Optimism Is Not Faith In God

Daniel 3:17-18, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” Matthew 21:22, “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

I have heard umpteen preachers throughout my lifetime teach from Matthew 21:22, that if you have any doubts whatsoever, God will not answer your prayer. I heard one pastor go as far as to teach barren women, that they should prat for a child, believe God will give them one, and then go out and buy a bunch of  baby supplies, crib and prepare their home for a new child. Dear reader, that is foolish and unbiblical preaching. There is a fine line between faith and foolishness! Just because you ask God for something doesn't mean that Matthew 21:22 guarantees that you will receive it.

An important principle when studying the Holy Bible is to NEVER base a doctrine on a lone passage of Scripture. ALWAYS compare Scripture with Scripture, to make sure that all the other Bible passages agree with your suggested interpretation of a particular passage. 

Matthew 21:21-22, “Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

Taken by itself, this passage seems to teach that if you have any reservations, second thoughts or worries, then God won't answer your prayer. But we read in our text passage from Daniel 2:17:18 that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were confident that God would deliver them, BUT IF NOT they said to king Nebuchadnezzar. That sounds like doubt to me! They were bold to proclaim that God would rescue them from the king's fiery furnace, which was turned up seven times hotter than normal to appease the king's wrath against them, for refusing to bow down to his graven golden image (an obelisk like The Washington Monument). Those three young Christian lads said: “Our God will deliver us.” But then they added the disclaimer, “But if not...” Did these young men have doubts?

Dear friend, please let me teach you a great truth here. Oftentimes when I pray, I am doubtful that God will answer my prayer. But it is not because I doubt God; but rather, because I doubt if it is His will. It is important that we make a distinction between doubting God, versus questioning if what we are asking is God's will for us. What saith the Scripture? ...

Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

As we just read, we don't know what to pray for! The Bible doesn't say that some Christians know what to pray for, but NONE of us!!! We cannot see time and eternity like God can. We cannot see the big picture like God can. We cannot the before and after of our finite lifetime on earth, like God can. So we have to trust God and walk by faith. What saith the Scripture? ...

1st John 5:14, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:”

So according to what we just read from John's epistle, God likely won't answer any prayers that are contrary to His will. Well we just read in Romans 8:26 that we don't know what to pray for. I admit that oftentimes when I pray, I question whether what I am asking God for is His will. Most of the time I simply don't know. The Bible is silent in many areas of life. So in those situations we must base our decisions of the unknown, on the known principles of God's Word.

Faith is trusting God in all matters and circumstances, and not leaning upon o8r own understanding. As Dr. John R. Rice (1895-1980) used to wisely teach—PRAYER IS ASKING!!! The very act of praying to God for something is in itself FAITH. The proof of one's faith is FAITH ITSELF!!!

That is one reason why I get so upset with all these false teachers today, who go around lying to people, telling them that they cannot go to Heaven unless they have repented of all their sins. These false prophets errantly teach that you MUST live a changed life, to prove the reality of the genuineness of your faith. But the true and only evidence of your faith is that you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Many unsaved religious people lived morally upright lives, being kind and generous, loving and serving their church and community for a lifetime. So we cannot gauge a person's salvation upon things that an unsaved person can imitate. Remember, Satan is a beautiful liar, and so are his ministers of unrighteousness (2nd Corinthians 11:13-15).

Some of these Satanic false prophets are; namely, Marty Herron (vice president of Faith Baptist Bible College And Theological Seminary), Steve Pettit (president of Bob Jones University), Sam Horn (president of Master's University), John McArthur (pastor of Grace To You ministry), Chuck Phelps (pastor of Colonial Hills Baptist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana), Gary Walton (pastor of the Harvest Baptist Church on Guam), et cetera. These wicked men are theologically dangerous, teaching doctrines of devils to their own destruction (2nd Peter 3:16-17). These men are all Gospel perverts!!! they all ADD repenting of your sin to the Gospel as defined plainly in 1st Corinthians 15:1-6.

Nowhere does the inspired King James Bible teach that a person must repent and turn away from their sin to be saved. If you read 1st Corinthians 15:1-6, Paul defines “the gospel,” and no mention is made of repenting of sin, or forsaking one's sin, to be saved. Preachers who add anything to Paul's definition of the Gospel are perverting the grace of God. The only evidence of faith is faith itself, and the indwelling Holy Spirit (1st John 3:24). This is something that ONLY an individual believer can determine. Remember, the Epistle of 1st John is written to the individual believer (1st John 5:13), for self-examination, and not to a group to judge who else is saved or unsaved.

If a barren woman prays for God to give her a baby, God WILL answer that prayer if it is His will. We see in the Old Testament that Hannah prayed to God for a son, promising to raise him up for the Lord in return, and God did answer her request, giving her a boy, Samuel. You don't need to go out and buy a bunch of baby supplies, a crib, baby swing and everything else to get ready, optimistic that God will answer your prayer oh barren woman. No, you simply need to let your request be made know unto God (Philippians 4:6-8) and then wait upon the Lord. Being optimistic is not believing!!! ...

Matthew 21:21-22, “Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

In the preceding passage, Jesus is simply saying that if we pray, and don't question God's ability to answer that prayer, IF IT IS HIW WILL, then He will answer it. Just because you may doubt that God wants you to have a child, is not doubt. That is important to understand. Faith is praying to God, asking Him for something, and then trusting Him to do what He thinks is best for you. So if you don't have a child, just praise God for His wisdom, mercy and goodness and don't get angry, bitter or blame Him. Optimism is not faith, and questioning whether something is God's will is not doubt. If it is according to God's omniscient and omnipotent will, HE WILL DO IT!!!

So be of good cheer dear friend, you're not as doubtful as you likely think you have been. We read in Acts 12:5, “Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.” The Apostle Peter was arrested in thrown in prison by wicked Herod. Herod had just murdered James, beheading him! And now Herod intended to slay Peter next. But prayers were made by the church for Peter, and God sent His angels to deliver him. When released, Peter immediately rushed to tell his Christian friends the great news, but they refused to believe it. ...

Acts 12:13-15, “And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel.”

When Peter knocked at the door, Rhoda was so happy that she didn't think to let him in, she rushed in joy to tell everyone who were in the very act of praying for Peter's release from prison. Rhoda insisted that Peter was at their door, but they called her CRAZY!!! This passage of Scripture is so encouraging to me, and it should be to you too my friend, because it shows that even when we DOUBT that God will answer our prayer, HE STILL DOES!!! You see, these believers didn't doubt God's ability, power or love, they doubted if God would answer their prayer. There's a big difference between doubting God, and doubted your request.

I'm simply teaching you dear reader that God answers prayer. Even when we doubt ourselves, doubt our request and don't feel confident in what we are asking, God WILL still answer us IF IT IS ACCORDING TO HIS WILL. God may say “yes,” or He may say “no,” or He may say “maybe later,” but God ALWAYS answers our every prayer because He cares about each and every adopted child of His (1st Peter 5:7-8). We may often doubt ourselves and our prayers, but always “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22b).

Prayer is asking, and asking is faith!