20110704-"Prayers need faith ,otherwise no effect?"

Yesterday, my sister sent me a sms which says "Payers need faith, otherwise no effect". Many years ago, she challenged that unless God appears to her in front , she will never believe.

That sms was in response to my earlier sms regarding a prayer for her arthritic painful hands.

It left me in deep thoughts.

Didn't the scripture in Matt 17:20 say " And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you" I prefer the KJV to the NIV. The latter " because you have so little faith..."

Didn't Heb 11:6 say "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." ?

In the book "Growing Deep in Faith" By Edmund Chan: Quote" A strong faith is not the domain of super Christians, but is simple and accessible to everyone - BECAUSE FAITH IS NOT ABOUT US, FAITH IS ALL ABOUT GOD! (Italics mine) . Such faith looks up to God and seeing Him for who He is, rises above the trials and vicissitudes ( this chim word means 'changes") of life.

NOT DIMINUTIVENESS BUT DEFECTIVENESS OF FAITH:

He added on the point out something that many believers had it all wrong, not just my sister who does not know Him yet. Unbelief or so little faith? Many of us would have similar thoughts " Oh yes the issue is that we did not have enough faith. If only we had more faith!" Paraphrased of Matt 17:20... " You totally missed it guys. It is not about the size of your faith. Truly I say to you, if you had real, God-inspired faith - even if it were as small a a mustard seed- you could move mountains!"

The central issue was faith. Faith is the currency of heaven. Faith taps into the power of God. Faith pleases God. Heb 11:6. So my sister is partly right in her saying so.

But she also had it half wrong.

OUR FOCUS: BIG MOUNTAIN OR THE MIGHTY GOD?

Size isn't everything. It is not about the size of our faith. Nor was it about the size of the mountain (whatever your problem is). Why? Because God outsized it all!

My sister was half right only. Even for us who are believers, we often inclined to operate on a faith that depends on our feelings - feelings about how 'strong' or how 'weak' our faith is -rather than based on a child-like faith dependent upon how might and how faithful God is. It is not about the greatness of our faith but the greatness of our God that ultimately matters.

Conclusion?

Bid God small problems. Small God BIG PROBLEMS! What kind of God do we truly worship? A BIG BIG GOD!, so what's the problem?

Faith is RISK. Yes, to my dear sister - plunge in and take that step of risk or faith. It is definitely worth it. Turn from fear to faith. To learn to swim one has to jump into the water. Without water, you cannot swim. Just like faith - without faith , we cannot please Him. That sms - half correct...need another 50% to complete it...almost got it! F-A-I-T-H - Forsaken All I Trust Him - it is whom we trust not how we trust.

Beautiful song" There is no problem too big God cannot solve it"

http://youtu.be/BOZKc8CyaaQ

Quotes: extracted from "Growing deeper in faith". A book worth reading. (Available at Covenant Evangelical Free Church, Singapore)