Readings for the day: Matthew 21:1-22, 26:6-13, Mark 11:1-26, 14:3-9, Luke 19:28-48, John 2:13-25, 11:55-57, 12:1-36
“And Jesus answered them, "Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith." (Matthew 21:21-22)
I am sure we all have things we’ve prayed over for years. Prayers for loved ones to come to faith. Prayers for those we care about to be healed. Prayers for direction. Wisdom. Guidance on decisions. Prayers for sin to be rooted out of our lives. Prayers for provision. Prayers for protection. Prayers for opportunities. If you are like me, you read a passage like today and you begin to wonder…do I not have enough faith? Is the reason my prayers aren’t being answered my doubts? My fears? My sin?
What does it mean to “have faith?” In my experience, far too many of us equate faith with our feelings. We struggle with faith if we aren’t feeling an emotional high during worship. We struggle with faith if we read the Bible and don’t feel something. We struggle with faith if we pray and don’t sense God’s abiding presence. Still others of us equate faith with belief. Our mental assent to the notion that Jesus is who He says He is. We believe He lived. Died. Rose again. And while these certainly are aspects of faith – because we are to love God with all our hearts and minds – they do not represent the sum total of what Jesus is talking about here when he calls his disciples to “have faith.”
Having faith means placing our trust in the Father’s will. It means surrendering to His ways and His plans. It means setting His desires above our own. It represents a complete and total commitment to God no matter how we may feel or what we may think. Jesus trusted His Father. Jesus had faith. And what marked the faith of Jesus was the fact that He did nothing outside the will of His Father. He only did what His Father willed. Who knows how many prayers Jesus prayed over the course of His life like the one He will pray in Gethsemane…not my will but Thine be done? Who knows how many prayers Jesus prayed over the course of His life where He asked the Father to let the cup pass Him by? On the surface, it appears the Father didn’t answer those prayers. So does this mean Jesus didn’t have enough faith? No. Quite the opposite. Jesus trusted completely in His Father and was willing to do whatever His Father willed so He relinquished His own will. His own thoughts. His own desires. And the Father used Him to “move mountains into the heart of the sea” as the power of sin was broken and death defeated.
Jesus had faith. And because He had faith, He always…ALWAYS…asked for the Father’s will to be done in His life. When Jesus encourages His disciples that “whatever they ask for” they will receive, He assumes they will be asking for the Father’s will just as He has been asking for the Father’s will throughout the course of His own life and ministry. This is a baseline assumption when it comes to prayer. It is foundational to true Christian prayer. When we come before the Father, we do not come simply to present our requests or ask God to bless our will and our way. We come boldly but humbly before His throne. We come with confidence and a surrendered heart knowing the Father already knows what’s best for us. We come not with clenched fists but with open hands to whatever the Father desires for our lives. We lift our loved ones up to Him, trusting in His gracious election. We lift those we care about up to Him, trusting Him for healing in this life or the next. We pray for His wisdom to understand our circumstances. We ask for His strength to root out sin in our lives, knowing all the while that His grace is sufficient for us and His power is made perfect in our weakness. This is what it means to “have faith” when we pray.