Does Your Faith Finish Up Strong?
When we pray, we often start out in Faith. Faith is when we have a clear view of God and ALL He is and ALL that He is capable of. With this view of God we agree wholeheartedly, “nothing is impossible for God.” We are like Peter, who with a clear view of Jesus is ready to climb down out of the boat into the storm and go to Jesus. Matt 14:28 “Lord, if it is you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
We have a clear WORD from God to confirm what we hope for, we hear Him say “Come,” and we start climbing out the boat and set out toward Him, totally convinced that we will have an answer because of WHO He is. Immediately we experience an unusual demonstration of power in our lives as we move our lives in the direction of Jesus. We have every intention of following hard after Him.
But then the waves… the wind, the storm of life, causes us to lose our faith eyes, they block our spiritual vision. We no longer have a clear view of Jesus, and we become afraid and our lives begin to sink.
- We evaluate if what we are believing, is physically possible and within human reason.
- We wonder if “God really did say…” that WORD to us.
- We look at the danger of circumstances around us and we wonder at His goodness, His timing, His purpose.
Don’t let the next prayer be made in doubt, like the cry of Peter: “Lord save me!”
Doubt has lost the revelation of WHO God is, doubt no longer sees what He is capable of. That’s why Jesus says to Peter, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
We are to maintain our spiritual vision. When we first have our revelation of faith, we are totally convinced of an answer to our prayer, it is easy to believe. The real challenge comes in maintaining that spiritual vision while the storms in our life are raging. Jesus wants us to maintain eye-contact with Him. Not looking at our surroundings, at people, our resources etc
“Fix your eyes on Jesus, he author and perfector of our faith…” (Hebrews 12:2).
We are to make sure that our faith is maintained so that the next time we utter a prayer on the same matter (and Jesus wants us to keep praying about matters in our lives, Luke 11:5-10) we do not end up praying with doubt, or “little faith.” We are to maintain our belief for “…whatever you ask for in prayer, believe.” (Mark 11:24)
Instead, He wants us to be thanking Him for the answer He promised us in His Word, praise Him for His goodness to us and tell Him that we are waiting. This strengthens our faith and we are even more sure of His answer as we REST in WHO He is.
Heb 4:3 “Now we who have believed, enter that rest.”
Prayers not expressed in faith, deny the promise He has given us in His Word and cancels out the assurance we had that our prayer would be answered. These prayers express the unrest in our hearts and our lack of spiritual vision. We have lost sight of Jesus who calls us across the waves. These doubting prayers diminish our faith and cause us to function in doubt and sink.
So when we pray, let us make sure that we are so confident in Jesus, that we, like Paul, can declare in Acts 27:25 “…for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.”
Start out in faith, keep your spiritual vision clear, with eyes focused on Jesus.
Maintain your faith and don’t give way to doubt. An answer not received yet, means the answer is closer. Unanswered prayer is not an excuse to stop believing prayer. Remain steadfast in prayer, focused on Jesus and see unusual demonstrations of power in your life.
Lord help me to pray in such a way that I am totally convinced of an answer. So convinced that I can wholeheartedly thank you for the answer even though it is not evident yet. Help me to remember that it is not my prayers that bring answers, but my faith. Help me to maintain my faith by keeping my eyes and heart totally fixed on You, my Lord and my God.
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