FAITH

(November 7, 2002)

The following question that I have pondered many times in the past was asked recently, “My prayers have not been answered, is my faith not strong enough?”  I used to say, without much hesitation, the answer is yes; but, most lately I have had to look at it more closely.  In a quick study of the word “faith” mentioned in the bible, I have come to a understand that the meaning of the word in the bible has less mystery about it than what we have surrounded it with.  We have been taught to think that it is some mystical thing that God deals out in measured portions and at some point in our future it becomes total or complete and without measure.  I now believe that the word “faith” is used in the bible as just another way of saying that we believe.  What are we supposed to believe?  We are to believe about and into Jesus.  In other words, we must believe in all of the things that Jesus said about Himself, His Father, His Kingdom and all the promises that are given to us both in the Old and New Covenant.

Abram believed in the leading of God enough to leave His home and begin His journey.  Later, after His full agreement to the covenant or contract with God, the now renamed Abraham believed or had faith in all that God had told Him, that God would fulfill every promise that He had made.  We, because of the teachings of the bible made available to us by the Holy Spirit that indwells in us, now have access to the same promises that were given to Abraham and those given to us by Jesus Christ.  The success of our prayers has a great deal to do with how much we trust God to fulfill His promises to us.  Many times after a miracle was performed by Jesus, He would say “your faith has made you whole”.  What He was really saying, especially to the woman with the issue of blood, was that because of her faith in him or belief in his healing gift from God she was healed when she made the point of contact with the hem of His garment.  He was only confirming her own belief in His ability to perform a miracle for her by calling it faith.  Had she not believed or had faith as strongly as she had she would not have been healed. 

Therefore, the more we believe or trust in something the greater is our faith in something.  Many people have faith in doctors to solve their medical problems.  Others have faith in the government to keep them safe.  Still others have faith that the paper with “in God we trust” on it will still be worth what it says it is worth.  In the material or natural world we seem to have no trouble having faith or belief or trust in things being done by those of authority or knowledge or governmental power; but, we have a great deal of difficulty believing in the creator of all things to keep His word.  What is the problem then?  Again, the short answer is we don’t have enough faith.  In truth, I now believe that we just lack a full understanding of what the word says about our rights to have a prayer request answered and the requirements involved to make the request legal in a contractual sense.  Most of us believe that our creator can do all things, but we remain unsure of our legal rights to our receiving an answer to our prayers.  We tend to have a mind set that we are an unworthy piece of humanity rather than a child of the King that our Father sees.  Abraham had to be convinced; therefore, so do we.  God led Abraham step by step.  He allowed Abraham to trust a little at a time until He was willing to sacrifice His son Isaac.  In New Testament language, Abraham’s faith grew until it was in full measure as that of Jesus Christ.  As Abraham trusted or believed more and more that God would keep His promises, Abraham finally had absolutely no doubts, causing him to have full faith in God.

We are no less human that Abraham.  We must also have our trust in God tested a step at a time until we have the full measure of faith.  Our faith or trust in Him must grow from one answered prayer or promise to another until there is absolutely nothing that we think is impossible with God, including being able to walk on water like Peter.  As we fully come to believe and trust that we are the children of God because of the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we will see that our faith will greatly increase and more and more of our prayers will be answered.  Again, our position as children of God has nothing to do with how many good deeds we do or how many times we fall, only the blood of Jesus.  We must get this into our heart our very soul and out of just our thinking.  Our thinking most of the time gets in the way of our trust or belief or faith in God.

Other than the false sense of being unworthy that causes unbelief, there is one other major hindrance to God’s answering prayer, that of unforgiveness.  This includes not only the lack of forgiveness of what others have done to us or to our loved ones, but the inability to forgive ourselves of our own past failures.  The simpler of the two is forgiving others for everything.  God is the only one who has the legal right to cast judgment on his creation.  We should even have compassion on those on whom judgment comes.  This compassion comes as we allow the love of Jesus to fill us more and more.

The second part of this hindrance is attached to that feeling of our unworthiness or guilt that comes from that false doctrine of works rather than the grace of God.  When God forgives us, he wipes the slate clean, not just for His eyes; but, for ours also.  He puts our past in the sea of forgetfulness to be remembered no more.  That does not really mean that it is forgotten; but, that it is as if the offense was never committed.  It is like a legal charge against us that was thrown out of court, the charge or crime is no longer on the books to be held against us.  We must learn to use our past experience as a testimony of the grace of God to help win others to Christ; however, we can not be greater than God.  We can not hold our past against ourselves either.  When we are forgiven, we are forgiven forever of everything once we ask for that forgiveness and as we forgive others for their trespass against us. 

Also, many times we feel guilty when we either do not receive answers or our prayer requests are delayed.   Such thoughts are of the adversary to cause doubts, thereby negating our prayer of faith.  We must make a step at a time in our trust in Him.  We do not need to feel ashamed if total trust is not there yet, God understands and is not angry.  It will come in time.  This is a walk into maturity.  We must allow ourselves to grow in grace and knowledge, including prayer.  He is very patient.  In the mean time, as we are learning to trust, it is not a sin to trust in medicine or doctors.  They are still instruments of His even when they do not know it.  If we have a broken leg, we don't walk without assistance.  We start with a wheel chair, then a walker, then crutches, then a cane.  Eventually we can walk again without the assistance of other things.  Our trust in God is the same.  Sometimes we try to walk without crutches too soon.  That does not mean that we will not walk, it just means that sometimes that we just cannot rush it.  Relax in the knowledge of His love and mercy for us.  I totally believe that as our trust grows we will in time receive total manifestation of our prayer requests. 

Addendum: February 23, 2008

Nearly six years have passed since I have written the above article.  During that time I have experienced the growth in my trust in God as I had stated in foresight.  The Lord through His Spirit has also given me some insight on healing that I had not seen before.  We find in scripture that the only recorded time that Jesus prayed was for the purpose of changing the Father’s will (Garden of Gethsemane) or the opening of the eyes of others (at the tomb of Lazarus).  At all other times, Jesus only commanded that things occur.  This command extended to that of the disciples.  He told them to heal the sick, cast out devils and raise the dead.  Without Jesus being with them, they did just that and miracles occurred.  After Christ’s ascension, the disciples continued healing by command in the name or authority of Jesus, not by prayer.  In my personal experience and those of some others, I am finding this principle to be more effective than my past haphazard methods.

Why does this work more effectively?  Our Father, through the authority of Jesus the Christ gave us the authority to take dominion over the earth which includes sickness, situations, circumstances and anything else dealing with the earth.  We by God’s authority, because He lives in us, have control of even the elements as Jesus had over the storms and sea.  He stated this when He told His disciples in Mat 17:20, “… for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.“  As His disciples today, we have that same authority, if only we believe in God’s word and follow it.  It is not arrogance.  It is working in the power and authority that our Father has given us.  I have also found that there is one limitation and that is we are not allowed to alter the will of others no more than God is.  This is where we can pray to the Father to get their attention so that they may choose to alter their will as Saul of Tarsus did on his way to Damascus. 

However, one other item of instruction is needed.  Jesus never turned away any who asked for healing, nor did He search them out.  He knew when the recipient was ready to receive and forced nothing on anyone including the man at the gate beautiful whom He passed for years without healing.  When Peter healed the man years later it was because the Spirit led Peter to know that the man was ready to receive.  By that same example, we can not go around without direction trying to heal everyone in sight.  We must also be directed by the Spirit as Jesus and the disciples were.  As stated above, faith is one’s belief in God’s word to perform by the Spirit.  Faith or belief must also be the same in the recipient before the healing can occur.  Remember, even Jesus could do no mighty works in Nazareth because of their unbelief in Him (Mat 13:58).  Lay hands suddenly on no man.  Always seek the guidance from the Spirit, if knowledge is not already present, on what the problem is and what to command for the solution.  We can “do all things thru Christ Jesus that strengthens me (Phi 4:13)” and “nothing shall be impossible unto you” by the power (dunamis) and authority (exousia) of Jesus the Christ.

As stated in the earlier article, there are many things yet to learn; therefore, do not be discouraged if things do not always go the way we want them.  Learn from the failures by asking God to reveal the answers to you.  God is not angry with us for our failures.  He wants us to step out in faith believing unconditionally.  The more we stretch our faith or trust in Him, the greater the correct results.  Praise God for His infinite love and mercy!