God rewards our Faith in Him, Not Our Works
by Alan Taylor
It’s the saddest thing in the world to have unanswered prayers. In the past, I have often been frustrated with trying to learn how to make things change. In times of crisis many of us have been left sitting, wondering and asking, “What went wrong? Where was God when I needed Him?” You may be surprised to learn that this is a common feeling among Christians. As we grow in God there will always be times when we are puzzled and question why circumstances are not changing. However, we do not need to stay puzzled.
In my earlier years I wanted to learn why there are so many unanswered prayers. I would hear many testimonies of God’s blessings, but it seemed that it would always be for someone else and never for me. I would be excited to hear other people testify, but I seemed to be stuck in one spot spinning my wheels.
Every night I would go to bed with my problems, hoping that they would disappear, only to find them the next morning waiting for me. I would ask, “What is wrong? What more must I do? Are you sure it’s your will? Why are things not changing?” These are questions that we all face at one time or another and if we are not careful, we can become hardened and just settle in our hearts that we are to put up with bad circumstances.
When we are confronted with unanswered prayers it is important for us to discover the truth. When we discover the truth, we can win over such challenges as financial difficulty, sickness, sin, unsaved family members, and our needs not being met. Just like you, I tried every formula known to the Christian world to make my circumstances change. Maybe you can relate to me when nothing I did seemed to really change things.
I was starting to feel like I really didn’t know God and even worse: I was starting to feel like God really didn’t know me. “Does He even know I am going through this? Does He care?” I knew that He did care, but it sure didn’t feel like it. Even though God is not touchy and it was okay for me to have questions, I still needed answers.
I was getting frustrated. I was confessing, giving, witnessing, being faithful, and still no change in my circumstances. Even though I was doing more for the kingdom of God than ever before, I still didn’t see any changes. When I questioned what I was lacking it seemed that I was pulled to do more for God. I had a feeling that I hadn’t done enough yet for God to move.
The devil jumped right on the bandwagon and kept whispering in my ear that I needed to do more. I hadn’t given enough, prayed enough, or confessed enough. I needed to knock on doors and win souls to give God what He needs to come and rescue me from my circumstances. I became more and more discouraged, frustrated, and even bitter. In my mind I knew who God was, but in my heart I felt myself starting to pull away from Him.
Finally, through praying in the Holy Spirit and meditating on His Word, God was able to expose the problem that was causing me to have unanswered prayers. God spoke to me that all the works that I was doing were a good thing, but they were not the answer to my real problem. The real problem was I didn’t know who I was in Christ, and I didn’t know what rights I had as a child of the King of Kings. I didn’t have a revelation on how much my Father truly does love me.
And because I didn’t understand these things, I was accepting lies from the devil and I was working at earning His love. I kept thinking that I needed to DO something to get God to move on my behalf. The whole time during these struggles I never realized that my answer was simple; to learn what Jesus had done for me and to learn who I was in Christ.
I needed to find out what it meant to be a child of God. Even with all my love and devotion towards God, I found myself deceived by the enemy. The answer that I was looking for was not by doing things on the outside, but by fixing my belief structure on the inside. I needed to root out the lie of religion that was telling me who God was and who I was.
Once I discovered what I am about to teach you, I was able to truly stand for my rights as a child of God instead of just waiting for my rights to happen. I stopped chasing my needs and started chasing God instead. He showed me the lies of wrong doctrine that were in my heart and that these lies were keeping me from believing that God was who He said He was. I’ve learned that He had already completed every requirement for me to have what the Bible promises.
Religion keeps telling us that there must be more to do. The devil doesn’t care what you know in your head. If he can get you to accuse God from your heart, he knows that you will never walk into victory. The enemy wants us to believe what Jesus did was not enough, and that we must add to the finished work of the cross. This is the same wrong doctrine that I discovered was in my heart. It had crept in and distorted my image of God and His love.
“We must do something to get God to move on our behalf” is not true. “If God hasn’t moved yet in your circumstances then you haven’t done enough” is not true. “You must give more and do more to get God to move” is not true.
This message of activity can make us feel good, because the act of doing something in the natural makes us believe that we are accomplishing something in the spirit; but we are not. In fact, sometimes the very actions that we are doing to find our miracle are the very actions that are stopping us from receiving it.
It is this religious thinking that is hindering most of us from enjoying the blessings of God. The Body of Christ is slowly losing its faith to this deception. We no longer believe that the love and power of God is freely available to everyone. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11:3, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
The devil wants to make God complicated. He wants to make receiving our miracle complicated. He came as an angel of light to Eve and complicated the things of God and she fell. This wrong doctrine will strip you of simplicity and keep you from receiving from God, based on the fact that you are His child.
In God’s kingdom we don’t get what we deserve, we get what we believe for. We must believe that Jesus is enough. Jesus’ victory on the cross defeated every evil thing in our lives and He made a way for us to receive that same victory. When Jesus conquered the devil He then handed you the victory, making you more then a conqueror.
God’s answer to your situation was Jesus. All of our needs were met at the cross of Calvary and paid in full. By the precious Blood of Jesus each debt was paid and the way of victory was secured. God completed a perfect masterpiece on the Cross; it was complete and lacking nothing.
It tells us in Colossians 2:13-15, “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
God wrote sin, sickness, poverty, depression, and evil on the canvas of His son Jesus, and then nailed Him to the cross so that we could be free. The work of victory was completed; there is nothing that we can add to this work to make it any better. We don’t give to be blessed; we give because we are blessed. We don’t confess to be healed; we confess because we are healed.
Our faith is based on believing in the work of Jesus and not in our own works. God cannot reward us for our works, but only for our faith in His work. “But 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.
I am reminded of a story I read years ago. It’s about this boy who went on vacation every year with his family. Every summer they would travel to an island, famous for its pearls. Summer after summer the young boy would spend his time playing on the beach and in the ocean.
During one of these trips he was befriended by an older gentleman; who spent a lot of time on the beach, and over the years the two of them became good friends. One summer while having lunch at the older man’s house, he noticed a huge pearl that was on the mantle in the living room. It had to be the most beautiful and flawless pearl in the world. He asked his older friend about it, because it was so mesmerizing and seemed to be perfect. He then learned the story of the pearl.
The older gentleman explained to him that years ago he had a son, who was famous on the island for being the best pearl diver who ever lived. He could swim longer, dive deeper, and hold his breath longer than any other diver. In fact, he would always come back to shore with the greatest and largest pearls. Then one horrible day he never returned. “My son got tangled up at the ocean floor and drowned” he said. “And in his hands was this beautiful pearl. I loved my son very much and that is why I have it here on the mantle”.
The young boy grew into a young man and every summer he would spend a little time with his older friend. After a few more years his friend sat him down and placed the pearl on the table in front of him. He said, “as I have watched you grow into such a great young man, you have become like a son to me. Because of this, I want to give you this pearl as a gift.”
The young man was astonished at this gesture and couldn’t believe it. “I can’t take this” he said. “This is way too expensive for you to give me. I don’t deserve this.” After a moment of thinking he then said, “I tell you what. Let me give you something for this.” He then took out his checkbook attempting to write down all the money in his bank account on to the check.
The older man became surprisingly upset. With his voice slightly raised he said, “No way! Don’t you get it!!? There isn’t enough money in the world to buy this pearl from me. Look at it. It’s perfect and flawless. It is priceless and most importantly, this pearl cost my son his life.”
Sometimes in our zeal to find answers we start doing things to try and get God to move. We try to give our way into prosperity, or we try to work our way into blessings, or we try to confess our way into healing, but don’t you get it? The price of Jesus’ blood was enough and there is nothing else for us to do, but to believe that we are already free; from every ugly work of darkness, because we have a Father who loves us so much, that He asked His son to take our place. Let’s learn to enjoy being His children.
Source: www.alantaylorministries.org | Print Version
