The root of the problem is usually biblical illiteracy. It is very difficult to know the will of God, or to even understand much about God, without spending time in the Word, both reading and studying. The Bible is God’s revelation of His character, His attributes and how we are to relate to Him. Building our faith is not a passive exercise. Our faith grows through knowledge and experience. First, as we gain knowledge through the Word, solid preaching and good teaching, we gain an inner confidence in the character and abilities of God. It is our confidence in Scripture being the inerrant Word of God that enables us to accept His teachings with confidence. Second, our experience of trusting God enables us to develop confidence in His faithfulness as we daily depend upon Him. This takes time and is really an unending process.
Praying with faith is to trust that God is hearing our prayers and is capable of answering them. If we believe that He hears our prayers, it is reasonable to expect that He will respond to our prayers. The catch is that we most often don’t see the whole picture. We pray and make our requests known to God, but we don’t see the answer we were expecting. Oftentimes our reaction is that God did not respond or that we do not have enough faith. In reality, the answer is something other than what we are looking for and so we do not recognize it as an answer to prayer. It is a matter of God’s purposes as opposed to our preferences.
Legitimate prayers are not commands for God to perform according to the parameters that we set forth. He is God, we are His creation. He is Lord, we are His subjects. A born again Christian has submitted himself or herself to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. A servant does not dictate performance to the master. One example in the Bible is Peter, “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’ But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's.’” (Matthew 16:21-23) Notice the end of the statement, “for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's.” This defines the point of where our focus needs to be.
To realize our position in our relationship with God is to give us the freedom from the pressure to perform when in prayer. He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. We are to approach God with a humble and contrite heart. Our inability to see God face to face is not an excuse to talk to Him any differently than if we were standing before the very person of Jesus Christ. Meditate on how you would act and talk if you were face to face with Jesus Christ. While we are given the freedom to speak candidly and boldly, we are also to be balanced in reverence and respect. This presents a problem in some churches that follow the “name it, claim it” philosophy. The idea of imposing our will upon God should disturb us at some level. This attitude seems to be in conflict with God saying, “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9) If God’s statement is true, then how can we claim to have the wisdom to instruct God on the actions that He should take? If it is not true, then we really don’t believe God or God is a liar.
Praying from the heart and making our feelings and perceived needs known to God is a very good thing. Genuine communion is based on complete openness and honesty. An attempt to manipulate the other, in this case God, is extreme selfishness. If we truly believe the ways of God are what is best for us, we can free ourselves from the pressure of wanting things to be only the way we want them to be. It is very liberating to walk with God, following His lead. When we try to lead, we are beating our heads against a wall. We are much better off to seek understanding as we follow Him in obedience than to be arrogantly demanding that He perform according to our desires.
So how much faith is enough faith? How about growing faith? If our faith is not growing, it is stagnating and receding. As we obediently follow Christ, He gives us the faith, through grace, to do whatever He calls us to do. As we take the step of obedience, He walks with us helping us to overcome our fears. This builds our faith and prepares us for the next step in our journey. So the real question becomes, “How obedient are we willing to be?”
