Introduction

What is faith and to what degree should we believe in God?  What is the correlation with obedience and faith, and waiting on the Lord?  Will faith guarantee that I receive everything I pray for, and how should I pray?  These are the questions asked by most Christians who frequently struggle with these topics.

What is Faith

First, let’s look at what it means to have faith in God.  Faith is the confidence in someone/something and/or belief in something/someone we can not see.  In this context, we believe in God and know that he is Omnipotent (Almighty), Omnipresent (Present Everywhere), Omniscient (All Knowing), even though we can’t see Him.  Faith in the New Testament is mentioned more than 500 times in the original Greek, and signifies the importance of this concept for the believer.  Simply put, we believe that God the Father sent His Only Begotten Son to die for our sins in order to give us eternal life (John 3:16).  Lastly, we have the faith that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

Believing is the key and definition of what we consider faith.  We believe in Jesus and all that He has done on the cross.  Isaiah 53:5 says, but he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.  So you may be asking, how much and with what depth should I believe? According to Jesus in Luke 10:27 we are to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’. There is no limit to how much we must love God.  Loving Him means submitting to His will.  If we submit to someone, then we truly believe and trust in that person.  So to love God is to believe in Him (or to have faith), and believing (having Faith) in Him means submitting to God Will.

Examples of Faith and Obedience

Two completely different people showed amazing faith; Joshua who was an Israelite leading the Jewish people to the promise land and a Roman Centurion who interacted with Jesus.  When God advised Joshua to step foot in the Jordan River with the Ark of the Covenant, he faithfully, in obedience submitted to God’s will.  The river stood still and the ground under their feet was dry.  Joshua 3:14 – 17 says, ¹⁴ So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. ¹⁵ Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, ¹⁶ the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. ¹⁷ The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

As for the Roman Centurion, we read in Matthew 8:5-13, that he approached Jesus to ask for his servant to be healed.  5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” 7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” 8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”   He showed amazing faith and submission to God’s authority.  He was a military man and understood very well how the chain of command worked, along with confidence knowing that what would be commanded would be done.  There was no doubt in his mind that Jesus would save his servant.

Two Examples of Disbelief and Disobedience

On the flip side, let’s look at two people who did not submit to God’s will and the problems that came about due to their disobedience.  The first was Abraham and the second was King Saul.  Both men were chosen by God to do His will, however, they both doubted God and made major mistakes.  In Abraham’s case, he was told by God that through his wife Sarah, he would have a son.  However, when the promise didn’t happen immediately and they both grew old, they doubted God and “took matters in their own hand”.  So, Abraham took his servant Hagar and they had a child called Ishmael.   Due to Abraham’s disobedience and disbelief, the descendants of Ishmael became the Arab people, whom the Israelis now have a major problem with.  As for King Saul, he was chosen by God to be the first king of the Jews, and he was anointed by the prophet and judge, Samuel.  In 1 Samuel 10:8, King Saul is given a direct command to follow and he disobeys God due to disbelief/fear.  Furthermore, in 1 Samuel 13:1-14 we can see the disobedience carried out as it says, Saul was thirty[a] years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-[b] two years. 2 Saul chose three thousand men from Israel; two thousand were with him at Mikmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. The rest of the men he sent back to their homes. 3 Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul had the trumpet blown throughout the land and said, “Let the Hebrews hear!” 4 So all Israel heard the news: “Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel has become obnoxious to the Philistines.” And the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal. 5 The Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with three thousand[c] chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Mikmash, east of Beth Aven. 6 When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. 7 Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. 8 He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. 9 So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered up the burnt offering. 10 Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. 11 “What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, 12 I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” 13 “You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. 14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”   Saul’s mistake was doubt, which led to disobedience and fear.  He took matters into his own hands and sinned against God.

Faith Formula

I have developed a formula which will help us better understand the concept of faith and obedience:

• Situation/Circumstance + Prayer + Faith = Obedience, God’s Will and Perfect Resolution (which equals) = Peace

 On the Contrary

•  Situation/Circumstance – Prayer – Faith = Doubt/Disobedience (which equals) = Fear and possibly sin

 Level (s) of Faith

 Jesus spoke to the disciples about their unbelief or little faith in regard to spiritual works.  When the disciples couldn’t drive an evil spirit out (Matthew 17:14-20), Jesus commented by saying, if you have faith as small as mustard seed, if say to the mountain to move, it will move.  He is clearly referencing spiritual works and in the context of healing the possessed boy.  We will return to the level of faith and what how it’s connected to prayer.

What About Prayer and How We Should Pray

Well, Jesus is very clear on the priority of prayer.  We are first to ask for His Will and to praise Him, before we begin to ask for our desires/needs.  This is evident in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-12.  Furthermore, we know that we must pray and prayer is the communication method between us and God.

Next, in regard to order, we are told to first seek God, to store treasures in Heaven, and to put God above all.  In Matthew 6:19-21 He says ¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.   Moreover, Jesus says in Matthew 6:25-33, 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

To sum up these verses, we must have faith/believe that our Heavenly Father cares for us and loves us.  Moreover, He wants us to seek Him first, and to be obedient by doing His work and being in His perfect will.  This is how Faith and Obedience correlate, which when it is summed up, it translate to total reliance on God.  Moreover, by doing His will and seeking Him first, we are correctly aligning our priorities to God’s priority.  Life isn’t about our own selfish interests and material desires.  Instead, it becomes serving God and others, in addition to having compassion for those who are poor and hungry.

Let’s get back to the issue of the Level of Faith.  We now understand that faith means to believe in God entirely and submit to His perfect will.  With submission, we are entirely reliant on God that He is in control of our lives.  With that foundation, our prayers will manifest that attitude.  When we pray, what do we ask for and how committed are we to continuously seek God’s will in our lives?  1 John 5:13-15 says ¹³ I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. ¹⁴ This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Conclusion

If we ask for His will, we will see prayers answered in the affirmative (from our perspective and God’s perspective).  To be sure everyone understands this concept, God does answer all prayers.  It’s the outcome of the God’s response that may not be according to OUR WILL.  No matter if the prayer is answered in the affirmative or negative (from our perspective), we must Love Him and submit to His will.  Finally, when we pray, we must pray with faith that God will answer the prayer, in His timing.  Have faith and complete reliance on God.  AMEN