A crucial link is missing in many of our lives, which often is the reason we do not receive answers to many of our prayers. Beloved, that missing link is faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
James is very clear in this instruction: “Let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:6-7).
If a person entertains doubt, regardless of how many rivers of tears he cries, he will not receive anything from God. Of course, God wants us to cry out to him from our inmost being. But he does not hear our cries unless they are accompanied by faith!
The psalms abound with the testimony of David who came to God not only with tears but with a heart full of confidence and total trust in his Father. “Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplications! The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped” (Psalm 28:6-7).
“[The Lord] is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name” (Psalm 33:20-21).
Nearly every time we read David’s cries to the Lord in prayer, we hear his testimony of trust. You may spend many hours in prayer, weeping and pleading with God to give you what he has already promised. We cannot conceive of the possibility that God could be displeased with our prayers. However, the Word is clear that we must “ask in faith, with no doubting.”
Beloved, grab hold of this wonderful truth and allow God to bring you into a new place in prayer.