Prayer and Faith...

This past week I dug through my Cds and pulled out some old favorites. Some of this stuff I haven’t listened to in years. It was fun to see how much my taste in music has matured and changed over the years. I especially enjoyed listening to the songs I remember as my favorites. I can still see myself as a brand new teenager blasting early Relient K, Switchfoot, and Jeremy Camp albums in my room.

As I was listening to a Relient K Cd I discovered I can across the song “For the Moments I Feel Faint.” It was probably one of the songs on the Cd that I skipped over, definitely not one that I listened to over and over again. But now, in my greater maturity, I was struck by this song’s simple yet beautiful lyrics.

Am I at the point of no improvement?
What of the death I still dwell in?
I try to excel, but I feel no movement.
Can I be free of this unreleasable sin?

I throw up my hands
"Oh, the impossibilities"
Frustrated and tired
Where do I go from here?
Now I'm searching for the confidence
I've lost so willingly
Overcoming these obstacles is overcoming my fear

Never underestimate my Jesus.
You're telling me that there's no hope.
I'm telling you you're wrong.
Never underestimate my Jesus
When the world around you crumbles
He will be strong, He will be strong

As I listened to the lyrics of this song I began to think about all the thinking, and questioning, and wrestling I have done lately on the topic of “Prayer.”

How many times how many times when I pray to ask for God’s help in a situation do I have doubts that He really cares to help? How many times when I pray to God to ask for help to overcome my brokenness do I not truly believe that He can make a difference? When I pray and ask God for a something that would be a miracle, how many times am I thinking, “I really don’t expect Him to do anything. I don’t live in the time of miracles.”

My prayer life seems full of these small doubts and unbelief, and recently I have begun to think about how they impact my prayer life. When I doubt, all I’m doing is limiting what the power of God can do in my life. All I’m doing is underestimating my Jesus.

Could it be that God wants me to have such faith that I can pray for anything without doubting??

I’m not saying that if I start praying without doubts God will answer my prayers how I want them answered. I can pray and believe without doubts that God has the power to heal my lovely friend from cancer, but it doesn’t mean He will. That’s when I have to trust in Him having the best plan.

But what I have realized is that God wants me to have the faith to believe Him capable of anything, to pray without any nagging doubts or unbelief in the back of my mind.

Even with the statement “With God all things are possible” branded into my mind, I know there are small hidden doubts in my mind when I pray for certain things I believe to be “impossible.”

God CAN overcome my brokenness. He DOES care about my difficult situations. He CAN heal and perform miracles.

It’s going to be hard to start really praying this way. I know I’m going to need lots of help living this new realization out. But I believe that it has the potential to change my life and my relationship with my Father and Savior.

“God, I want to have such faith in You that I can pray for anything, fully believing without ANY doubts that You can accomplish it. I no longer want to limit Your power in my life with my doubts. I don’t ever want underestimate my Jesus. But I also ask for the ability to trust in Your greater plan when my desires aren‘t granted.”

I'm sure you will see many more blogs on this topic in the future as I continue to think these things through.



(I have to thank my brother in Christ, Eric Williamson, for sparking all my thoughts on prayer and faith. I have made so many discoveries already, and I know there are so many more to come as I continue to wrestle with this important topic.)