In my last article we approached the difficult issue of prayer. Particularly, we looked at the discouragement that believers have in this important area of faith. While it is one of the most effective tools in the Christian’s arsenal it is also one of the most neglected tools. The reason for this neglect is a general misunderstanding of what God does and does not promise and a resultant disappointment when he doesn’t do what we want him to do.
We began our study in this subject by looking at Hebrews 11, a chapter described as the “Hall of Fame of Faith.” In verses 1-35a of that chapter we see a group of people who discovered that faith sometimes changes our circumstances. But in verses 35b-39 we discover a second group of people who discovered that faith does not always change our circumstances. The people mentioned in verses 1-35a experienced marvelous deliverances while the people in 35b-39 faced horrible suffering and death. Yet they too are considered heros of faith. In fact, verse 39 clearly says, “All of them pleased God because of their faith! But still they died without being given what had been promised.” (Hebrews 11:39 CEV). The Message Translation renders this same verse, “Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised.”
There is, unfortunately, a vast plethora of very poor theology that goes under the guise of positive confession. Those who promote this errant and unbiblical teaching basically teach that we can have anything we want, as long as our faith is strong enough. They isolate verses of Scripture, put their existential philosophy (the living for the “now”) into promises of Scripture and make claims that the Bible knows nothing about! I have found that when you believe an illusion about what God does or does not promise, you will always eventually become disillusioned. The reason that many Christians have given up on prayer is because they have become disillusioned when God didn’t do what they thought he was going to do!
You don’t have to study far in Scripture before you realize that a life of faith is not a charmed life! Our Lord, perfect man and God in the flesh, because he walked in this fallen world is described as one whose “life was filled with sorrow and terrible suffering.” (Isaiah 53:3 CEV). Now, I submit that if the perfect God/man suffered in this world, it is the height of arrogance and the blindness of sin that teaches that people of faith will not or should not suffer. In our text, Hebrews 11 it is obvious that this second group of people with whom God is expressly pleased did not receive what they desired in this world.
What then makes them heroes of faith? They kept on believing God in spite of their circumstances! I am absolutely convinced that the greater faith is to keep on trusting God in the midst of difficult circumstances than it is to trust him when he does miraculously deliver! Think about that for a minute. In my experience it is much more difficult to see God in the bane than it is to see him in my blessings.
One of the reasons so many today are discouraged with prayer is because they have misunderstood and misapplied many of the promises God makes regarding prayer. For instance, while our Lord teaches us to pray only for our daily needs, there are those who teach us to pray for worldly wealth. Tied in with this teaching is the promise that if you send them your seed money (which represents the proportion of your faith) then God will abundantly bless you with financial riches. Frankly the only people getting rich off that is the charlatans promoting this false theology! The Bible describes such teachers as being men who are totally devoid of any truth (See 1 Timothy 6:3-6).
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