This conversation happened in my head this morning. (I hope this glimpse into my squirrelly thought processes is no too scary this early in the morning!!!)
"Oh, is my prayer ever going to be answered?!!
"I just have so many doubts!
"NO! I won't doubt! I'll just believe that it IS going to happen!
"Ah…but I have so little faith!
"I NEED more faith?"
"How can I get more faith?
"Does God just give me more faith?
"No…wait!
"'Faith cometh by hearing…' Yeah! I remember now!!! And 'hearing by the Word of God', right?
"I'd better look that up."
So, I did look it up and this is what I found:
Romans 10:17 "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
Then I wondered, "What exactly does it mean by hearing?"
I looked that up too, and this is what I found:
1828 Definition
HE'ARING, ppr. Perceiving by the ear, as sound.
1. Listening to; attending to; obeying; observing what is commanded.
Wow! So let me see if I've got this right:
I need a prayer answered.
I need faith to trust God to work out my need.
I get faith from hearing.
Hearing is listening, attending, obeying and observing what I have been commanded.
And what I have been commanded comes from the Word of God.
So, if I feel that my prayer is never going to be answered…
- Do I spend more time on my knees begging God for that answer?
- Do I work and work and work to get the answer?
- Do I find a ministry and serve laboriously, hoping God will deem me worth of an answer?
No.
I go to the Word of God and I listen to It. I pay attention to It. I obey It. I keep the commandments in It.
Now, granted, as I read in the Word, I may find the instructions to spend more time in prayer, or to labor diligently in my church or community.
But those actions are the results of my "hearing", not the method of obtaining my answers to my prayers.
Are you floundering in a sea of doubt this morning? Are you waiting for answers that are just not coming?
At the risk of sounding redundant, Go To The Word!
Read it. Learn from it. Obey it.
As you do this, you will find your faith growing by leaps and bounds, and you'll wonder how you ever doubted that God would meet your every need!
Obtaining Mercy 