element of faith or doubt.

Paul referred to the “spirit of faith.” He said, “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, ‘I believed, and so I spoke,’ we also believe, and so we also speak” (2 Corinthians 4:13). The spirit of faith is, “I believed, and so I spoke.”

Spoken words are so spiritually important and such a reliable indicator of the heart that God includes them in his description of how a person is saved. Romans 10:9–10 says:

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Confessions matter to God. Our spoken declarations of faith correspond to his spoken declarations of promise.

Faith speaks in two ways

Have you ever tried to speak words of faith when your heart did not believe? You can feel the bifurcation of your soul. It feels as though you are lying (though you are not, for it is never wrong to agree with what God says). Consequently, sometimes we need to declare God’s promise aloud until we can declare our faith aloud.

That illustrates the need for two sorts of faith statements. One is declaring God’s promise; the other is declaring the fulfillment of that promise. Both are important and powerful.

If you are sick, for example, you declare the promise, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:2–3). You say it aloud until you believe it, for living faith speaks and by speaking grows stronger. And when you truly believe God’s promise, you declare with a unified heart, “I am healed.” (See By Faith I Already Have the Answers to My Prayers.)

Takeaway

Living faith speaks and by speaking grows stronger.

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)

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Truth #8 – God Makes Prayer and Faith Powerful

Faith grows when you believe in the power of prayer and faith.

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)

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Truth #7 – God Fulfills Prayers of Faith in His Time, His Way, and according to His Will

When prayers are not answered, we still have every reason for hope and faith.

Prayers Are Not Answered

Have you ever given up on prayer or faith? At a low moment have you ever said to yourself that it really does not work, that faith and prayer are a waste of time?

Sadly, that is the situation of most people in most churches. I assume that because according to surveys most Christians barely pray and most do not attend prayer meetings. Anyone who really believes what the Bible promises about prayer will want to pray because the promises are so great.

Suppose when Abraham was 98-years-old you asked him whether prayer and faith work. Had God given him a child through Sarah? No. Did he have descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand of the seashore? No. Did he have possession of the Promised Land? No.

Twenty-three years of faith and what did he have to show for it? A son through Sarah’s servant. And he did not own one square inch of the Promised Land. Yet he is the archetype of faith, exhibit A, the father of all who believe—God’s chosen one.

When Prayers Are Not Answered

All this points to the critical importance of knowing that God fulfills your faith and prayers in his time, his way, and according to his will. If you do not know this, your efforts at serious, specific prayer that expects answers may end in disappointment and even disillusionment.

There are many reasons for this. We cannot control God. He is perfectly good, and so he does only what fulfills the highest good, which only he in perfect love and wisdom understands. Our ways are not his ways. He tests our faith.

So those who mean business in prayer and faith had better dress for the weather, pack for a trip, and bring an umbrella. Shallow, naïve faith will get you little but soggy shoes.

Let’s look more closely at the crucial factors affecting answers to our faith: God’s time, God’s way, and God’s will.

God’s time

In the four Gospels, God acts quickly. Jesus heals people and drives out demons on the spot. One of the frequently used words in Mark is immediately. God of course can and often does answer prayers sooner  rather than later, even immediately. I pray and believe for prompt and timely answers.

But I am not disoriented if that does not happen. I adjust mentally and settle in to exercise perseverance. Luke 18:1 says Jesus “told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”

For instance, by the time Abraham was 100, God had given him the son for whom he had believed, but his descendants would not take possession of the Promised Land for more than 400 years. And as for having descendants like the stars in the sky, that promise is still being fulfilled three thousand years later, for every believer in Christ is a child of Abraham.

There is an appointed time for our faith in God’s promise to be fulfilled. Referring to God’s promise to Abraham, Romans 9:9 says, “This was how the promise was stated: ‘At the appointed time I [the Lord] will return, and Sarah will have a son.’”

When you trust the promises of the eternal God, you are dealing with One for whom a “day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8).

“You have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised” (Hebrews 10:36).

God’s way

Sometimes God gives us exactly what we ask. “According to your faith be it done to you.” (Matthew 9:29). Other times, however, he gives an upgrade over what we believe and expect by answering our faith in a way we never could have imagined.

The unanswered prayer of Zechariah and Elizabeth

For example, the priest Zechariah and his wife simply wanted a son. God had someone greater in mind. He wanted them to raise the one Jesus described as the greatest prophet of the Old Covenant.

For decades Elizabeth was barren. Their prayers were not answered as they expected; instead they got older and older—until one day near the end of his life Zechariah stood performing his duty in the temple when an angel suddenly appeared to him. The angel promised him an answer to his prayers; he and Elizabeth would bear a son.

Unfortunately this fulfillment of prayer was not unfolding the way Zechariah expected, and he answered the angel with words of doubt. Nevertheless, after being disciplined with muteness for months, he received John the Baptist as his son. None of this did Zechariah or Elizabeth expect as they went through their previous adult years. But God had a plan. God had an upgrade.

Unanswered prayers and assorted surprises

The next time you read the great faith chapter, Hebrews 11, notice the diversity of ways that God fulfilled the faith of his people. Rarely if ever could any of these people have predicted how God would answer.

Certainly the children of Israel who cried out year after year to God for deliverance from Pharaoh and their taskmasters in Egypt could not have imagined the ten plagues, the terrifying Passover, their plundering of the Egyptians, the parting of the Red Sea, the days of hunger followed by the giving of manna, the covenant requirements enacted at Mount Sinai, the promise of entering the Promised Land and inheriting it as their own. In fact they rejected Moses numerous times because God was working in ways they did not understand.

Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego could not have imagined their faith being fulfilled by being thrown into a fiery furnace, their walking around in the furnace with the Angel of the Lord, and their exiting the furnace with not a hair singed nor a thread of their clothing burned.

Joseph could not have imagined that his dreams would be fulfilled by his being sold into slavery in Egypt, by being falsely accused and thrown into a dungeon, by 13 years passing for him in Egypt until he was suddenly taken into the presence of Pharaoh and exalted as ruler of the land.

Naaman’s way and God’s way

And then there is Naaman, who came to Israel to see Elisha the prophet for healing of leprosy. He had faith to believe that Elisha could heal him in a certain way, but God had other plans. Elisha told him to dip seven times in the Jordan, and he would be healed.

“But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, ‘Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?’ So he turned and went away in a rage.”

Naaman is a picture of many people when God does not do what they expect. We want the answer our way, but God wants to answer his way. We get upset and walk away.

Fortunately for Naaman his servant persuaded him to give the Jordan River a try, and Naaman was healed as he submitted to God’s way.

We need not only to pray and believe; we also need to trust. People of faith must be people of trust in God.

God’s will

Have you ever felt that you might have more success at receiving answers to prayer if you just could say the right words or fast from food for a longer time or intercede more tearfully or pray more times a day or whatever?

Certainly there are biblical principles for answered prayer—yes, emphatically yes—and the Bible commends earnest praying and fasting. But unconsciously we may be trying to control God, and if so, we will probably be disappointed. God cannot be manipulated. He never turns over ultimate control of the world or our lives to us. While he may have mercy on us when we pray this way and grant our requests, it is not because he has been manipulated.

When we think that all we need for answered prayer is the right method, or following the right formula, we are not taking into account God’s will.

1 John 5:14 says, “This is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.”

How Jesus prayed

Jesus famously prayed in the Garden, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

Although it is possible to pray like this when we have no faith, or when we are afraid to hope lest we be disappointed, that was certainly not the case with Jesus.

What he does in these words is acknowledge God’s ultimate control and his submission to it. It is similar to stating one’s travel plans but adding, “The Lord willing.” (See James 4:13–16). Jesus earnestly prays, but he never gets frustrated with his God or tries to lord it over him. He pours out his soul to try to influence his Father, but never acts as though he knows better how the Father in the end should do things. Jesus never prays in a way that suggests God had better do what he asks, or else…. He displays throughout that he trusts the will of God.

“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” (Hebrews 5:7).

Jesus could have pointed to many promises of the Old Testament that supported his request to be delivered from going to the cross, such as Psalms 91 and 121 and dozens more. But God’s will was for Jesus to fulfill many other Scriptures, especially Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 and all the Old Testament sacrificial system in which an animal died as a substitute for the sinner.

The nature of a promise

Granted, this gets complicated. When is a promise a promise, and when is it not? When is what seems to be a promise more like a general principle of the way God often works, but not an ironclad way that he always works in every situation for someone who has faith? (See Hebrews 11, especially verses 35–40.)

I do not have a simple answer, but I choose to take a simple approach. If God’s Word says he does such and such, and I need him to do that, I am going to pray for it and believe it. If God’s will turns out to be otherwise and my life fulfills other Scriptures, I will submit to that and glorify God. And if my heart is right, my faith and trust will not suffer for it.

If our faith crumbles when prayers are not answered

If our relationship with God suffers because he has not answered our faith in the way we want, it shows we do not have the right attitude. It is possible we unwittingly have been trying to manipulate God, insisting that he do things our way, in effect acting as though we are God, that we know better how to run the universe.

We may even resemble the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel who cried out and cut themselves to try to get Baal to burn the sacrifice (1 Kings 18). Or we may be like the mistaken Gentiles in Jesus’s teaching who sought techniques to get prayers answered: “When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words” (Matthew 6:7).

Again, we need not only to believe God’s words, but also to trust his will and remember our place.

Takeaway

When prayers are not answered, we still have every reason for hope and faith, for God fulfills prayers of faith in his time, his way, and according to his will. God always remains God.

I believe that those who persist in faith will not ultimately be disappointed. Somehow in this age or the age to come, God will reward enduring faith.

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)

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Truth #6 – By Faith I Already Have the Answers to My Prayers

Living by faith requires that you have a dual perspective.

living by faith

Suppose you go online and purchase new tennis shoes. You give your credit card number and receive an email confirming the purchase and projecting that in five days the shoes will arrive at your door.

You see a friend later that day and announce, “I got some new tennis shoes this morning.” Even though you have not yet received the shoes, it is normal to speak this way. You have completed the purchase and paid your money. Those shoes are yours. Even from the perspective of the company those shoes are yours from the moment money moves from your account to theirs. That would be true even if delivery would not occur for three months or three years.

Living by faith means speaking in the perfect tense

Scripture clearly teaches God wants us to understand faith and prayer in a similar way. Once we pray with faith, God wants us to believe we have the answer to our request.

Jesus taught this in Mark 11:22–24:

“Have faith in God. 23 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. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Notice in verse 24 that Jesus uses the perfect tense in, “believe that you have received it,” and the future tense in, “and it will be yours.” In biblical Greek, people used the perfect tense to describe something that happened in the past that had an ongoing effect. “It emphasizes the present, or ongoing result of a completed action.”1 “The perfect tense in Greek is used to describe a completed action which produced results which are still in effect all the way up to the present.”2

Living by faith means you know what you already have

The apostle John makes the same point in 1 John 5:14–15:

 “14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”

John is not saying we have the manifested answers to our prayers already; rather, he is saying we have the answers by faith, not by sight. Nevertheless, he emphasizes that we have them in a real sense. You would be speaking the truth if you said, “I have the answer,” even though you had the answer only by faith.

Because you “have asked” (perfect tense), you “have the requests” (present tense). The prayer you made in the past did something; it changed something—something unseen but real. Something happened in the eternal counsels of God, which are impossible for us to fully understand, but I will say it simply in a human way of speaking: when you asked, God answered. God wants you to use our human perspective on time, which is certainly different from his, and receive by faith that when we asked, that is when his answer was given.

Living by faith means having a dual perspective

This dual perspective—reality as God sees it and reality as earth sees it—comes into clear focus in the life of Abraham. For the first 99 years of his life his name was Abram, which means exalted father. In the providence of God, Abram had a name that did not agree with earthly reality, for his wife Sarai was barren and so he was childless. The man whose name meant exalted father was not a father.

But God had promised to give him descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. And now God gives 99-year-old Abram a new name that only heightened the disparity between God’s reality and earthly reality. He changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which meant father of a multitude. (See Genesis 17.)

Whenever Abraham used his own name, he was announcing God’s perspective on his life, not his current, earthly perspective. Both perspectives were real and true, but Abraham was supposed to declare God’s perspective by faith.

Living by faith means recognizing a done deal

A similar way of speaking occurred when Israel went into battle against its enemies. For example, as Israel prepared to go to war against the five kings of the Amorites, God told Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.” (Joshua 10:8)

Here again we see God speak in the perfect tense (“have given”) to describe an event that has not yet happened on earth. Because God has already determined what will happen, he can say with certainty what will happen in the future: “Not a man of them shall stand before you.”

Not only did God speak this way to Joshua, Joshua spoke this way to his troops. Later in chapter 10, we read that as the battle proceeded Joshua commanded his men, “Pursue your enemies; attack their rear guard. Do not let them enter their cities, for the LORD your God has given them into your hand” (Joshua 10:19).

By faith Joshua spoke about something that had not yet been accomplished as though it was already accomplished.

Living by faith means waiting for the appointed time

When do we receive the answer to our prayers and faith?

In a spiritual sense, by faith we already have the answers to our prayers. In the mind of God, it is done; he has made the decision. However, the manifestation of the answer on earth awaits the appointed time.

Sometimes the answer simply awaits us doing our part. Joshua and Israel had to go to battle against the five kings to actually take what God had given.

Takeaway

There is a spiritual, divine reality in the heart of God and a manifested, fulfilled reality here on earth. This is a dual reality.

So at the same time we already have, and do not yet have, the answer to our faith and prayers. We should live according to both those realities. To the extent we can, we should live as though we have the answer (2 Corinthians 5:7). And to the extent we cannot, we should live as one waiting for the answer (Hebrews 11:35–40).

What we can do is talk like we have the answer and prepare for the answer (see for example 1 Samuel 17:45–47 and Hebrews 11:7). What we should not do is something reckless apart from a command from God (see for example Matthew 4:5–7. Compare with Numbers 13–14.).

We should pray for wisdom how to live in both realities in a way that pleases God, expressing both faith and wisdom.

1. http://www.ntgreek.net/lesson23.htm.

2. https://ezraproject.com/greek-tenses-explained/#:~:text=5.,%3A%20%E2%80%9CI%20have%20believed.%E2%80%9D.

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)

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Truth #5 – God Pays Perfect Attention to My Every Word and Prayer, and in Accordance with Them Works in My Life

Does God hear us? How can we be sure our prayers are more than smoke in the wind?

God hear

A few weeks ago I sold my used car to CarMax. From beginning to end, as we discussed the deal I paid close attention to everything the representatives said and every written document. What was I promising to them, and what were they promising to me? Eventually I signed the papers, and they gave me a check. All based on words.

In human relations, words are decisive. In our relations with God, words also are decisive. We pay close attention to what God promises, and God pays close attention to what we ask and say.

When you utter a prayer, a monumental, earth-shaking thing has happened. A human being has asked Almighty God to do something, this God who rules all things has heard it, and this One who is faithful and true will certainly act according to his promises and conditions. Large or small, miraculous or seemingly mundane, something changes because you uttered a prayer and met certain conditions. Whether your prayer moves a nation or comforts a grief-stricken widow, the King of the universe acts because of your words.

God hears

When you become convinced of this truth, it will transform your prayer life. How normal it is to feel as though our words in prayer are like smoke—immaterial, insubstantial, temporary. It seems they dissipate and disappear. We cannot see our words, and we cannot see God. We can feel we are just talking to ourselves or that God pays little attention to them. And so, our words seem less consequential than they actually are.

But the truth is, our words in prayer are like the signed contract of a car sale, or like the switches on a railroad track that send a rumbling, earth-shaking, 200-ton locomotive and its train of many cars rolling down one track instead of another. This is the significance of words spoken to God. Every time you pray, it is momentous. Every word you utter to God matters.

Here are seven Scriptural illustrations of the crucial truth that God pays perfect attention to your every word and prayer, and works in your life according to them.

Psalm 139:1–4

In Psalm 139:1–4 David writes, “O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.” (ESV)

God knows everything, everything in the past, present, and future. He knows every single word you spoke and thought you had when you were a child, when you were 20, or anytime else in your life. Your life is an open book to him, and every word is written down. In fact, so great is his knowledge of your words, he knows them “altogether” even before you speak them!

David says God is searching everything about you and knows it all. He is paying attention. That certainly includes your prayers.

Daniel 10:12

As the prophet Daniel sought the Lord earnestly for three weeks regarding the situation of the nation of Israel, Daniel 10 recounts that an angel appeared to him. The angel tells Daniel, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words” (Daniel 10:12).

Why did the angel come to Daniel? “I have come because of your words.”

Was God listening? “Your words have been heard.”

Mark 7:25–29

Mark 7 says Jesus went into the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon, and “Immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.’ But she answered him, ‘Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ And he said to her, ‘For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.’” (Mark 7:25–29)

What changed? Why did Jesus first refuse to act but then change his mind? “For this statement.” If she had not said what she said, Jesus would not have done what he did. In the kingdom of heaven, words are decisive.

Note that her first requests were not decisive in causing Jesus to act, but her final answer was.

Matthew 9:27–30

Traveling elsewhere, Jesus encountered a pair of blind men. The “two blind men followed him, crying aloud, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David.’ Then he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ They said to him, ‘Yes, Lord.’ Then he touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith be it done to you.’ And their eyes were opened.”

Jesus did not immediately heal these two men as they pleaded for mercy. One of the conditions of answered prayer is faith, and Jesus wanted to establish that these men had it. So he kept walking and eventually entered a house. The blind men persistently followed him down the road and entered the house behind him. There he examined them with a simple, direct question: Do you believe?

Their two-word answer was decisive: “Yes, Lord.” Those words were enough for Jesus. Their previous cries for mercy did not bring the healing, but these two words were telling. These two words carried the day, because their words were words of faith, “He touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith be it done to you.’ And their eyes were opened.”

Just a couple of words—faith words—and their lives were changed.

Matthew 8:5–10, 13

On still another occasion when Jesus “had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, ‘Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.’ And he said to him, ‘I will come and heal him.’ But the centurion replied, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, “Go,” and he goes, and to another, “Come,” and he comes, and to my servant, “Do this,” and he does it.’ When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, ‘Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. … And to the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.’ And the servant was healed at that very moment.”

This story is all about one’s confidence in the decisive nature of words. The centurion recognizes the decisive power of Jesus’s words, but he also displays his confidence in the decisive nature of his own words, not only with the soldiers under his command but also with his request of Jesus. He fully believed Jesus would have regard for his petition.

And Jesus did pay close attention to everything the centurion said. Jesus heard enough to know the centurion had faith. Words display faith. As Jesus said elsewhere, “The mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart” (Matthew 12:34). This is one reason our words are crucially important. They reveal faith or doubt. “And to the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.’”

Genesis 18:22–33

Before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he allowed Abraham to intercede with him on behalf of their righteous residents. In the well-known account, Abraham requests that God would spare the city for the sake of 50 righteous people.

 “And the LORD said, ‘If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.’” (Genesis 18:26)

Notice that God answers Abraham with precisely the number requested: 50. And with each of the requests that follow, God agrees to the precise number stated by Abraham: 45, 40, 30, 20, and 10. We do not know how low God would have gone if Abraham had continued. But the point is, God showed his intention to act based precisely on a man’s words.

When Abraham began this negotiation and first asked for the number 50, God could have skipped the negotiations and said he would not only spare the city for the sake of 50, but for 10. Instead we see God following the principle that he pays perfect attention to our every word and prayer, and in accordance with them works in our lives.

Numbers 30:2–15

We conclude with what the Bible says about making vows to God. Notice in the following passage their binding nature.

Numbers 30:2–5 says, “If a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. If a woman vows a vow to the LORD and binds herself by a pledge, while within her father’s house in her youth, and her father hears of her vow and of her pledge by which she has bound herself and says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. But if her father opposes her on the day that he hears of it, no vow of hers, no pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. And the LORD will forgive her, because her father opposed her.”

Making a vow is like signing a mortgage. A person binds and obligates himself or herself to pay the debt. God pays attention to a human vow; to break that promise is to sin against him.

Takeaway

God pays perfect attention to my every word and prayer, and in accordance with them works in my life.

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)

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Truth #4 – God Delights to Answer Prayers because He Is a Good Father Overflowing with Favor toward His Children

When you really comprehend why God answers prayer, your faith will soar.

why God answers prayer

Why can you have confidence that God will answer your prayers? Because of his infinite favor toward those in Christ Jesus.

Jesus taught this in a simple, powerful parable.

After telling his disciples, “Ask, and it will be given to you,” he said:

“Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know 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 7:9–11, ESV)

Favor Is Why God Answers Prayer

The crux of this parable is the human relationship of father and son. The father’s attitude toward his son is one of love, favor, and benevolence. Meditate on that until you believe it.

Moreover, when we speak of God in this regard, we are talking about infinite love, favor, and benevolence. He is not reluctant to give; rather, he wants to give. He enjoys giving. He is not stingy, indifferent, or selfish, like a greedy boss; rather, he delights in bringing happiness to his children. God finds pleasure in his sons and daughters.

Romans 8:31–32 says, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

A perfectly good Father

The second key aspect of the Matthew 7 parable is contrast. Jesus draws a stark contrast between human fathers and our divine heavenly Father. All human fathers are bent by evil—even the best human fathers—bent by selfishness. Jesus said, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children….” So even broken fathers give good gifts to their children. When their children ask for bread, even these fathers do not offer them a stone.

Therefore, Jesus says, “How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” How much more? Infinitely more, for God is infinitely loving and overflowing with infinite favor, for if he gave us Jesus he will give us anything that is good. Think of the most loving and generous father you know, and God is infinitely more so in his attitude toward you.

This verse promises only good things, not bad. Some things we ask for are—unknown to us—bad for us, in the sense that we cannot handle them yet, like a 10-year-old given a million dollars. Or they will corrupt us, just as a 16-year-old boy would find his way into all kinds of temptation if his parents gave him an $80,000 car for his birthday. Or a gift could be bad in the comparative sense of being second best, like a rundown, two-bedroom shack on a half-acre of land compared to a new brick house on a huge farm of 2,000 acres.

So God the father gives to his children what he knows with perfect wisdom is truly, eternally good and best.

Soaking in God’s favor

You can have faith in God because of his generous favor toward you. The more convinced you are of this, through meditation on his Word, the more established your faith will be.

So here are more Scriptures for your meditation (all ESV).

Ephesians 2:4–7: “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

2 Corinthians 9:8: “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”

Romans 5:8: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jeremiah 29:10–12: “I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.”

Psalm 103:11–13: “As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.”

Psalm 86:5: “You, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.”

Psalm 86:15: “You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

Psalm 85:12: “Yes, the LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.”

Psalm 84:11–12: “The LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!”

Psalm 34:10: “The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.”

Titus 3:4–7: “When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Takeaway

Is God reluctant to answer your prayers? Is he stingy with his blessings, cold-hearted, uncaring, and remote? No, he is a generous, gracious, kind, good, and benevolent Father. God’s default attitude toward you is a gracious enjoyment in answering your prayers. In Christ, you stand under the infinite favor of 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)

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Truth #3 – God Has Promised to Answer Prayers That Meet Certain Conditions

God will answer my prayers because of his words and his ways.

answer my prayers

When a wealthy man dies, you can be sure his heirs will carefully read his will. The words of that document determine what they will inherit.

We are in a similar situation. In the previous article in this series, we saw that God is perfectly faithful and truthful. He keeps his every word. Not a single promise or word is forgotten. Once you believe that, you approach the Bible like the heirs of a wealthy man approach his will. For if you know what God has promised, then you know what words he stands behind with perfect faithfulness.

A breathtaking promise

Truth #3 in this series is familiar but crucial. It is also hard to believe—really believe with conviction. If you do, you are well on your way to being established in faith. If you do not, you will pray perhaps with hope, but rarely faith.

The crucial truth is, God has repeatedly promised to answer the prayer that meets certain conditions. For instance, Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive it all” (Matthew 21:22, NASB20).

Okay, you know that, but do you believe it, really believe it with conviction? Do you believe the holy truthfulness of God stands behind those words? That he would never break that promise just as he would never deny himself?

Conditions

One thing that makes this truth hard to believe is, there are conditions, and we have all bumped into them. God does not promise to answer all your prayers, or everyone’s prayers. We find one condition for answered prayer in this verse, and elsewhere in the Bible we find more.

Four important conditions to answered prayer are:

1. God answers the prayer of faith.

In the ESV, Matthew 21:22 says, “Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

More daunting is James 1:6–8: “Let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (ESV).

We must have faith.

But I have a suggestion. In my experience, trying to vanquish even a hint of doubt can tie me in knots if I dwell on it. If I focus on myself rather than on God and his faithfulness and his promise to answer prayer, it dismantles faith and leaves me uncertain. We need to keep our focus primarily on God.

2. God answers prayers in accordance with his will.

This is big. First John 5:14–15 says, “This is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”

In Scripture God has revealed much about his will, but much of God’s will is also hidden. Unfortunately, trying to know whether our desire is God’s will can again tie us in knots and easily sink our faith.

That raises a major problem. If we cannot pray with faith until we know God’s will with certainty, we will rarely be able to pray with faith.

In my experience, the solution has been this. If I pray in agreement with the general promises and character of God—for example, promises to heal one’s body, or God’s heart to save his people from what harms them—I assume my request is his will and I focus on his lavish promises to answer prayer.

Yes, there will be times when I am wrong about God’s specific will in a situation, but I cannot know that in advance. Just yesterday, for instance, I learned of the death of a former colleague. A week or two ago I had heard she was hospitalized and in serious condition, and I prayed for her and received by faith that she was healed based on God’s perfect faithfulness and truthfulness.

Nevertheless, she died. How does that not leave me disillusioned and ruin my ability in the future to pray with faith? My answer: I believe God’s hidden will was done. His ways are unsearchable.

In the future I will pray and still assume it is his will to heal and deliver, and I will trust in his promises to answer prayer. Although we are not God and thus cannot know his will with certainty, still he calls us to pray with faith and believe we do know his will based on what Scripture shows to be his ways.

3. God answers the prayers of the repentant, who walk in the light.

Psalm 66:18 says, “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (ESV).

No Christian is perfect, so the requirement for answered prayer is not perfection, but rather confession and repentance of known sin and faith in the forgiveness that is in Jesus.

First John 1:7–9 says, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

4. God answers in his way and time.

When the children of Israel suffered under Pharaoh and cried out for deliverance, they could not have imagined the harrowing details of how God would actually rescue them from Egypt, or how long they would have to wait for it to come. In the same way, we probably cannot imagine when and how God will answer our prayer. If we cannot trust him and be patient, even for a lifetime, we cannot be sure of answers.

Hebrews 10:36 says, “You have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.”

God will answer my prayers

These are the major conditions to answered prayer. You need to take them into account, but the more you focus on them, the harder it will be to believe with childlike simplicity that God hears and answers your prayers. If we focus on the conditions rather than the promise, we will rarely be able to believe with conviction that God will answer our prayer.

God has shown his gracious, loving willingness to answer our prayers by giving us breathtaking promises. That is where our focus needs to lie. This is God’s default position. He wants to answer your prayers. He loves you. The Lord wants to meet your needs and bless you in countless ways.

I do not need to know everything to pray with confidence. Faith is a matter of simple focus. In the Gospel narratives, this is how people came to Jesus and received what they desired. I believe God will answer my prayers because of his words and his ways. I choose to focus on God as perfectly faithful and truthful, and that he has given simple promises to hear and answer my prayers. His promise reveals his heart. I believe his heart and his word.

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)

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Truth #2 – God Is Perfectly Faithful and True

In your mind, is God absolutely, meticulously, always, always, always faithful and true, or not?

faithful and true

Do you know anyone who, when it comes to being on time, is a perfectionist? If she tells you she will be somewhere by 7:00, you can be sure that she will walk through the door no later than 6:47? To her it is a matter of keeping her word. If she says she will be somewhere at 7:00, she wants others to know that she takes her words seriously. As the saying goes, her word is her bond. If you do business with her, you do not need to sign contracts. If she agrees to something verbally, she will follow through, even if it is to her loss, because the honesty and reliability of her words is more important to her than money, gain, or loss.

God is like her, only more so—perfectly more so. He has no human failings, weaknesses, or limits, and therefore, unlike humans, nothing can stop him from keeping his promises. A car breakdown can keep even the most time conscious among us from showing up when we scheduled, but nothing can stop God from doing what he says.

Perfectly faithful and true

We cannot conceive how important it is to God to keep his promises. He is perfect in all his ways, and thus Titus 1:2 says he “cannot lie.” He cannot do it. He is perfect in righteousness and truth. He loves the truth and hates lies. He has never lied and never will. Nothing is more certain than the reliability of God’s words. His words are perfectly trustworthy, absolutely worthy of belief.

2 Samuel 22:31 says, “This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true.”

Proverbs 30:5 says, “Every word of God proves true.”

God told Jeremiah, “I am watching over my word to perform it” (1:12).

God is not like us

We, on the other hand, all know what it is to lie and be lied to, and perhaps we attribute to God our failing, because human beings do not believe every word that comes from the mouth of God. Sinners doubt and question God. They regard themselves, or the media or a person with a doctorate, as more reliable than God. They believe their own reasonings more than they believe his Scripture. How ridiculous!

That does not mean belief is always easy or logical. God tests people to see whether they will believe him no matter what. He allows his people to go through experiences that seem to deny what his Word says.

Take Abram (Abraham) for archetypal example. God promised to give him a child when he was 75-years-old. At that age, it would be natural for him to assume the promise would be fulfilled within months, not decades. But God ordained that he wait 25 years for the birth of Isaac. Meanwhile God changed Abram’s name to mean “father of nations.”

Detached from reality

So the nature of faith in God’s words is complete reliance on them even when circumstances deny them outright. To others, a believer appears to be detached from reality. But believers hold on to words—God’s words—not current circumstances. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “We walk by faith, not by sight.”

The reason true believers hold on to God’s words is that God stands behind them. Even if we pray and do not see an answer for decades, we know our prayer has not been lost in space and time. Circumstances are nearly irrelevant to a true believer; what is relevant is the character of God and the words he has spoken. That is the enduring reality. Circumstances are a passing reality.

For the God who is truth itself has promised to hear the prayers of those who are in covenant with him and who believe. Again, for emphasis, this truthful God has promised repeatedly to hear and answer the prayers of believers in covenant with him though faith in Jesus, who pray according to the principles and specific promises of Scripture, thus according to his will.

For just one example, Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive it all” (NASB20).

Super important to God

Do you believe Jesus? Or do you not? This is crucial. This is what is at stake. Do you believe that God tells the truth always? This is important to God. He wants to make this manifest in each person. He wants to show forth whether you believe him or not. He bases salvation itself on faith (John 3:16). He answers prayer based on faith, not on the intensity of the need. Human faith matters to God (Hebrews 11:6).

Thus we should never be content to live in unbelief about anything he says. Jesus said, “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22), and the context of this statement was one that many could regard as a presumptuous request (cursing a fig tree) if carried on by any other human.

So we believe in God’s words because we believe he is worthy. We honor him by believing him; we dishonor him by doubting him. We are convinced he utters his words with perfect seriousness and never forgets one of them.

Trusting God’s character

Such faith is why Sarah contributed much spiritually to the birth of Isaac when she was 90. It was not just Abraham who believed God; it was Sarah. Hebrews 11:11 says, “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.”

Sarah considered God to be faithful and true. This is the conviction of everyone who is established in faith. We believe “God is faithful” (1 Corinthians 1:9; 10:13; 2 Corinthians 1:18, Deuteronomy 7:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:24).

He is perfectly faithful and true. We believe therefore he is faithful to his words. We believe he has spoken promises. His promises include numerous promises to hear and answer our prayers.

We need to have the character of God clear in our minds as we consider his promises. Because God is perfectly faithful and true, we can rely completely on his word and promises.

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)