The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
Our relationship with God is not one-sided. He created us for companionship with Him. In the Garden of Eden, He was in the habit of walking and talking to Adam. When sin entered, that fellowship was broken. When Jesus died on the cross and rose again, the chasm between us and God was bridged. As Christians we have that fellowship again, in prayer. In Matthew 7:7, Jesus tells us to “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” James 5:16b demonstrates the spiritual power we have in our conversations with God; “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
We are called upon to be bold in prayer. In Judges 1:15, Caleb’s daughter-in-law is an example of the kind of boldness I’m talking about. She asked her father-in-law for a very specific need and she was given what she asked for and more: “And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.” Her request makes sense because she would need the water from the springs to do anything with the gift of land Caleb had already given her. But he also generously gave her the second spring location as well as the first, even though she had not asked for it.
So, too, when we step out in faith with our requests according to His will, God is abundant in His response. Matthew 7:9-11 gives us a glimmer of God’s profuse generosity to His children: “Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
The primary requisite for answered prayer is faith, belief that God will answer. When God calls us to a certain action, whether it is during focused prayer or as we go about our business, faith is also necessary to do what He calls us to because “without faith it is impossible to please Him. For he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6)
