Something random I was thinking about the other day:

God does not often surprise us.

Isn’t that a comfort? Despite being literally “All Powerful,” God is not random. God is not unexpected. God’s actions rarely seem surprising. He might do something that we don’t expect, or that might seem random to us, but that’s only because we weren’t paying attention. More often than not (and in fact, I’m struggling to think of an example where this isn’t the case) God gives people ample warning before He does anything. God doesn’t surprise us.

Now let’s apply that principle to prayer…

But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 

(James 1:6-7)

James says if you pray without faith, don’t expect God to give you a yes. If you pray for something but don’t actually believe it will happen…it probably won’t happen. Granted, if you pray with faith, God still might say no, but you’re almost guaranteed a “no” if you pray without faith (and, again, I’m struggling to think of an example where that isn’t the case). In other words, you will not find it happen where you pray for something out of a sense of “faithless desperation” (making God your last resort, grasp-at-straws, final recourse), and then BOOM, the miracle just flutters down from heaven, leaving you saying “Oh wow, I didn’t think that would actually work!”

That’s not how it goes.

Prayer is not wish-casting. The Lord is not a twinkling star or a fairy godmother. He is the maker and mover of the universe. When we pray, we are appealing to His power to intercede on our behalf, but God is not a slave to our whims, either. Our prayer must be asked in faith, without wavering. We must trust in God and then leave it to Him to answer how He will. Is there something on your mind? Pray about it, but pray with the sincere belief that God can answer, that God will answer, and that God’s answer will be exactly what you need.

Anything less is a waste of prayer.

~Matthew