Has God answered all of your prayers?
Feb 26, 2011
The Base for Grace - part thirty-one in a study of the book of Hebrews
By Mike Gaudet
Has God answered all of your prayers?
Didn’t think so!
How can we have faith in God when there are reasons to doubt Him?
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see . . . And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:1,6
What is faith?
The trust that infants come to place in their parent(s) illustrates the nature of faith.
Infants instinctively use signals to influence mom and/or dad to meet their needs. The experience of having these signals responded to forms a mental image of the parent(s) in the child’s mind. The child comes to expect that the parent(s) will continue to exhibit the same level of love and care that has been experienced in the past.
Once this mental image of parental love and faithfulness is sufficiently developed, the child can draw comfort and reassurance from it even when the parent is physically absent. Children develop the capacity to become “certain” of what they “do not see.”
This is a good illustration of biblical faith.
God wants His children to “believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” The belief God seeks to develop is not mere intellectual assent. God wants more from us than a belief that “somewhere out there” He exists. He wants for us to trust in His love and faithfulness. He wants us to become “sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Without this faith “it is impossible to please God.”
This kind of assurance cannot be willed. It cannot be generated by mental discipline. It is the natural by-product of trust that’s developed over time. In the same way that an infant cannot “talk itself” into having this kind of faith in the parent, we can’t talk ourselves into having faith in God.
If we want to develop biblical faith there are several things to keep in mind:
Faith centers in a person.
Faith is challenged by problems.
Faith claims the promises.
Faith centers in a person. Faith is not simply acting the right way or doing the right things. Faith is personal and relational. It involves listening to God and believing what He says. “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17
You may have heard someone say, “It doesn’t matter who or what you have faith in, as long as you have faith in someone or something.” The problem with this kind of thinking is that it loses sight of an important truth: faith is only as good as its’ object. Weak faith in a worthy object trumps strong faith in an unworthy object.
God is a worthy object of faith. Time spent listening to Him by reading and reflecting on the Bible and discussing it with others is an integral part of developing faith in God.
Faith is challenged by problems. It’s one thing to have faith in God when living is easy. This is “because of” faith. It’s another thing to have faith in Him when living is difficult. This is “in spite of” faith.”
God wants to develop “in spite of” faith in us.
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:6-7
God isn’t invested in providing us with a tension-free life. He doesn’t allow us to have everything we want to have. He doesn't enable us to do everything we want to do. He teaches us to have faith in Him in the midst of “all kinds of trials.”
Faith claims the promises. Having faith in God means that we trust Him to do what He has promised to do.
Abraham was seventy-five when God promised to give him a son. When he turned one hundred he was still waiting for God to keep this promise. Abraham is a member of the Bible’s “Hall of Faith” because, “Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead — since he was about a hundred years old — and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” Romans 4:19-21
God’s promises kept Abraham’s faith alive during his twenty-five year vigil. In order to develop faith, it is essential to focus on God’s promises to us.
“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” 2 Peter 1:3-4
God tells us that He’s “given us everything we need for life and godliness.” If it’s true that God has given us “everything we need”, why do we have such a tough time living godly lives?
We fail to grasp the importance of focusing on God’s promises.
God’s “very great and precious promises” enable us to “participate in the divine nature.” They empower us to “escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
As we gaze at God’s promises we receive the power to live the Christian life.