Prayer and Faith

Have you been praying for a specific request for months, even years? If you are praying this way, it is evidence of your faith. You believe that God can answer your prayer. If you didn’t believe that, you would stop bringing that request to God, wouldn’t you? Your perseverance in prayer reflects your faith.

You are also following Jesus’ admonition to his disciples to “always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1-8). But then there is a potential trap that the devil sets for us. He tells us that we have to have the answer just the way we want it, just like we asked. We yield to this temptation because we don’t see God’s big picture. We really don’t believe the verse that we are so familiar with, Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good for those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

So perhaps the ultimate evidence of faith is when we can persevere in prayer, in a spirit of complete surrender, with the belief that God hears us and will answer in his way, according to his purpose, and in his time? Remember, he makes everything beautiful in his time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Rest in that promise! And rest in the fact that God has a perfect, even if sometimes mysterious, plan for your life!

John Heie is a member of the CLB Prayer Team.