The necessity of faith
Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen. Hebrews 11:1-3
Faith is what we need to counter the propensity for worries and fears. From the text, faith is described as the necessary attitude we need to possess so that we could see through God’s plan for our future. It provides us the certainty that no matter what happens we have an assured hope that God is with us. God designed our lives to have needs so we can develop our faith in him. Faith is what will bring us to our knees to ask God for help. That is why it's vital for us to view these potential future needs as opportunities to exercise and develop our faith. We live in an extremely materialistic society. Too often, our priorities are based on desires and wants, rather than on real needs. Our perspective of what is actually a need is clouded by what our materialistic society promotes. This leads to a tendency to protect our self-interest to the neglect of seeking God and what He wants to accomplish in our lives as we learn to grow trusting Him. This could also lead to a frustration when we feel that God had forsaken us because we are not receiving the answers we want from Him. We could get disappointed with God when His answer to our prayers is contrary to what we expect to receive. His “no” answer could be because we are seeking more of our own self-interest rather than His will (see Matthew 6:10). Or it could be that we are asking having wrong motives in our hearts (see James 4:3). Or God is delaying the answer because it is not based on his own timing. God is looking at our hearts when we come to Him in prayer. “...he delights in the prayers of the upright” (Proverbs 15:8). He wants that we are right with Him for sin hinders our prayers. “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening... Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight” (Isaiah 1:15-16). So, when frustrations set in because of unanswered prayers, come to God and humbly look deep within yourself and if there are things that need to be changed ask Him to help you. When doubts are setting in because of a gloomy outlook in the future, remind yourself that God is in control. Do not allow fear of the future overtaken you but instead let God govern your future. Be true to your commitment, “Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18).
Blessings,
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