“Prayer without expectancy may just be unbelief in disguise.”  (Unknown)

I know…that’s offensive isn’t it?  At least it offends me!  But why does it offend me?  It offends me because it describes so much of what I have called “prayer” in my life.  But when I compare many prayers as recorded in Scripture with my own prayers, I might be willing to take the quote even further.  It almost seems like “prayer without expectancy, isn’t really prayer at all.”  I am not willing to go that far because we serve an incredibly gracious and loving God who credits even the smallest amount of belief so highly.  Jesus actually said that even the faith of a mustard seed (one of the smallest of seeds) can move mountains.  Scripture teaches that God works with what we have to offer Him and for that I am very grateful as it seems I don’t often have much.

As the body of Christ, we have worked out some very elaborate theologies for lack of faith.  One thing we do is to credit God with whatever happens no matter how terrible it is and call that “faith.”  We say things like “the Lord works in mysterious ways” or “God must be trying to teach me something.”  I am not for a second suggesting that God can not use EVERYTHING we experience to teach us something, but that is just a comment on how good God is and how resourceful He is.  That does not confirm the theology that says God is therefore the author of those same things.  Jesus came to earth as a man on a mission coming against sin and death and all of the many consequences of those things.  Read through the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and notice how many times Jesus “rebuked” an evil spirit that was causing sickness in someone’s life and you will have a hard time holding on to the assumption that every sickness is from God.

One prayer we can pray that God loves to answer is a prayer for more faith.  In the gospels Jesus comes upon a man whose son is deaf, mute and demon possessed.  When Jesus tells the man that “all things are possible for him who believes” the man immediately responds “I do believe, help my unbelief.”  What little faith we have can become the spark to ignite much greater faith, but it must be exercised.

Let’s purpose to ask God for specific things that are in line with His character (as revealed in Scripture) and choose to believe that God can do them.  Ask God to show you the things He wants to do in your life or the lives of people you love and then pray according to what He has revealed to you!