7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Matthew 7:7-11
Where does faith come from? Many Christians answer that question by quoting the following verse:
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
Yet the verse above in the proper context is not saying that faith is a gift from God. Salvation by grace is the gift of God! He saved us because of His grace, not because of anything we did or ever would do. As believers, we all have different degrees of faith and it is ever-changing, often based on the situation and our closeness to the Lord. That walk with Jesus isn’t on a flat, easy path. There are hills to climb, curves to maneuver and places where we even feel out of breath. Yet to believe without seeing is a true blessing (John 20:29). Romans 10:17 gives us a better understanding of faith and how it increases. Faith comes by hearing God’s Word. The Bible isn’t an old book to place on a nightstand, where it will gather dust. Neither is it the book your grandmother read. The Bible is the living, breathing Word of God! It holds every answer to every situation in our lives. When discussing people’s different interpretations of God’s Word, a person very dear to me shockingly said that he wished there wasn’t a Bible! It is not God’s Word causing the problems, but man’s difficulties in understanding, and that typically comes from deductive rather than inductive study. Deductive study is when a person already has a point of view and tries to prove that point when studying, rather than looking at the verses in context with an open mind, to see where God leads. When we see what the Lord has done in our lives individually and compare those actions to the promises He makes to us in His Word, that’s where faith is affected. I know He never will leave me nor forsake me, as He has demonstrated that faithfulness to me in my life, through His Word.
22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Mark 11:22-24
Faith isn’t a belief in self or the powers of man. It is faith in God! Tomorrow, I have a second interview for a job I want very badly. I have prayed for God’s will, though the desire of my heart is to get the job. Yet, I cannot see tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I certainly cannot see a longer way down the road, either. I know that God is incapable of giving His children bad gifts, so whatever happens tomorrow will be His will.
All of us have situations in our lives that send us to our knees. Sometimes, that is when we are relying on our own power, and as soon as we regain enough strength will try to stand on our own power again. Yet God desires for us to fall to our knees in prayer, knowing that we need Him desperately. There’s no problem small enough that I can handle it alone, and no problem big enough that God can’t handle it alone!
And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
1 John 3:22
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