DOES THE BIBLE REALLY SAY …

THAT GOD WILL NOT HEAR MY PRAYERS IF I HAVEN’T GOT ENOUGH FAITH?

No. The Bible does not teach this. Jesus said:

‘I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’ (Matthew 17:20).

The significance of faith is not in its size but in its object. The biblical object of faith is never faith itself. It is always the Lord. Neither prayer nor faith has intrinsic power. It is the Lord in whom we trust who has power. Yet there are those within the church today who credit faith and prayer with their own power. There are those who go so far as to say the power, or force, of my faith is needed to unlock or release God to act, and that he, and his angels, cannot do anything until believers empower them by prayers of faith.

What utter rubbish – insulting and belittling God and exalting humans!

My faith cannot unlock God’s power; he is not at my mercy waiting for me to pray before he can act.

Rather:

We are at his mercy, totally dependent on his cross-work even for access into his presence, totally indebted to his incredibly authoritative and dynamic power (Romans 1:16) with which he triumphed over sin and death and Satan and hell (Ephesians 1:19-22; Colossians 2:15).

Even the faith which we have is his gift (Ephesians 2:8).

We could not even see him had he not opened our eyes (Luke 4:18b).

We could not come to him if he had not drawn us (John 6:44).

We could not know the truth about him unless he had removed the blinding darkness of Satan’s delusions and deceptions (Matthew 11:27; 2Corinthians 4:4-6).

True Biblical faith, which is a gift of God, recognizes Jesus Christ as Lord. That is the bottom line. It is this faith, and this faith only, irrespective of its perceived size and strength, which gives the believer access to God through Jesus Christ. Its only claim to fame is that it is faith in Jesus Christ. It does not have faith in itself, but in its object, Jesus Christ. It trusts in him, not in its own force or power.

That some prayers of genuine believers do not get their desired answer has nothing to do with the strength or size of their faith. Rather it has to do with the sovereign will of God. It is not without reason that God's word says:

‘This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him.’ (1John 5:14-15)

Let us note well that this verse states ‘according to his will’; and the Lord’s Prayer states ‘thy will be done’; and Jesus himself prayed ‘Yet not as I will, but as you will’ and ‘may your will be done.’ (Matthew 26:39,42).

True Biblical faith does not think of itself more highly than it ought. It leaves the answer not only in God’s power, but also in his decision. It trusts. It doesn’t demand or presume. Nor does it belittle itself or compare itself to the faith of others. It is faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and it knows with absolute confidence, that that is all it has to be.