Faith is a word that is defined by the context of its usage. I can say, “The Christian faith,” and I am talking about the doctrinal statements of a group. If I tell someone to “keep the faith,” I am telling them not to doubt whatever we are discussing. For those pursuing God, the most commonly used definition of the word faith is being convinced of the validity of God’s word and promises to the point of taking action. This point of view seems to be the idea contained in Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (NRSV Bible)
Faith that we can have a relationship with God and that He hears our prayers is the foundation of Christianity. Pursuing God requires us to believe (have faith) that He is who He says He is. (Hebrews 11:6) Lacking this faith makes it impossible to pursue God.
We tend to confuse faith and presumption. Presumption tends to be based on our thoughts and wants. We consider how to make things convenient. Unfortunately, when we presume, we tend to plan schemes that are inside our abilities to perform. Presumption usually holds our egos and plans as having a higher value than pointing others to God. True faith considers what God wants and freely declares, “I do not know how God will do it, but I know that He will.”
My definition of faith is a wholehearted belief. It is when you believe something so entirely that you rest in it as fact. The strength of the conviction causes you to take action. Faith is trusting God to lead us down the correct path even when we cannot see any sign that a trail exists. Praising God for answers He has given in the past often helps to strengthen our faith today.
Years ago, I felt called to start a Spanish language church service. I knew very few Spanish speakers at the time, but in faith, I started the service. God rewarded my faith-filled actions by providing a congregation of Spanish speakers from people I did not know.
A prayer of faith is a purposeful conversation with God. Sometimes I find myself going through the motions of conversing with God, but my mind and heart are disengaged. Have you ever listened to your prayers? It is a good idea to listen to what we are saying to God. Are we giving Him orders? Are we mindlessly saying words? If our answer is yes, then we have to ask, “Do we believe with all our heart that God hears and answers prayer?” Faith is not about placing an order like we would at a fast-food drive-up window. A strong relationship with God enables us to believe that God is hearing our requests and working on our behalf. I have not found anywhere in the Bible where ordering God around was ever considered an exhibition of faith.
Bringing requests to God in prayer, convinced that He will respond, appears to be the methodology of faith illustrated in scripture. Jesus instructs us to ask in faith. (Matthew 21:22) The teaching expressed in both Matthew 21:22 and John 14:12-14 states that we can ask for anything, and God will do it. Common sense tells us that we would not request that God help us to break the Ten Commandments or anything else that would dishonor God. Therefore we should consider what our motivations are when we make requests to God. Are we looking for an easy way to get what we want without work?
It is easy to pray, “God, please put unlimited funds in my bank account.” Much more difficult is a prayer that says, “God, I want to honor you with everything you have given me. I am trusting You to supply all my needs.” Exhibiting faith does not mean sitting in a chair and hoping. Instead, it is actively taking advantage of the opportunities God provides.
As I review my life, I recognize many times when God rewarded my prayers of faith. If I prayed about a financial need, the answer would often be an opportunity for paying work. Housing needs meant that I still had to go out and look at housing opportunities.
About twenty years ago, my wife and I were looking to buy our first house. We had never experienced owning a home before, and we had just moved to the county where we hoped to buy. We prayed, asking God to help us find a house that fit our needs. We believed that God would supply. Our prayers and beliefs did not stop us from talking to real estate agents or from driving around areas we liked looking for ‘house for sale’ signs. Our faith that God would provide moved us to the action of looking for the provision. Faith is evidenced by living in expectation of the answer to our request. We are sure that God will answer our prayers; we just do not know how or when.
Hebrews chapter 11 gives an extensive list of people from the Bible who exhibited great faith, and some of them lived in expectation for a considerable time before they received a result from their prayers. Think of Abraham, who seems to have waited more than a decade before Isaac was born. In some cases, the faith-filled prayers of some received no result until after their death. Joseph, the son of Jacob, the patriarch, in faith, believed that his fellow Israelites would leave Egypt and return to where they had been living before coming to Egypt. While the answer to his faithful prayer did come, it was more than 400 years later.
Exhibiting faith does not mean that we never have doubts, that we are never impatient, or that we never try to control how things work. When my wife and I were trying to find a house to buy, we faced setbacks that made us have doubts. We had found a home that seemed to be the answer to all we needed. We called our real estate agent to put in an offer on the house and found out it had just been placed under a contract that morning. We faced the temptation to ask, “God, what are you doing? We have been asking You, God, to help us find a house. What do we do now?” We continued to look at houses but found nothing that would work or that was in our price range. About two weeks later, our real estate agent called us and said, “That house you were interested in is back on the market, the sale was not able to be completed. Are you still interested in it?” We assured her we wanted to place an offer. After the seller agreed to sell to us, we found out that we had only outbid our competition by a small amount. We marveled at how God had answered our prayers.
Living in God’s shadow requires us to have faith. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Hebrews 11:6 (NRSV Bible)
The saying that God works in mysterious ways is correct. We try to teach our kids that you can’t expect God to grant all your wishes like a fictional genie… but instead… he will act as a guide to show you how to achieve your goals.