Faith, Prayer, Trust and Purpose

Faith, Prayer, Trust and Purpose

Hebrews 11:1. “Now faith is confidence [assurance] in what we hope for and assurance [conviction] about what we do not see.” NIV, but using words from other translations in brackets.

Confidence is a feeling or belief you can have faith in something. Assurance is confidence. So, these two words are synonyms.

Conviction is a firmly held belief or opinion. Trust is defined as a firm belief in something to be true. So, these two words are synonyms.

Faith and Trust go hand in hand. Trust in God requires faith – in order to Trust in Him, you first need to believe that He exists.

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Isaiah 40:31 “But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength,”

Romans 12:3 ‘…each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”

Faith has been called the substance of hope, as it actually requires no evidence for belief or practice. The very nature of faith surmises that tangible evidence need not exist. Trust is based largely on evidence that is real according to the senses and to human reason.

Trust in God is the more passive of the two words while faith in God is more of an action or verb, e.g. trust is drawing strength from God’s embrace, while faith is taking God with you when things need to be done.

Most bible translations for the definition of faith include the word Hope.

Hope is our reason for doing something. It is the prize at the end of the race, or the certificate at the end of the course.

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Scripture informs us that God’s greatest commandments for us are in Matthew 22:37-40, and repeats it in both Mark 12:30-31 and Luke 10:27 “27 So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

We also know that, per Romans 10:17 “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Further study of the original text reveals that the sentence does not end there, but carries on to add “and every expression that comes from the Father’s face.” John 1:18 informs us that no one has ever seen God’s face, so this implies that, in order to know God’s expressions, we surely need to be very close to Him.

We have access to God’s grace only by/through faith (Romans 4:16, 5:2, Ephesians 2:8).

We receive through God’s gift of grace (James 1:5-8).

Per Mark 11:22-24, “…believe and it will be yours.”

Per Matthew 21:21 “…if you have faith and do not doubt.”

Then we are instructed by Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things (food, clothing, health) will be given to you as well.”

and

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” and

Proverbs 21:21 “He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity (or righteousness) and honour.”

A righteous person not only does the right thing for other people, but also ensures that he follows God’s teachings so that he is in right standing with God.

We are also informed in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV) that (my underlining)

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

So, based on all the above, surely our main goal in life should be to gain a deeper understanding of and relationship with God through understanding scripture?

To follow are extracts from 2 books I feel are particularly helpful in this context.

A) From the book ‘Knowing God’ by JI Packer

33 What were we made for? To know God. What aims should we set for ourselves in life? To know God. What is the ‘eternal life’ that Jesus gives? Knowledge of God.

“This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (Jn 17:3).

34 The best thing in life is knowledge of God. Once you become aware that the main business you are here for is to know God, most of life’s problems fall into place of their own accord. For what higher, more exalted, and more compelling goal can there be than to know God?

The almighty Creator comes to you and begins to talk to you through the words and truth of the Holy Scripture. You come to realize as you listen that God is actually opening his heart to you, making friends with you and enlisting you as a colleague.

37 Knowing God involves, first listening to God’s Word and receiving it as the Holy Spirit interprets it, in application to oneself; second, noting God’s nature and character, as his Word and works reveal it: third, accepting his invitations and doing what he commands: fourth, recognizing and rejoicing in the love that he has shown in thus approaching you and drawing you into his divine fellowship.

This is part of the biblical concept of knowing God, that those who know him - that is by whom he allows himself to be known - are loved and cared for by him. We know God in this way only through knowing Jesus Christ, who is himself God manifest in the flesh. “Don’t you know me…? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father’; “no one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn 14:9,6)

39 First, knowing God is a matter of personal dealing, as is all direct acquaintance with personal beings. Knowing about him is a necessary precondition of trusting in him. “how can they have faith in one they had never heard of?” [Rom 10:14 NEB].

Second, knowing God is a matter of personal involvement – mind will and feeling. To get to know another person, you have to commit yourself to his company and interests, and be ready to identify yourself with his concerns. Without this, your relationship with him can only be superficial and flavorless.

Third, knowing God is a matter of grace. The initiative throughout is with God – as it must be, since God is so 41 completely above us and we have so completely forfeited all claim on his favor by our sins. We do not make friends with God; God makes friends with us, bringing us to know him by making his love known to us. We know him by faith because he first singled us out by grace. The word ‘know’, when used of God in this way, is a sovereign-grace word, pointing to God’s initiative in loving, choosing, redeeming, calling and preserving.

Godliness means responding to God’s revelation in trust and obedience, faith and worship, prayer and praise, submission and service. Life must be seen and lived in the light of God’s Word.

219-220 The Spirit teaches the mind of God, and glorifies the Son of God, out of the Scriptures; also, that he is the agent of new birth, giving us an understanding so that we know God and a new heart to obey him; also, that he indwells, sanctifies, and energizes Christians for their daily pilgrimage; also, that assurance, joy, peace and power are his special gifts.

The nature of God’s judgment of man.

The gift of justification does not at all shield believers from being assessed as Christians, and from forfeiting good which others will enjoy if it turns out that as Christians they have been slack, mischievous and destructive. “If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames (1 Cor 3:12-15). Reward and loss signify an enriched or impoverished relationship with God, though in what ways it is beyond our present power to know.

Final judgment will also be according to our knowledge. ”Where a man has been given much, much will be expected of him” (Luke 12:47-48 NEB).

Christian Behaviour.

Appreciate the discipline of God. All things come from him, and you have tasted his goodness every day of your life…if he puts thorns in your bed, it is only to awaken you from the sleep of spiritual death – and to make you rise up to seek his mercy. Or, if you are a true believer, and he still puts thorns in your bed, it is only to keep you from falling into the somnolence of complacency and to ensure that you “continue in his goodness” by letting your sense of need bring you back constantly in self-debasement and faith and seek his face.

172-173 The jealousy of God requires us to be zealous for God. His concern for us is great; ours for him must be great too. God’s people should be positively and passionately devoted to his person, his cause and his honor. The Bible word for such devotion is zeal, sometimes called the jealousy for God. Zeal in religion is a burning desire to please God, to do His will, and to advance His glory in the world in every possible way. It is a desire which no man feels by nature – which the Spirit puts in the heart of every believer when he is converted. He burns for one thing; and that one thing is to please God, and to advance God’s glory.

Prayer may be free and bold. “Everyone who asks receives...” (Mt 7:7-11). Not, indeed, that our Father in heaven always answers his children’s prayers in the form in which we offer them. Often he gives us what we should have asked for, rather than what we actually requested.

Our adoption is the basis of the life of faith – that is, the life of trusting God for one’s material needs as one seeks his kingdom and righteousness. “Do not worry about your life,” says the Lord, “what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear” (Mt 6:25). “But seek first his [your Father’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Mt 6:31-33).

How God Guides Us.

The fundamental guidance which God gives to shape our lives – the instilling, that is, of the basic convictions, attitudes, ideals and value judgments, in terms of which we are to live – is not a matter of inward promptings apart from the Word but of the pressure on our consciences of the portrayal of God’s character and the will in the Word, which the Spirit enlightens us to understand and apply to ourselves. Be it noted that the references to being ‘led by the Spirit’ in Romans 8:14 relates not to inward ‘voices’ or any such experience, but to mortifying known sin and not living after the flesh! The Spirit leads within the limits which the Word sets, not beyond them. “He guides me in paths of righteousness” (Ps 23:3) – but not anywhere else.

The work of God is to incline first our judgment then our whole being to the course which, of all the competing alternatives, he has marked out as best suited for us, and for his glory. Six pitfalls that prevent His guidance from getting through to us:

1) First, unwillingness to think. “O that they were wise…that they would consider” (Deut 32:29 KJV)

2) Second, unwillingness to think ahead. “O that they were wise…that they would consider their latter end!” (Deut 32:29 KJV).

3) Third, unwillingness to take advice. “The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.” (Prov 12:15).

4) Fourth, unwillingness to suspect oneself. We need to ask ourselves why we ‘feel’ a particular course to be right, and to make ourselves give reasons – and we shall be wise to lay the case before someone else whose judgment we trust, to give a verdict on our reasons. We need also to keep praying, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps 139:23-24 KJV). We can never distrust ourselves too much.

5) Fifth, unwillingness to discount personal magnetism. Outstanding people are not, indeed, necessarily wrong, but they are not necessarily right, either! They, and their views, must be respected, but may not be idolized. “Test everything. Hold on to the good” (1 Thess 5:21).

6) Sixth, unwillingness to wait. God often keeps us waiting. He is not in such a hurry as we are, and it is not his way to give more light on the future than we need for action in the present, or to guide us more than one step at a time. When in doubt, do nothing, but continue to wait on God. When action is needed, light will come.

But it does not follow that right guidance will be vindicated as such by a trouble-free course thereafter. The wise person will take occasion from his new troubles to check his original guidance very carefully. Trouble should always be treated as a call to consider one’s ways. But trouble is not necessarily a sign of being off track at all; for as the Bible declares in general that “many are the afflictions of the righteous” (Ps 34:19 KJV). For a final example and proof of the truth that following God’s guidance brings trouble, look at the life of the Lord Jesus himself.

Nor does God always tell us the why and the wherefore of the frustrations and losses which are part and parcel of the guided life. We must allow God to do what he wants to do. And if you are thinking that you know the will of God for your life and you are anxious to do that, you are probably in for a very rude awakening because nobody know the will of God for his entire life.

Our God is a God who not merely restores, but takes up our mistakes and follies into his plan for us and brings good out of them. This is God’s promise; this is how good he is.

246-248 Often the start of their Christian career is marked by great emotional joy, striking providences, remarkable answers to prayer and immediate fruitfulness in their first acts of witness; thus God encourages them and establishes them in ‘the life’. But as they grow stronger, and are able to bear more, he exercises them in a tougher school. He exposes them to as much testing by the pressure of opposed and discouraging influences as they are able to bear – not more (see promise, 1Cor 10:13), but equally not less (see the admonition, Acts 14:220. Thus he builds our character, strengthens our faith, and prepares us to help others. Thus he crystallizes our sense of values. Thus he glorifies himself in our lives, making his strength perfect in our weakness.

It is true that if Christians grow careless toward God and slip back into ways of deliberate sin, their inward joy and rest of heart will grow less, and discontent of spirit comes to mark them more and more. God exposes Christians to strong attacks from the world, the flesh and the devil, so that their powers of resistance might grow greater and their character as people of God becomes stronger. He wants us to grow in Christ, not to stay babes in Christ.

250-252 God fills our lives with troubles and perplexities of one sort and another to ensure that we shall learn to hold him fast. And God wants us to feel that our way through life is rough and perplexing, so that we may learn thankfully to lean on him. It is said that those who never make mistakes never make anything; certainly…though their mistakes God taught them to know his grace and to cleave to him in a way that would never have happened otherwise.

“These inward trials I employ…From self and pride to set thee free;… And break thy schemes of earthly joy,…That thou may’st seek thy all in me.”

We are afraid to go all the way in accepting the authority of God, because of our secret uncertainty as to his adequacy to look after us if we do. Now let us call a spade a spade. The name of the game we are playing is unbelief, and Paul’s ‘he will give us all things’ stands as an everlasting rebuke to us. Paul is telling us that there is no ultimate loss or irreparable impoverishment to be feared; if God denies us something, it is only in order to make room for one or other of the things he has in mind.

Do we fear that God lacks strength or wisdom for fulfilling his declared purpose? But Paul states it as a fact that (following the RSV of Rom 8:28) “in everything God works for good with those who love him.” And who are you to suppose that you will be the first exception, the first person to find God wavering and failing to keep his word? Do you not see how you dishonor God by such fears? Or do we doubt his constancy? “I the LORD do not change” (Mal 3:6). Have you been holding back from a risky, costly course to which you know in your heart God has called you? Hold back no longer. Your God is faithful to you, and is adequate for you. You will never need more that he can supply, and what he supplies, both materially and spiritually, will always be enough for the present. “No good thing does the LORD withhold from those who walk uprightly” 9Ps 84:11 RSV). “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to ensure it” (I Cor 10:13 RSV). “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). Think on these things! – and let your thoughts drive your inhibitions about serving your Master.

Knowing God involves a personal relationship whereby you give yourself to God on the basis of his promise to give himself to you. Knowing God, in other words, involves faith – assent, consent, commitment – and faith expresses itself in prayer and obedience.

B) From the book ‘Prayer’ by Philip Yancy

' 'Why should I ask of him that he would change for me the course of things? - I who ought to love, above all, the order established by his wisdom and maintained by his Providence, shall I wish that order to be dissolved on my account?’ To such questions, I have no better answer than the example of Jesus, who knew above any of us the wisdom of the Father and yet who felt a strong need to flood the heavens with requests.

Prayer is co-operation with God, a consent that opens the way for grace to work.

Spending time in meditative prayer, getting to know God, helps align my desires with God's. Over time I have come to appreciate how meditation can transform my requests. Ultimately, I want to pray for what God wants, and if God doesn't want something for me, I shouldn't want it either.

I can never completely align with God's will because I do not have the capacity for fully knowing it. What I do know, though, informs my prayers.

Soren Kierkegaard put it this way: 'The true relation in prayer is not when God hears what is prayed for, but when the person praying continues to pray until he is the one who hears, who hears what God wills.'

As one well-known pastor used to say, 'Nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer except that which lies outside the will of God.' Of course, we don't fully know God's will, which explains why we pray. If I seek God more than anything else, I will eventually seek more of what God wants for me, and be content with that.

Per Eugene Peterson, 'Praying most often doesn't get us what we want but what God wants, something quite at variance with what we conceive to be in our best interests.'

Sometimes prayer gives us the enlightenment to realise what we ourselves should be doing, as opposed to waiting for God to help us while we sit back, wait and see.

The New Testament presses home that our prayers make a difference to God and to the world: ' Ask and it will be given to you.' 'And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well...The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.' 'For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer...' 'You do not have, because you do not ask God.'

Four times the Old Testament reports that God 'relented' or 'changed his mind' in response to a request, and each shift forestalled a promised punishment.

Since God's nature is love, God must be impressionable and sympathetic, says Clark Pinnock. 'Because God's love never changes, God's experience must change. God considers prayers much as a wise parent might consider requests from a child.

Per C.S.Lewis, you could argue why do anything, not just prayer, if God already knows what's best, e.g. why wash your hands? If God intends them to be clean, they’ll come clean without your washing them. God chose a different style of governing the world, a partnership which relies on human agency and choice.

Why pray? Evidently, God likes to be asked. God certainly does not need our wisdom or our knowledge, nor even the information contained in our prayers ('your Father knows what you need before you ask him'). But by inviting us into the partnership of creation, God also invites us into relationship. God is love, said the apostle John. God does not merely have love or feel love. God is love and cannot not love. As such, God yearns for relationship with the creatures made in his image.

'Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God,' Paul instructs. The King James Version speaks of 'making known' our requests. How can we make known a request to a God who already knows? Relationship is the key. Relationship ups the urgency of any information - it's the difference between watching news reports of a tragedy overseas and watching those same reports when your son or your fiance is there.

In the very act of praying we open up a channel that God can use in transforming us, in making us good. Although I bring my honest concerns to God, over time I may come away with an entirely different set of concerns. In persistent prayer, my own desires and plans gradually harmonise with God’s.

Per Henri Nouwen, ‘We must pray not first of all because it feels good or helps, but because God loves us and wants our attention. Prayer does not change God, but changes him who prays.’

Persistent prayer leads us into a new spiritual state for God to deal with, i.e. the change we request actually takes place within ourselves and we thus see things differently (we become the person we should).

I cannot get everything I want in the timeframe I want. I must slow down, and wait. I have to present my requests in a manner that seems at first like surrender. I ‘give them up’ to God, and through that act of submission God can at last begin to grow in me the qualities or ‘fruit’ that I needed all along: peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

A person prays, says Augustine, ‘that he himself may be constructed, not that God may be instructed.’

In prayer we present requests, sometimes repeatedly, and then put ourselves in a state to receive the result. We pray for what God wants to give us, which may turn out to be good gifts or it may be the Holy Spirit. We may pray for relief from trials and instead get patience to bear them.

Sweeping promises

Here is what Jesus said:

'I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt...If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.'

'Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.'

'You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it.'

Why then are some prayers unanswered? The assurance of answered prayers, still sweeping in its scope, comes with conditions. Am I abiding in Christ? Am I making requests according to his will? Am I obeying his commands? Each of these underscores the relationship, the companionship with God. The more we know God, the more we know God's will, the more likely our prayers will align with that will. In other words, one who works in close partnership with God grows in the ability to discern what God wants to accomplish on earth, and prays accordingly.

Okay, so what am I getting at in all this? I am attempting to address the debate about it being the extent or strength of our faith or trust in God and a lack of doubt about what we pray for or believe in that will determine how and when our prayers are answered.

From the above, you can see that it is all about God and our understanding of God through spending time in scripture, and what His plans are. He is all knowing, consistent, completely faithful, just and sovereign and unmoving, and, if we feel we can move Him through prayer, surely we are trying to usurp Him as God? It is only if our prayers are in alignment with His plans that it seems He is answering our prayers, but then, in reality, they were His plans that would have played out that way whether we prayed or not

Please note that we are called to prayer as Jesus did, as a means for us to communicate with God and build our relationship with Him.