Matthew 21:21,  Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.”

While we know we are saved by faith and not by works as it says in Ephesians 2:8-9, For it s by grace you have been saved, through faith ~ and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast”, God’s promises outside of salvation often have an, “If you… then I…”. 

There are a lot of “teachers” and “false prophets” telling people that all they need to do is claim the promise and God will do whatever they ask.  While God loves to bless His children He is not a vending machine where you just pop in the right scripture and out comes your blessing.  God is more concerned about you and your life than that!  Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith, it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”  Have you ever prayed for something that you desperately needed and you mustered up every ounce of what felt like faith, you convinced your mind that if you just believed that it would come then it would come, in fact, it would come today because you needed it today. And then ….. nothing!  Nothing happened and then your trust and faith in God and His promises dropped a little bit more.  Maybe you have gotten to the point where you struggle to believe that your prayers get above the ceiling because of those moments in life.  I know I have mentioned before my experience as a small child when I heard this verse from Matthew in Sunday School and I decided one day that I would try it out on the hill behind the house.  I went outside and stared that hill down and prayed for God to move it even just a little, clearly my understanding of the verse was missing key elements.  The hill is still there today and that day I wondered what I was lacking for it to not move.  

I have had times when I desperately needed a certain amount of money and I prayed and believed and it never came, at least not by the means or timing I was believing for.  There’s more to faith than the English translation implies.  Faith and trust are mingled so to say you have faith also means you have a trust in God that He is just, faithful, loving, good, merciful, full of grace, holy, powerful, unable to be compared to anyone or anything else because He is so high above everything.  So, when you pray and you bring those things to God you know that whatever He chooses to do and whenever He decides the time is right to fulfill that promise, is the best answer and time you could possibly get from Him. So the answer could come today or it may be down the road, but either way, it’s ok you can trust Him! If there is anyone you can know you can trust, it’s Him!  So you must choose to believe that if your answer hasn’t come that doesn’t mean He didn’t hear or that it’s not on its way, trust Him!  

True trust/faith is not stirred up for certain moments and certain things, it is all of the time and for everything.  You wouldn’t believe someone trusted you fully if they picked only certain things they trusted you with.  Are there areas you don’t really trust God in?  What about your children, your health, your finances or maybe your security is in your job?  Trust, for most of us, can be difficult because we have experienced enough pain in life we don’t want to risk more coming our way.  God does not take pleasure in your pain, we live in an imperfect world and we suffer the consequences of sin whether it is our own or someone else’s.  God can use those heartaches and struggles though, to grow you into all He created you to be if you give them to Him, and not only that but He will use it all for good.  As long as we live on earth there will be hard days that come but it is in trusting Him that you will be able to walk through it all with His peace and grace knowing that He sees, He cares and when you are walking with Him and seeking Him, He will show up mighty in your life when the time is right with exactly what you need!  

So!  God knows it takes time to grow in your trust, He knows what has brought you to this place and He knows what it will take to help you grow.  Start today and ask Him to show you any areas you don’t fully trust Him with and ask for His help to open your hands and give it all to Him.  It is by taking one step at a time you get to where you are going, so pray and ask God to guide you to have more faith and trust in Him!