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Open Forum: Question from a Reader . . .
by C Michael PattonDecember 28th, 2008
36 Comments
I got this from an unnamed P & P reader and thought I would open this up to you instead of answering it right now.
I’m confused. Should we or should we not expect anything from God? The scriptures tells us that Jesus said (Mat 7:7-11)
“Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. Everyone who asks will receive. Everyone who searches will find. And the door will be opened for everyone who knocks. Would any of you give your hungry child a stone, if the child asked for some bread? Would you give your child a snake if the child asked for a fish? As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give good things to people who ask.”
So, will I receive or not? I have a wife and two kids. I got lay-off from the firm I was working from. I keep praying for a job, even if it’s not as an architect. I received nothing! Yet I keep praising God. I’m starting to believe that I should just be happy with receiving his forgiveness. Even if I do lose my home, my cars, my health; I already lost my job and these are probably next!
I really feel for him. I often meet people who are confused—even disillusioned—by this passage. You can include my wife in this list.
What does it mean? Is there a unspoken qualification to the asking? Or is the qualification in the context?
Can you join me in giving him some encouragement?
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36 Comments
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The only unspoken qualification I can think of is faith…we must ask in faith…and continue to ask until we receive an answer.
And sometimes we have to wait.
The test of our faith is not always pleasant but God is faithful and will make a way of escape…even if it is at the very last minute like He did for the children of Israel at the Red Sea.
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I believe the last sentence in the quoted text is key. “But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give good things to people who ask”. God is going to grant the wishes that are good for us. As another text puts it, when we put Him first, He gives us the desire of our hearts.
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I really can’t offer much comfort; trusting God is hard work.
I’m not in the engineering position I trained for, but I keep doing the best I can wherever my temping agency places me and keep on the lookout for a job that more suits my skills.
I don’t have the responsibility of a wife and children though, job loss strikes straight at the heart of how men see themselves these days.
Perhaps the old Keith Green song might suffice… “just keep doing your best, pray that it’s blessed, and he’ll take care of the rest.”
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There are really 2 issues here. Are we to ask and are we to expect. Yes to the former and depends to the latter.
Yes it is appropriate to ask for a job, or another means of income, and especially for furtherance of the kingdom, God may have other stuff for you to do.
But we can only expect what God has promised us, and only that when we meet his requirements. It is not that doing the requirements gives us what we are expecting, God gives us this; rather we cannot assume we will get what he offers if we don’t do what he asks. He may do, but it is unreasonable to expect it.
So continue to ask, and know that God will give good gifts to his children, but to expect that God will give a specific item when he has not promised to do so may lead to disappointment and claims that God has not come thru.
(Michael, I have a good sermon on this I can email you if you wish which you can forward. I think he would find it helpful. About 4 Mb. Let me know. I get emails from TTP I can reply to that address or you could email me on bethyada@gmail.com)
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This is a tough one for me personally, especially now. I do believe that Jesus is arguing for persistence in prayer. But I can’t help but think that in the context of this passage that He is speaking to a Jewish audience, that he is laying the foundation for the relational paradigm of the new covenant as opposed to how prayer had worked for them before. Does this mean we will get whatever we ask for?
I believe wholeheartedly in God’s provision and He will meet our every need. Sometimes though, we can build up expectations on how things should work and when they don’t, we get mad at God. But if He has promised to take care of us then he will, even when things look like they are crumbling around us. Here is where we do have to look to God in faith and really believe the circumstances are only temporary.
I have been there, in dark and trying situations and it didn’t seem like God was hearing me. This is particularly true when my late husband was alive. He was chronically ill for 5 years. He was a difficult person and not very nice to me. To top it off, I had a 50 mile commute and was raising a hyper ADHD kid pretty much on my own on top of being a caretaker at home. At the minimum, I needed a job close to home and tried in vain for 2 years. Every door closed. I wanted peace in my home. No prayer seemed to work. I would quote this verse but sometimes it just didn’t seem applicable to me.
But through that God was doing a work in me. It is not pleasant and can be down right discouraging. I look back on that time and see how God did eventually move. But more importantly, he moved in me and it strengthened my walk with Him. He came through suddenly with the job at just the right time. And even though my husband passed away a few months later (that was in 2004), it was a set up for bigger things that God would have for me for which I am even now reaping the benefit.
We do have to trust Him and I am including me in this encouragement. I struggle as a single mother to my 11 year old son. He does need a man’s influence. And I don’t want to be alone anymore. I have prayed desparately but I have been very discouraged lately. But God does have a purpose in it all. And at the bottom of it has to be the belief that He is working it out for good, even the delays and difficulties. It will be for our good even when things don’t work out like we expect them to. He is at work and He does care.
See the more I think about this passage and the corresponding passage in Luke, I think that the good thing is Him. The good thing is a heart freed from dependence on rules, rituals and worldly hope, which we have because of the Spirit dwelling inside of us. Consider Phil 4:6-7 and the peace that passes all understanding. So maybe the worst thing we can do is believe that He doesn’t care and not turn to Him at all.
I hope you have found some encouragement here. It sure has helped me. So thanks for allowing me to share.
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As someone who works for an A/E firm that has been laying off people, and someone who has been unemployed before, I can understand some of your feelings.
Several observations, which may or may not be helpful. I pray that they are.
When we are told to pray for our daily bread, that implies at least that we have not much – my understanding of wealth in Jesus’s time was that someone who had a second change of cloths and food for tomorow. Certainly I have burdened my self and my family with more things (and more debt) than we need.
If you are not allready, I pray you may find a church or a small group within a church that you can share your burden. Within our group we have paid bills for eachother, cared for eachother in illness, been able to share the pain and anquish of illness, wayward children and unemployment
And before I go to church, I recomend the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I recieved it for Christmas, and it is a very challenging book that focuses us on God’s perspective, not our perspective.
And as far as the Mathew Chapter goes – it appears to me he is talking about Salvation – God does stand before us, willing to bring us into his family. Ask, and you shall recieve.
Not so much about food – it is about eternal life.
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I can relate all too well. In the last 8 years , I lost my wife at 40 to CA ( I had 3 kids the oldest was 12) I lost everything do to medical bills and Chapter 7. I then 3 years later developed Pick’s Disease a Neuro disorder ( sort of like Alzheimer’s and Parkinsons together) , and had a stroke. I went from the “good life” ( over 200k yr and all the toys) to less than 20k on SSDI. Very humbling to a man with 2 degree’s and was very much respected on the job and in Church.
I prayed a lot, for years and nothing. I wondered a lot why? This is what I was lead to shown or how ever God communicates to you. In the old Testament Job is destroyed and then God rewards him at the end. But what about Luke 16: 1-15 and later Luke 16:19-31? Did God hate the beggar? Why no healing? Wealth? My answer: live by faith alone, as Christ showed us. Sometimes a full belly and Shelter as in much of the world is enough. Why should I expect more? I believe I am to live broken, stepped on and destroyed. I believe it is an example to others, I can relate to the crying of the suffering. I grew a heart of compassion. I live by Faith alone for when everything is stripped away that is all that is left. Please do not be hypocrites and say the things Job’s friends did. Do not ask “What did he do wrong?” ” Are you praying Enough?” questions? God’s Will is sovereign. He has a reason. We do not need to know why. In my case I think it is to be like the beggar without a name. An example to others. Not to punish but to educate others. So when my day of leaving comes, I hope to be called faithful and true. Don’t let the trappings of the world get in your way , it can be a blessing , even if you hate it all the time. I just answer “yes, Lord”, and drag myself along the where and why I have no idea. Just following the Good Shepherd.
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Historically, it seems that this passage never means that we get whatever we ask for. It just never worked that way….so either we are misunderstanding it or the Bible is wrong. Given, that I think a good answer needs to be put forward…..but I’m not sure what it is.
From the beginnings of the early church…..conversion frequently meant death and persecution and loss of family and money. It came to the point that martyrdom was seen as the ultimate expression of faith….not praying for deliverance.
hermeneutically, we must be missing something.
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“Ask, and you will receive….Everyone who asks will receive.”
(But remember: “Don’t expect me to give you anything that I haven’t promised–and even if I have made a promise, the request had better meet my requirements.”)
If this is how we are to read the passage, then believers cannot really look to it to ground confidence that any specific prayer will be answered. Prayers of faith will always have to be prefaced by “If it is Your will” or “If it meets the conditions of your promises.”
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I struggled with this for a long time. The following article from JP Holding helped a lot with my understanding of this (and set me on the path of trying to understand Scripture within its original context):
http://www.tektonics.org/lp/prayfor.html
Hopefully this can help someone else.
D
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In context it suggests not stressing over ones daily bread.
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The more I think about it, the more it seems that the real challenge is to find a reading of the passage that doesn’t render it vacuous (or, that makes the passage simply a repetition of the assurance that, in some ultimate sense, all things will finally work out for good for the believer).
God works in mysterious ways. Can a believer really be assured that her prayers of faith will guarantee a steady supply of bread–or even that she will not die of starvation?
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In His time, he makes all things beautiful, in His time.
Witness Zechariah and Elizabeth. Witness Abram and Sarah.
If we are faithful in prayer, and the time is right, He will answer. Sometimes, we must wait while He prepares us for His answer.
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Interestingly our pastor preached today from Psalm 137 ” How shall we sing the LORDS song in a foreign land” By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.
Its easy to sing praises when everything is going hunkey dory, yet all the more difficult to when things seem lost! His word tells us He will never leave nor forsake us. So we have faith and hold on to that promise. I’ve heard Pastor Swindoll and others say in there messages that God wants to use us, but first he needs to bring us to our lowest point so that we can totally depend upon Him. So Keep praying and keep depending on Him!
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Just a quick comment before looking at my evening sermon…
I think that we must understand this passage in the context it is given (Sermon on the Mount). Jesus is working through the righteousness that is expected of His disciples. It is a righteousness that must exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees.
As he pounds through what is expected in many areas there is no doubt the listeners were thinking “There is no way I can do this!” and they were right. Our spiritual bankruptcy is blatantly evident as we read through this passage. We cry out “I can’t!” and to this Jesus graciously gives us this statement on prayer. To be righteous like the Sermon on the Mount means that we need help to do it. And for that we are told to ask the Father. He will always give help and direction to those that are ‘hungering and thirsting’ after righteousness.
Hope this helps.
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One must ask according to God’s will [I John 5;14].
The companion passage in Luke says God will give the Holy spirit to those who ask Him.
Ask Him.
This promise was made before Pentecost, to his followers before He WENT to
Calvary. it was fulfilled at Pentecost.
We must always see who God is talking to, When, why and what He says.
Not all Scripture is to us, though all is for our learning and admonition,
upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Dr. Paul W. Foltz
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Although it’s a beautiful hymn it’s not from the Bible, so doesn’t really enter into the discussion.
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The parallel passage in Luke 11:13 identifies the good thing as the Holy Spirit.
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Jason C,
The basic idea is fairly simple: if the promise relied on is a very general one, such as “all things work together for good….” (Romans 8:28), then one cannot infer for this any guarantee that God will answer one’s prayer for specifics (on the proposed interpretation of the “ask, and you will receive” passage). That is, since we cannot in any obvious way preclude the possibility that going hungry, or even starving to death, does not–in some ultimate and eternal sense–also work out for the believer’s good, we cannot use such general assurances to ground faith that God will grant our more specific prayer requests.
Thus, it may be better to find an alternative interpretation, such as the one lately being considered: that the relevant prayer requests would only be requests for the Holy Spirit.
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Humm…hard questions to end the year out CMP.
For your e-mail questioner I can only say I am coming to understand that the journey home is still part of eternity. We are to walk it together, a body, complete and interdependent. I began learning this lesson 14 years ago when a friend was having medical problems and the doctors were not finding any answers. Religious voices said things like “it must be unrepented sin” “an enemy attack” “lack of faith” “punishment” ARGH! What I was given then, and am starting to actually understand now, is that we (her friends, family, fellowship) needed to just be present with her, we didn’t have the answers and somehow we needed to figure out how to walk out not understanding, not getting answers, not being able to explain it, not being able to fix it with prayer or money or medicine. It was hard for her to ask. It was hard for us to be silent. It was hard for her to recieve. It was hard for us to give. And visa-versa.
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My two cents… hopefully its not too all over the place.
So it’s clear where I’m coming from, I’m a Calvinist with a VERY high view of the sovereignty of God.
Now, with that said, I don’t think that we should diminish the promises from Christ on account of the secret will of God. Understanding that God is sovereign over ever detail (as I do) tells me the mechanics of how things work and guarantees that they will be worked towards the purpose of God. This doesn’t take away from Christ’s promise to give anything if you ask in His name.
And I think that it is sad to pre-emptively deal with your disappointment in prayers you haven’t even made yet by appealing to the sovereignty of God. That just isn’t compatible with Christ’s exhortation.
Joh 14:13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Joh 14:14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
This is a tricky thing. It is tricky because, on the one hand, Jesus makes a huge promise here: On the other hand, we see James say things like, “2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (James 4:2-3). How do these fit?
Asking in His name isn’t tacking an “if you will” onto the end.
Praying and asking in the name of Christ means that, as has been observed elsewhere, prayer is to be in accordance with all that that name stands for. It is prayer proceeding from faith in Christ, prayer that gives expression to oneness with Christ, prayer that seeks to glorify Christ. There is Old Testament precedent: Frequently the saints would appeal to God to act on their behalf for the sake of His name. I think that you cannot separate the name of Christ from the glory of the Father, and that this is implied in the idea here: That we should pray for the sake of the name of God. For the upholding of His purpose. And I think a similar thing can be seen in the passages cited in the other Gospels (e.g. as has been observed, praying for the Holy Spirit)
How does this fit into losing a job, etc?
I think that John 15 is telling.
John 15:7-9 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
“By this” refers backward and forward. God is glorified by you asking for whatever you wish and it being done for you. God is glorified by you bearing much fruit. So there seems to be a connection between the two even here…
Again, the contextual limitation is ‘in my name.” This isn’t the same as saying “your will be done,” or even, “in Jesus’ name.”
And I don’t think that tacking a “your will be done” on the end of a prayer to prepare for disappointment grasps the point of this verse, either:
1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
Instead, look at the logic here:
Joh 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
The disciples have been appointed to bear fruit SO THAT whatever they ask will be given. Your prayers are to be for fruitbearing, and God provides a fruitful life so that your prayers are answered. This is how God views your daily life and its relation to your prayers.
So the true sense in both of these verses is to pray with confident expectation for those things that Christ HAS promised, namely, fruit-bearing.
Pray for the peace that Christ gives knowing that He has promised that He will provide rest and that He gives His peace, not as the world gives, and that He has promised that if you ask anything in His name, according to His will, the Father will answer you.
There are many things that I cannot promise you. I cannot promise you that God will give you a job or that He will heal you physically.
But I can say with ABSOLUTE certainty that if you abidingly believe in Christ and you pray for the peace which He gives, you will receive it. If you pray for fruit-bearing, it will happen.
So pray for it. God hears the prayers of the faithful. Don’t underestimate or denigrate prayer. Don’t diminish His promises by using the sovereignty of God as a means to reduce their effect. I think that this is tragic. It makes God’s promises functionally void. And it misunderstands the relation of the secret will of God to our asking and God’s giving.
Rather, adjust your prayers. Pray for that which is totally in line with the purpose of Christ, namely, fruit-bearing.
If you think, ‘I lost my job’, then think,’ How can I demonstrate the value of Christ to my soul in this?’ and pray for a material-worries transcending peace and trust in Christ that others might see His value. That’s just one example. You could multiply the prayers for fruitbearing. Use your tragedies as occasions to do so.
We must raise our prayers a little and focus them on our real mission here. Then we can pray expectantly, and confidently, believing that we will be given what we request.
Hope that helps.
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According to Mike J, one condition that you must meet in order claim the promise “Ask and you will receive,” is this: your prayers must be such that if they are answered, then they’d glorify God. One might think that this should be a very easy condition to meet. Surely God could be glorified by miraculously answering my prayer for a new job.
But Mike J also advises us to “Pray for that which is totally in line with the purpose of Christ.” This might be a harder condition to meet. Maybe what’s totally in line with Christ’s purpose is that I remain unemployed, or that through starvation I learn to empathize with the destitute of this world. Given that Christ’s perfect will (at least with regard to many specific details) may be quite difficult to determine, perhaps one can only expectantly pray for rather general stuff like: “Thy will be done”, “Let me bear fruit to your glory”, or “help me to me abide in You”.
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In Hebrews 11 We read that The Saints were ”NAKED, DESTITUTE,
HUNGRY, LIVING IN CAVES, WANDERING ABOUT.”
Oh how this does away with the Prosperity Gospel being espoused to day.
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Of course it doesn’t, the prosperity preacher would just say those saints didn’t have enough “faith” that God would provide them with wealth.
Paul learning to rejoice in abundance and rejoice in shortage likewise would be an example of Paul not having enough “faith”.
I’m pretty sure Jesus was a lower class working man without a house to call his own. I guess he didn’t have enough “faith” either.
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Actually CT, I think Mike J’s full of it. But then I’m not a Calvinist. I don’t see prayers being answered to further God’s glory (how can the glory of God be enhanced anyway?) I see them as being answered out of God’s kindness.
Faith is trusting God, so I pray trusting Him then continue to do the best I can to achieve the desired end. I guess I follow the little mantra I learned as a child. “Pray as though everything depends upon God, then work as though everything depends upon you.”
JP points out in the link above that hyperbolic language is a characteristic of Semitic speech and that taking “whatever” as “whatever” is a recipe for presumption.
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“JP points out in the link above that hyperbolic language is a characteristic of Semitic speech….”
I suppose that this is a quite handy resource for softening scriptural commands and promises. I’m not criticizing your appeal to hyperbole here–so long as you’re willing to recognize its influence in scripture more generally.
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MIKE SAID IN HIS POST ABOVE:
“So the true sense in both of these verses is to pray with confident expectation for those things that Christ HAS promised, namely, fruit-bearing.”
Now. With that established:
Hi CT,
Thanks for the thoughts.
You said:
“According to Mike J, one condition that you must meet in order claim the promise “Ask and you will receive,” is this: your prayers must be such that if they are answered, then they’d glorify God. One might think that this should be a very easy condition to meet. Surely God could be glorified by miraculously answering my prayer for a new job.”
Actually, I think you might have missed my point by missing a critical step.. I said that Jesus is saying to pray for fruitbearing. While this IS glorifying to God, fruitbearing is more concrete than this. For your prayers to be answered they must be prayers for concrete fruits in a Christian walk.
e.g. Fruitbearing is not having a particular job. Fruitbearing is about a particular character that expresses in particular conduct in whatever your calling or station or place or job or whatever. For example, fruitbearing entails striving to obey the command to provide for your family. Ergo, pray for the fruit of a desire to provide for your family and the means to provide for your family.
“But Mike J also advises us to “Pray for that which is totally in line with the purpose of Christ.” This might be a harder condition to meet. Maybe what’s totally in line with Christ’s purpose is that I remain unemployed, or that through starvation I learn to empathize with the destitute of this world. ”
Don’t make what I’m saying more abstract than I mean it. That purpose is fruitbearing in a believers life. That’s described in detail throughout the NT. Pray for that.
So I’m saying that we need to raise our prayers a little. We need to stop thinking so shortsightedly (I’m not saying that pejoratively, I just mean – look beyond what you think you need by looking at what Christ has promised in promising to answer prayers for fruitbearing).
Moreover, I’m just can’t assume that you understand what I mean when I say “the glory of God…” Though since I’m talking about something more particular to our actions in our experience as believers, I don’t need to go into this right now.
To my more gracious and loving interlocuter, Jason C:
You said:
“Actually CT, I think Mike J’s full of it. But then I’m not a Calvinist. I don’t see prayers being answered to further God’s glory (how can the glory of God be enhanced anyway?) I see them as being answered out of God’s kindness.”
The fact that you just put a dichotomy between God’s kindness and His glory shows that you do not understand what I am saying. God’s kindness is His glory.
Moreover, the fact that you apparently don’t understand the difference between glory as an intrinsic possession, glory as an emanation, and glory in perception renders your objection mute in the first place. Please do some reading on a Calvinistic understanding of glory. Start with Jonathan Edwards. All his works are available online.
Also, please actually interact with what I write if you’re going to say I’m full of it. That includes interacting with my brief exegesis. Go read it again if you need to.
Focus on the fruitbearing. That is concrete. It’s not left up to the imagination. It is obedience to Christ as defined by Christ in His revealed word. I’m saying that a believer’s prayers are guaranteed to be answered if a believer is praying for fruitbearing.
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“Actually CT, I think Mike J’s full of it. But then I’m not a Calvinist. I don’t see prayers being answered to further God’s glory (how can the glory of God be enhanced anyway?) I see them as being answered out of God’s kindness.”
Oh, I might add that Arminian theologians have acknowledged that God’s ultimate purpose is His glory too. This isn’t unique to Calvinism:
“[God's] ultimate purpose of glorifying himself by demonstrating his love to all persons is fully achieved even in the event that some persons persist in rejecting it . . . [this is because] If we accept his love, he is glorified in our flourishing; if we persist in rejecting it, he is glorified when it becomes utterly obvious that we cannot be truly happy apart from him.” Jerry Walls, “Reply to Talbott” in Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Religion, (eds. Peterson and Vanarragon), Blackwell, 2004, p. 288.
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But I’m not an Armenian either.
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“Would any of you give your hungry child a stone, if the child asked for some bread? Would you give your child a snake if the child asked for a fish? As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give good things to people who ask.”
Even as a metaphor I think this part of the passage makes it clear that Jesus is talking about sustenance, not being kept in line with God’s Will ™. To say that only requests for things that fulfill God’s Will will be answered is a bit like saying rain dances will only be effective on stormy days. What’s the use in asking if you will only get what is intended for you anyway? It makes a mockery of language. If we are to assume that the normal use of words like “good things” are to be abandoned in favor of hidden meanings, then who among us can know for sure that we grasp their true meaning?
Now, if God is making you poor and starving so that you may have sympathy for the poor, then I would hope He was responding to your previous attitude of indifference to suffering in which case you are being punished/corrected and this passage would not really apply.
Finally, I generally stay away from J P Holding. I mean, he’s an INTJ!!
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Mr. Ferguson, I agree with everything you are saying. The problem is simply facing the fact (I think it is a fact) that believing prayers for basic necessities sometimes go unanswered–and not because God is punishing the believer (or “correcting” his/her previous indifference).
In other words, if we come across believers who are “naked, destitute, hungry, living in caves, wandering about” we cannot immediately conclude that they are being punished by God, that they have failed to pray for better conditions, that they lack faith, or that they are being corrected for their previous attitudes of indifference towards the destitute.
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So, I think it might be wise to consider the fact that people are not always truthful in their postings on a website or forum. People don’t always give the full story. Sounds like we have another candidate in waiting for the ex-christian.net group.
Poor pitiful me, God won’t give me a job. Boo! Hoo!
I suggest every person who reads this post go back up several post and go to the tektonics link to get the real meaning of this passage in the historical and socio-cultural context and not the King James version.
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After 2000 years of church history, we have turned the Bible into a book of spells. Hocus pocus! New job! Hocus pocus! I’m healed!
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God answers the prayers of His people. No one’s prayer does He leave unanswered…the true question is, “Are we attempting to put God on a time schedule that we are bound by?” 24 hours in a day means to us that a day has gone by…24 hours times 5 equals a week, etc. God is larger than space and time; He started time ticking! He made space run as far as it could…and it’s still running. God spoke the earth, planets, stars into existence, he formed man out of the dust of the earth, then went back in, retrieved a rib and told woman to be. Answer a question? He is more than able to answer your question and will or has already. Many times we aren’t listening or are only listening for the answers we want to hear. How about asking God how he can be glorified in our walk through adversity…someone needs to see you trust God enough, someone needs to hear you tell your story of when…someone needs your strength to keep on going…someone needs to see your unquenchable thirst to seek, and trust in God above your circumstance, sitauation or trial of adversity. And if you want a definition of adversity don’t forget to look around in order to get it right! I know God answers prayer, I had to learn how to Hear Him speak!
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Is faith primarily trusting God and His character of goodness and holiness and righteousness (clinging to Him and His ability and character) even if He does not give us what we want; or is Faith just believe that He will do something I ask for or claim or want.
Is faith believing that He is able; or is faith believing that He will do it for me?
Matthew 9:28-29
It seems to me that faith is primarily trusting God even when He does not do what we want; and believing that is He able and surrendering our wills to His will.
Daniel 3:17-18 “our God is able” . . . and He will deliver us . . . but even if He does not deliver us from the fiery furnace, let it be known to you O king, that we will not bow down to your idol.”
The Lord conforms us to His image (Romans 8:28-29) through trusting Him through the trials and perseverance and sifting our motives in prayer and taking us through all the different conditions for answered prayer.
Psalm 66:18
James 1:2-12
James 4:3-4
John 15:7
I Peter 3:7
John 14:13
John 16:24
Even the passage that the “Word of Faith” heretics and false teachers use in Mark 11:20-25 has the condition of forgiving others in prayer. The context is the fruitfulness of Israel, the cleansing of the temple, and the cursing of the fig tree. The lack of faith in Messiah and the lack of fruit and the lack of love for the nations and other cultures was what was stopping things. Jesus is saying the fig tree (political and Pharisees kind of Israel who rejected the Messiah) and the mountain of the temple (Isaiah 56:6-7; Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1-2; Ezekiel 6) of the Lord will be uprooted and taken away and given to a nation that will produce the fruit of it. Matthew 21:1-46; especially verses 13, 19, 23, 41-44.
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I think Matt 6:25-33 has a lot to say in these circumstances. When we pray, we shouldn’t be doing so in a spirit of fear, greed, or even hope for the things we’re praying for; we should do so with our heart centered on the Kingdom. Seek first the Kingdom of God; and all these things will be added unto you.
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