{"id":77,"date":"2026-05-30T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goodtree.us\/faithco\/?p=77"},"modified":"2026-10-08T17:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T22:36:08","slug":"can-we-have-faith-for-the-outcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goodtree.us\/faithco\/published\/can-we-have-faith-for-the-outcome\/","title":{"rendered":"Can We Have Faith for the Outcome?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following is a conversation between me and a pastor that began after a sermon raised questions for me about faith, the promises of God, and how we understand unanswered prayer. Names, dates, and identifying details have been removed. The conversation has been lightly edited for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and readability without changing the substance of what either person said. Direct quotations have been preserved.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Me:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hey Pastor\u2014<\/p>\n

I wanted to reach out and ask you about something you said in Sunday\u2019s sermon. You said that the Proverbs were not promises, but rather probabilities. You said that we can know this because we have examples of people either following or not following the principles therein and receiving the opposite results.<\/p>\n

The question I have is whether this is true. Using this logic, we could practically apply it to other verses in the Bible that would be considered promises\u2014like healing or God\u2019s presence (\u201cI will never leave you or forsake you\u201d). If I could find examples of when the sick didn\u2019t get better, am I to assume that God\u2019s promise of healing is not, in fact, a promise, but rather a probability? Wouldn\u2019t the problem with such a worldview always subvert faith?<\/p>\n

If God doesn\u2019t always follow His laws or covenant promises, how can we call Him faithful or trustworthy? If He has higher knowledge or insight as to why the promise should not be fulfilled, then His ways seem arbitrary, and man cannot approach Him in faith.<\/p>\n

I agree that we live in a fallen world and that the enemy is constantly trespassing against the law of God. I also acknowledge that Jesus has promised us sorrow and persecution. However, He has also promised that we would be more than conquerors and that everything works together for good. One promise cannot invalidate another promise. Meaning, the promise of suffering does not invalidate the promise of victory.<\/p>\n

I think Galatians applies when it says that if we don\u2019t grow weary in doing good, we will reap the harvest in due season. If we don\u2019t give up on the harvest and leave the garden, we will obtain the promise. A promise delayed is not a promise denied. God is faithful. How many times have we left the garden because we assumed that it wasn\u2019t God\u2019s will to keep His promise or His Word? How many times have we abandoned our breakthrough or miracle because we believe that God\u2019s Word works sometimes and doesn\u2019t work other times\u2014that man cannot know when these proverbs or promises will or will not be honored?<\/p>\n

Our misunderstanding of God\u2019s covenant subverts our faith and, if we\u2019re honest, charges God with being unfaithful. We wouldn\u2019t ever say He isn\u2019t faithful, but our actions confirm our deeper-held beliefs.<\/p>\n

We teach people to \u201cjust step out in faith.\u201d What we usually mean by that is to take action contrary to our feelings and expectations, and maybe, just maybe, God will choose to intervene. This is Peter\u2019s second step on the water that caused him to sink\u2014the step he took when he looked at the wind and the waves and was overcome with logic and fear. Yet this step was not Peter\u2019s step of faith. The true step of faith was when, in response to hearing the voice of Jesus calling him to \u201ccome,\u201d and having confidence that Jesus was trustworthy and faithful, he stepped out of the boat in confidence. Faith comes by hearing.<\/p>\n

If we can\u2019t hear or read the Scriptures and have confidence that God is faithful\u2014that no matter our circumstances or logic, His Word will always prevail\u2014how can we have faith? With an eternal perspective, we live and move and have our being in confidence, knowing that if we have not yet obtained the promises of God, we eventually will. That\u2019s why we can come boldly before the throne of grace and let our requests be made known, because we\u2019ve heard Him speak\u2014and faithful is He who has promised.<\/p>\n

We live within a paradox. We believe that God is good. We teach that He is faithful, yet our experience does not always confirm what we call the truth. Then we have to come up with doctrines to explain to people how a good God can be so untrustworthy and so seemingly \u201cbad\u201d according to man\u2019s own standards. We chalk it up to the sovereignty of God and that His ways are higher than ours. However, I think it could be more about misunderstanding and a lack of faith. Faith is what moves the hand of God.<\/p>\n

Faith is emotionalized belief and full alignment with the Word of God. The Word of God is not a book. It is a man. He was the Word of God in the flesh. Meaning, He was the embodiment of the Word of God. He fully believed whatever the Father said. His emotions aligned with the confidence of the Word manifested and fulfilled.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to end here. I feel like I might not be communicating clearly, but I wanted to reach out to help process my personal questions that arose from the sermon.<\/p>\n

Have a great day! Blessings!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Pastor:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hi Friend,<\/p>\n

Thank you for taking the time to write all of this out! I can tell this isn\u2019t merely theoretical for you\u2014it\u2019s deeply connected to your understanding of the character of God, the nature of faith, and the trustworthiness of His Word. I genuinely appreciate both the thoughtfulness and the sincerity behind what you wrote.<\/p>\n

I think we actually agree on far more than we disagree.<\/p>\n

I wholeheartedly agree that God is faithful, that His Word is true, that we should approach Him with confidence, and that faith matters deeply. I also agree that many Christians quietly drift into functional unbelief, lowering their expectations of God because of disappointment, fear, or overcorrection from abuses they\u2019ve seen. Scripture absolutely calls us to pray boldly, ask persistently, and trust God fully.<\/p>\n

Where I would nuance things is in how we categorize different kinds of biblical statements.<\/p>\n

Part of what I was trying to communicate in the sermon is that Proverbs belongs to a unique genre of Scripture: wisdom literature. Proverbs are not primarily unconditional covenant guarantees given to every individual in every circumstance. They are inspired observations about how God has generally ordered the world. They describe the grain of reality\u2014how life ordinarily works when one walks in wisdom versus folly.<\/p>\n

Proverbs 22:6 is profoundly true. Wisdom-filled parenting genuinely tends toward flourishing. And yet, both Scripture and experience show us that godly parents can still have prodigal children because Proverbs is not negating human agency or the complexity of living in a fallen world.<\/p>\n

The reason I called them \u201cprobabilities\u201d was not to diminish faith in God\u2019s Word, but to distinguish Proverbs from categorical promises God explicitly binds Himself to in covenant.<\/p>\n

That distinction matters because otherwise we can unintentionally crush people under burdens Scripture itself does not place on them. A parent whose child walks away from Jesus may conclude, \u201cGod failed,\u201d or \u201cI failed,\u201d when the proverb was never intended to function as a mechanical formula.<\/p>\n

At the same time, I would not want to swing the pendulum into cynicism or unbelief either.<\/p>\n

You mentioned healing, and I think that\u2019s a salient example. Scripture absolutely reveals God as healer. Jesus heals. We are commanded to pray for the sick. James tells us to call the elders and pray in faith. I fully believe God still heals today.<\/p>\n

But Scripture also shows faithful believers who suffered without immediate deliverance:<\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s thorn in the flesh remained despite repeated prayer.<\/p>\n

Timothy had ongoing stomach ailments.<\/p>\n

Trophimus was left ill at Miletus.<\/p>\n

Hebrews 11 includes both miraculous deliverances and faithful sufferers who were not delivered in this life.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t make God unfaithful. Nor does it mean faith is meaningless. It means that faith is ultimately confidence in God Himself\u2014not confidence that we can always predict how or when He will act.<\/p>\n

I think this is where I\u2019d gently push back on one part of your framework. I would hesitate to define faith primarily as \u201cfull alignment with the manifested outcome\u201d or suggest that unanswered prayer is usually rooted in misunderstanding or insufficient faith. Sometimes that may be true. But sometimes Scripture presents unresolved suffering not as failure of faith, but as participation in the mystery of God\u2019s purposes.<\/p>\n

The cross itself is the clearest example. From a human perspective, Calvary looked like the triumph of evil and the failure of God\u2019s promises. Yet through suffering came resurrection and victory.<\/p>\n

You wrote, \u201cOne promise cannot invalidate another promise.\u201d I completely agree. The New Testament holds together both suffering and victory simultaneously. We are more than conquerors, and yet many conquer through endurance, not avoidance of pain.<\/p>\n

I also deeply resonate with what you said about Peter. His first step onto the water really was a beautiful picture of trust in the voice of Jesus. That\u2019s true faith: confidence in the One who calls us.<\/p>\n

But I think the key is that biblical faith is confidence in God\u2019s character even when outcomes remain unresolved for a season\u2014or even until resurrection, which is why I added the caveat about some of these mysteries only being resolved when we consider the eternal scope of God\u2019s sovereign plan. Hebrews 11 is striking because some \u201cthrough faith escaped the edge of the sword,\u201d while others \u201cthrough faith\u201d were killed. Both are commended for faith.<\/p>\n

That tension is difficult, but I don\u2019t think it makes God arbitrary. I think it means we are finite creatures relating to an infinite God whose purposes often extend beyond what we can presently see.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, my confidence in God\u2019s faithfulness is not rooted in always understanding His timing or methods, but in the person of Jesus. In Christ, God has already proven Himself trustworthy beyond question. The resurrection becomes the anchor beneath every unresolved tension.<\/p>\n

So I think I\u2019d summarize it this way:<\/p>\n

God is always faithful.His promises are always true.Proverbs are wisdom principles, not always unconditional guarantees.Faith is real and powerful.We should pray boldly and expectantly.But faith is ultimately trust in God Himself, not certainty that we can map His sovereignty onto every outcome in the present age.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m grateful you reached out. These are important conversations, and I appreciate the seriousness with which you\u2019re wrestling through them. Obviously, my response is coming from a limited perspective, and I welcome ongoing dialogue!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Me:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor\u2014<\/p>\n

Thank you for taking the time to draft a thoughtful reply. I wasn\u2019t necessarily needing or expecting one. I do agree with much of what you\u2019ve written below. At this point in my Christian walk, I personally am looking for reasons to believe\u2014and trying to remove ways of thinking that subvert faith.<\/p>\n

When you said something to the effect of how we can observe from experience that the wisdom of Proverbs does not always work out as expected\u2014that we can see examples where the wicked do seem to be flourishing or when doing the right thing doesn\u2019t always produce the intended outcomes\u2014my mind quickly made the connection to other promises of God and how we could, and do, apply the same logic. Because we have seen people pray for the sick and seen them not recover, this too could be considered a probability rather than a promise.<\/p>\n

I am standing on the promise of training up a child in the way they should go. I understand that my child has free will. I understand that I have no control over the end. But I also know that the New Covenant says to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved\u2014and all of your household. The good seeds that have been sown in them will one day bear fruit. Jesus also said we can speak to the mountain, and it will be removed\u2014that with faith, nothing shall be impossible.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve grown up my whole life in church, and yet there have been things I have learned that now I could never imagine coming from the lips of Jesus in a sermon. For example, I learned that while salvation was a free gift, righteousness was earned or gained by my ability to keep the law after my conversion. This isn\u2019t true. Righteousness is a free gift received at the new birth. I\u2019ve lived most of my life in the end of Romans 7, dismissing Romans 6 and 8, where Paul clearly lays out our freedom from the law of sin and death. I\u2019ve been told to have faith, but no one ever really explained to me what faith actually is.<\/p>\n

In the church at large, many times we build our theology and doctrines around our experience rather than the Word of God. We observed that someone laid their hands on the sick and they didn\u2019t get healed, so therefore we build a framework to explain why it didn\u2019t happen. If we were honest, we could say that in the church, the probability of someone recovering from having hands laid on them is pretty low. Therefore, many believers never lay hands on the sick. Or if we do, we do so without faith.<\/p>\n

If we want to really know what we have faith for, we need to look at our expectations when we pray. We pray in hope that God will heal, but we would be surprised if it actually happened because our expectation, based on experience and observation, is that it \u201cprobably\u201d won\u2019t happen. How many times do we temper the promises of God because we don\u2019t want people to be discouraged if it doesn\u2019t work out?<\/p>\n

We temper the faith of a believing parent who is praying for a prodigal child just in case they never come to faith. We weigh the potential outcomes and decide it would be worse for them to believe and be disappointed rather than risk standing in faith.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve told people to just \u201cstep out in faith\u201d or just \u201ctake a step of faith.\u201d What we mean by that is to take a step or to take action contrary to our logic, emotions, and expectations, hoping that God might show up and meet us there. This is not faith. This is Peter\u2019s second step out of the boat\u2014or his first step after he came to his senses. Yet true faith is when we fully trust the outcome because we fully trust the One who said, \u201cCome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faith displaces doubt. Fear and faith cannot both be embodied, for they are at enmity with one another. Fear subverts faith. It is all of the \u201cwhat ifs?\u201d What if the person doesn\u2019t get better? What if my child never turns to Christ? What if the money doesn\u2019t come through? It\u2019s when we pray for someone to get better with the expectation that they probably won\u2019t, so we go ahead and prepare for the worst. At the risk of sounding insensitive, this is not praying in faith. It is, at best, a desperate plea to a God we\u2019re not sure we can trust.<\/p>\n

Sure, we would never say we don\u2019t trust Him, because we\u2019ve built our doctrines and theology around the \u201cwhat ifs\u201d\u2014around our disappointments. We\u2019ve tried to explain how a good God doesn\u2019t always appear to be good. We\u2019ve had to reconcile that He is faithful even when we\u2019ve experienced things that charge Him as being otherwise.<\/p>\n

How would we have counseled the woman with the issue of blood? She had confidence in the outcome. She fully expected that if she could just touch the hem of His robe, she would be healed.<\/p>\n

You said, \u201cThat doesn\u2019t make God unfaithful. Nor does it mean faith is meaningless. It means that faith is ultimately confidence in God Himself… not confidence that we can always predict how or when He will act.\u201d And I\u2019m not so sure this is true.<\/p>\n

Jesus taught His disciples to heal the sick and to cast out demons. They boldly declared, even after His ascension, to \u201cstand up and walk.\u201d They were trained in healing the sick. When the father brought his demonized son to the disciples, they were bewildered as to why they couldn\u2019t deliver the boy. Why? Because He taught them that God was faithful and that if they followed Him, they could predict the outcome because they knew how the Father would respond.<\/p>\n

Yet here was an example when it didn\u2019t work. What was Jesus\u2019s response? Did He say it wasn\u2019t the will of the Father to heal? No, He rebuked the disciples for their unbelief. He says this kind of unbelief does not come out except by prayer and fasting. Jesus wonders if He will really find faith on the earth when He returns.<\/p>\n

The only other examples we have in Scripture where Jesus says \u201cno\u201d are with Lazarus and the Gentile\u2014sorry, maybe she was Samaritan\u2014woman whose daughter was sick. With Lazarus, He actually didn\u2019t say no, but He delayed. Mary and Martha prayed to Jesus to heal their brother, and He intentionally delayed. Why? Because He wanted to give them a better gift.<\/p>\n

And with the woman\u2019s daughter, He said it wasn\u2019t right to give the children\u2019s bread to the dogs. He said no\u2014it\u2019s not the right time. She persisted and got Him to change His mind. He marveled at her faith.<\/p>\n

Jesus said if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, \u201cBe removed.\u201d He didn\u2019t say you shall plead and petition the Father. He didn\u2019t say it\u2019s highly probable that the mountain will move. He didn\u2019t say if it aligns with God\u2019s sovereign will. He said if you say to the mountain, \u201cMove,\u201d it will obey.<\/p>\n

He said lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. He didn\u2019t say there would be a higher chance of their recovery. He didn\u2019t say if it was God\u2019s timing. He didn\u2019t say if they don\u2019t have unforgiveness in their hearts. He says they shall recover. And the prayer of faith \u201cwill\u201d heal the sick.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve tempered that my whole life using the logic you described in differentiating the Proverbs from the promises of God. And yet, those Proverbs are based on the covenant that God made with Abraham! There are some pretty amazing covenant promises that He gave the children of Israel that we don\u2019t even walk in today. Yet we\u2019re supposed to have a better covenant based on better promises, and we don\u2019t even partake of many of the blessings that the children of Israel did when they were entitled to do so through their obedience. Our covenant is based on Christ\u2019s obedience.<\/p>\n

The Bible says that the reason many believers are sick and died was because they had disregarded the body of Christ. I always thought that verse applied to the church\u2014that they had disregarded the church body, and there may be some truth to that. However, I think the bigger issue is that they have disregarded His body given for their healing.<\/p>\n

If we had the same amount of faith for the blood as we have for the body, many in the church wouldn\u2019t even be saved\u2014because the blood was given to remove our sin. The body was given for our healing.<\/p>\n

Faith comes by hearing. Peter heard the word of Jesus saying to \u201ccome.\u201d He knew the outcome was secured because he knew He who promised was faithful.<\/p>\n

Faith is emotionalized belief. It is when our deeply held belief aligns with the Word of God, and that alignment produces in us the fruit of the Spirit. It is when we are fully convinced of the outcome because we have heard Him speak. It is when we expect the outcome because we know He is faithful, and that if He said it\u2014even laying hands on the sick\u2014it will happen.<\/p>\n

It is when we believe so much that even our emotions respond to the truth. It is when we believe that because He said we can speak to the mountain, it has to move. Faith is not tempered with negative \u201cwhat ifs.\u201d It is reckless in that way, with no regard to logic or past experience. It is when we take His Word for granted and are fully convinced.<\/p>\n

If it doesn\u2019t happen, if my prayer isn\u2019t answered, I don\u2019t blame God. I see it as an invitation to know Him more deeply. There is room to grow in my understanding and faith, but His Word is eternal and unchanging.<\/p>\n

Even in the charge that the reason many are sick, we can respond two ways: 1. Accepting our sickness because of our sin of disregarding the body; or 2. As an invitation to repent, no longer disregard His body, and be healed.<\/p>\n

I remember the Holy Spirit gently rebuking me one time after praying for the sick and my determination that nothing happened. He said, \u201cAt the very least, can you not expect Me to be good every time you pray?\u201d<\/p>\n

The honest answer for me at that time was \u201cno,\u201d because I couldn\u2019t understand why He would say \u201clay hands on the sick\u201d and then they wouldn\u2019t recover. We don\u2019t believe God is good. We even play songs on Christian radio about what if God\u2019s blessings really look like pain and suffering and disappointment.<\/p>\n

Sorry it took so long to respond. We don\u2019t have to keep going back and forth here, as sometimes it\u2019s more difficult to interpret heart intent in print. I\u2019ve often said that I learn more from sermons or statements that I disagree with than ones I do agree with because it forces me to go to the Scriptures and to prayer to see what the Father is saying.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think you believe that God is unfaithful. I don\u2019t think anyone would really say that out loud. I just know that deep down, my subconscious beliefs have charged God with unfaithfulness many times\u2014through my actions and through my expectations.<\/p>\n

I appreciate the dialogue and thoughtful response. It shows that you really do care. I pray that we would both continue to grow in revelation of who He is.<\/p>\n

Blessings!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Pastor:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Friend,<\/p>\n

Thank you again for such a thoughtful response. I see your desire to take God at His Word and to resist any way of thinking that would lower our expectations of His goodness.<\/p>\n

I agree with much of what you\u2019ve written. The church has often been tempted to let disappointment shape expectation, and we should never stop contending for healing, salvation, breakthrough, and the full expression of God\u2019s kingdom. Jesus certainly calls us to pray boldly and trust Him completely.<\/p>\n

Where I would probably frame things a bit differently is that I don\u2019t believe faith is confidence in a particular outcome as much as confidence in a faithful Person. Sometimes those two feel identical… sometimes they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Hebrews 11 is filled with people who trusted God completely, yet experienced very different outcomes\u2014at least in this world. When considering the eternal, then everything they\u2019ve believed for comes to fruition. What united them wasn\u2019t that they could always predict what God would do, but that they knew who He was.<\/p>\n

I agree that we should be careful not to build doctrines around disappointment. At the same time, I want to be careful not to build doctrines around our preferred outcomes either. My aim is to let the whole counsel of Scripture shape my expectations, including the passages that fuel faith and the passages that teach perseverance in mystery.<\/p>\n

As it relates to Proverbs, my point was not that God\u2019s promises are unreliable, but that wisdom literature functions differently than covenant promises. This understanding of wisdom literature has been a well-worn path throughout Jewish and church history. Proverbs describes how God\u2019s world generally works\u2014it is not intended to guarantee every individual outcome. Job and Ecclesiastes help us see that distinction.<\/p>\n

I love your closing statement that unanswered prayers are an invitation to know God more deeply. That\u2019s a posture I want to keep growing in as well. I want to pray for the sick expecting God to heal, pray for prodigals expecting God to save, and pray for mountains to move\u2014while also entrusting myself to the wisdom and goodness of God when I don\u2019t fully understand the result.<\/p>\n

Appreciate you, friend. I believe we\u2019re both seeking the same thing\u2014to know Jesus more fully and to trust Him more completely.<\/p>\n

Blessings, my friend.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Me:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor\u2014<\/p>\n

I know I said we didn\u2019t have to keep going back and forth, but this morning I\u2019m feeling prompted by the Holy Spirit to respond. I appreciate and enjoy dialogues like these because they are thought-provoking and really help me solidify my own faith and test what I believe against Scripture and others who are equally pursuing the Lord.<\/p>\n

You said, \u201cWhere I would probably frame things a bit differently is that I don\u2019t believe faith is confidence in a particular outcome as much as confidence in a faithful Person.\u201d<\/p>\n

This would\u2019ve been my theological position for most of my life, but lately I believe the Holy Spirit has been challenging me on this very mindset. I\u2019ve lived most of my life with this as my understanding of faith. Maybe my interpretation is a bit different, but my outlook in prayer is that I could never know the outcome, and that whatever it was, I had to trust that it was because God is sovereign, good, and faithful.<\/p>\n

Now, however, as I\u2019ve been dialoguing with the Holy Spirit the past two months, I am increasingly convinced that THIS IS NOT FAITH. True faith is for the outcome because we have heard Him speak and we are confident in the outcome. And the more I have leaned into this, the more I have inherited the outcome and received the answers to my prayers.<\/p>\n

Could we imagine Jesus sitting the disciples down and instructing them in this kind of thinking? Would Jesus say, \u201cI want you to lay hands on the sick. When you do, you\u2019ll never know the outcome. Sometimes, if it is in God\u2019s sovereign will, you will see the sick recover, but don\u2019t always expect it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Would Jesus say that? Or would that sound strange coming from Him? Or did He simply say, \u201cYou shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover,\u201d with no qualifications?<\/p>\n

Would the first sermon instill \u201cfaith\u201d in the disciples to declare boldly, \u201cRise up and walk\u201d? Weren\u2019t they confident of the outcome?<\/p>\n

Matthew 21:21\u2014Jesus seems to be saying that if we have faith and do not doubt, we can be confident in the outcome.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019d like to challenge you a bit here, as I have been challenged recently. You said, \u201cand pray for mountains to move,\u201d but in this passage Jesus never instructed us to \u201cpray\u201d for the mountains to move. He instructed us to speak to the mountain, and it would obey.<\/p>\n

How many mountains in my life have I prayed for the Father to move that were never cast into the sea? The majority. But how many mountains in my life have I actually spoken to and commanded to move? Very few.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve petitioned and pleaded with God to move the mountain without confidence in the outcome, without ever speaking to the mountain.<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t this type of prayer make me the man from James 1:8? Double-minded? Constantly swinging between faith and fear\/doubt?<\/p>\n

Is faith the substance of \u201cthings\u201d hoped for and the evidence of \u201cthings\u201d not seen? Or is it merely confidence in a sovereign God to do what\u2019s right without the ability to know, understand, or comprehend what that might be in any given situation?<\/p>\n

It is faith for \u201cthings\u201d\u2014for and in the outcome.<\/p>\n

The woman with the issue of blood had confidence in the outcome because she knew He was faithful.<\/p>\n

The Canaanite woman whose daughter was delivered had confidence in the outcome because she knew He was faithful.<\/p>\n

The Roman centurion had confidence in the outcome if Jesus would just speak the word.<\/p>\n

Over and over in Scripture, we see examples of men and women of great faith doing impossible things because they had confidence in the outcome because of their relationship with the Father. They heard Him speak, so they knew it was going to happen.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think we can separate the Giver from the gifts like we so often teach. Yes, we don\u2019t pursue the gifts, but when we walk with the Giver, we can be confident that He gives gifts. It\u2019s in His nature to do so. He\u2019s promised to do so.<\/p>\n

Jesus gave us authority over all the power of the enemy. He told us to heal the sick, raise the dead, make disciples, and cast out demons. We would say we could only do one of those things, and the rest would be up to God to perform, but that\u2019s not the way Jesus phrased it. He told us to do it.<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t do those things in faith without being confident in the outcome. And we can be confident because we heard Him say to do it! Faith comes by hearing.<\/p>\n

I wonder if it is this very misunderstanding of faith that has kept the church relatively powerless today when compared to the early church?<\/p>\n

This conversation may have been more of a sounding board for me to flesh out what the Holy Spirit has been doing in me the past few months than anything else, but either way, I appreciate the back and forth and continue to pray that the Lord will give us both revelation concerning these deeper things!<\/p>\n

Blessings!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Pastor:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Friend,<\/p>\n

I think we\u2019re actually closer than it may seem. I absolutely agree that there are moments when faith includes confidence in a specific outcome because God has spoken. We see that throughout Scripture, and as you pointed out, many of the great acts of faith flowed from hearing God\u2019s voice and responding in obedience.<\/p>\n

Where I would simply continue to hold some tension is that not every situation comes with the same level of specific revelation. Sometimes faith says, \u201cGod has spoken, therefore I know what He is going to do.\u201d Other times faith says, \u201cI know who God is, so I will trust Him even when I don\u2019t yet know what He is going to do.\u201d Hebrews 11 seems to contain examples of both.<\/p>\n

I love your emphasis on hearing, expecting, and stepping out boldly. I suspect the church often errs on the side of caution and can talk itself out of obedience. At the same time, I\u2019ve also seen sincere believers hear from God differently and arrive at different conclusions about what He has promised in a particular situation. That\u2019s part of what keeps me humble.<\/p>\n

Either way, I\u2019m grateful for the conversation. You\u2019ve given me some things to reflect on, and I always enjoy engaging with someone who is pursuing Jesus, searching the Scriptures, and seeking to follow the Spirit faithfully. May He continue to lead both of us into greater truth, faith, and dependence on Him!<\/p>\n

Blessings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A Closing Reflection<\/h2>\n

We\u2019ve defined faith as the step we take contrary to our feelings. But true faith is the step we take when our feelings fully align with the Word of God.<\/p>\n

It was not Peter\u2019s faltering or sinking step that was the step of faith\u2014the one he took when he looked at his circumstances, the wind and the waves, and thought, \u201cWhat am I doing? I\u2019m going to fail. I might die. This is impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

No, that wasn\u2019t a step of faith.<\/p>\n

The step of faith was when he stepped out of the boat in confidence because he heard the Word of the Lord say, \u201cCome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faith comes by hearing, and more specifically, hearing the Word of God. Faith is when our entire being is in alignment and agreement with what He said, and we step out in confidence that He is faithful.<\/p>\n

Faith is not when we illogically just step out anyway\u2014in spite of our feelings and in defiance of the expected outcome\u2014hoping for a miracle.<\/p>\n

Faith is stepping out knowing that the outcome is already secured because we heard Him speak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is a conversation between me and a pastor that began after a sermon raised questions for me about faith, the promises of God, and how we understand unanswered prayer. Names, dates, and identifying details have been removed. The conversation has been lightly edited for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and readability without changing the substance … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[16,6,41,23,42,12,32,14],"faithco_speaker":[],"class_list":["post-77","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith-prayer","category-uncategorized","tag-expectation","tag-faith","tag-gods-promises","tag-healing","tag-hearing-god","tag-prayer","tag-trust","tag-unbelief"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodtree.us\/faithco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodtree.us\/faithco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodtree.us\/faithco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodtree.us\/faithco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodtree.us\/faithco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/goodtree.us\/faithco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82,"href":"https:\/\/goodtree.us\/faithco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions\/82"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodtree.us\/faithco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodtree.us\/faithco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodtree.us\/faithco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77"},{"taxonomy":"faithco_speaker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodtree.us\/faithco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/faithco_speaker?post=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}