Demanding Faith

Let me begin by declaring I believe in praying in faith. I encourage others to step out and trust God for mighty acts of divine intervention; for lives to be changed; mountains to be moved. I often ask God to work above and beyond anything we could ever ask or imagine.  I deeply believe God will heal, not always, but probably more than we trust him to. That said, there’s a big difference between stepping out in faith to pray for the impossible and demanding God to do as we deem fit.

Lately I’ve heard several “testimonies” of people sharing of how God answered a prayer when they laid the request before him and basically ordered him to work.  I heard one person tell God that she would go back on the mission field only if he provided a place for her to stay. My husband recently heard a man on a Christian radio program share of how his wife demanded God to heal her and amazingly he did! They used phrases like “you must” and “you have to”. They remind me of spoiled children with their arms crossed, digging their heals in the ground until they get their way. Who are we to demand of God? Yes, we should pray in faith, believing and declaring the miraculous power of God but who is in the driver’s seat? Who’s in control? Where is our faith, really?

In the 3rd chapter of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were threatened and thrown into a fiery furnace for not worshipping the pagan gods the king had established. Their response in Daniel 3:17-18 describes exactly what I’m talking about. “17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” If you’re familiar with this bible story, you know that God did save them, not from but in the fiery furnace. He did perform a miracle. Who received the glory? God did. He was in control and all knew it.

Where is our faith, really? What or who do we depend on? Can we have joy, no matter the outcome? Yes, we should step out and ask God to work in amazing ways, beyond human possibility.  Let’s ask him to move those mountains, to heal the sick, to provide the impossible, to part the waters; but if he chooses not to, our faith in him – in his love, his mercy, his sovereignty – must stand firm!

The prophet Habakkuk faced a daunting situation. He knew an army was coming to basically wipe out his people. He pleaded with God to stop this from happening but God allowed it. Verses 17-19 close chapter 3 with these words “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 19 GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.”

Pray, seek, ask. But find peace and joy in the knowledge that God is ultimately in control.

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