“Pastor, I’ve been praying to God with faith in His word since the year began, but my health is not improving. What do I do?”
Oftentimes when believers say they’ve been praying or having faith in God’s word, they’re simply referring to what they read in the bible. They probably found a scripture, believed that scripture, and have been waiting on the Lord to perform it.
It’s clear that praying with an understanding of God’s word is the surest way to secure answers to prayer, and that’s because God’s word reveals God’s will. According to 1 John 5:14, if we ask anything according to God’s will, he heareth us.
But the challenge is, God’s word is not limited to the written word – which is the bible. The first assignment of the bible is to reveal the character of God through His relationship with people. The revelation of God’s character through the Bible can build faith in your heart to walk with Him. If He did something with Daniel, Joseph, Isaac, Jacob, or Apostle Paul, then He can do it with you. The bible should help you begin your own relationship with God.
Every believer should start their walk with God using the bible, that’s the first place to determine God’s will for us. But if you want to grow and do greater things, then you need to realize that God’s word is not limited to the Bible alone, He can also speak to you directly. Think about it, the bible says “faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God”. That’s clearly not talking about the written word, it’s revealing the manner through which faith comes. Each time the Holy Spirit gives you the revelation of a scripture, that’s “hearing”. Reading doesn’t give faith, it is hearing that does.
If it is hearing the word of God that brings faith to your heart, then it means that God’s word would always bring faith into your heart, no matter the medium through which it came. Anytime God speaks to you, faith must be born in your heart. So just because He didn’t exactly quote a scripture doesn’t mean it’s not His Word. If it enabled faith in your heart, then it’s God that spoke to you.
Speaking of God’s word, His word is also His will for you. Recall that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. Having established that God’s word isn’t limited to the bible, then God’s will cannot be limited to the Bible. It may start with the Bible, but through your relationship with Him, it can advance to two other levels.
The bible is the written and concluded word or will of God. Because it is concluded or finished, it is easy to declare your faith in it. But sometimes God has other things He’d like to accomplish in your situation, so declaring your faith in the written word may not work for you. Let me show you two other levels of God’s will.
– The will of God around you
Hebrews 10:
35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
Notice that it says you need to have patience, and that’s because God has something you ought to do for Him. Perhaps you started by declaring your faith in the promise of scriptures, and He acknowledges that and even guarantees that you’d receive the promise. But then, you have to do the will of God around you.
A perfect example would be how Moses delivered the children of Isreal from Egypt. It could have just been a one time thing, but God had to make Moses visit Pharaoh over and again just because He wanted to prove Himself to Pharaoh. God was going to fulfill His promise to Moses, but Moses had to do the will of God around the situation.
– The will of God in your situation
Psalm 103:
7 He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.
Sometimes, rather than declaring your faith in the acts of God, you just have to allow God have His way in your situation. It may not be pleasing, but His ways are higher than our ways.
Recall how they came to capture Jesus and one of his disciples drew out his sword to attack the enemy. Let me show you how Jesus responded from scriptures:
Matthew 26:
53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
Imagine that Jesus had called for angels to bail him out that day, he’d probably still be on earth today. Being captured was God’s will in that situation, so he had to let himself be captured.
If you understand this, then you’d understand that it’s not always about what you want, but about what God wants. The challenge however would be that you’d never know what God wants except you build a relationship with Him. Just as Dr Isaiah Macwealth said, building a relationship with God is personal, there’s no formular for it. If you don’t have a relationship with God, then there’s not much you can achieve when it comes to walking in faith.
How is it that the captivity of Job was turned after he prayed for his friends? God told his friends to go and gift Job some of their cattles and request for his blessings. The moment Job prayed for them, God turned his captivity. If you’ve been praying in faith about your health and nothing has happened, then maybe you should start asking God exactly what He wants you to do. If you do His will, then you’d receive the promise.
I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.
Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!
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