38 – Aaron - “The Word of Faith belief has left me so confused about answered prayers.”
“I struggle with this area of theology so much. I have prayed for spiritual insight, and I have read and listened to many teachers that all seem to have a different response. I cannot reconcile it all. I guess my confusion begins with never really seeing clear unambiguous answers to prayer in my life, and the lives of those around me, raised in a Word of Faith household (which I now reject). I don’t even know how to pray for things because of this. Unanswered prayer: 1) It wasn’t God’s Will? 2) I/they don’t have enough faith? 3) I/they have been disobedient so cannot receive? The Christian life for me as a young man became nothing more than an exhausting exercise in explaining away unanswered prayer and searching for the lost instruction manual to God’s “magic wand” to the point I lost all faith in prayer, and walked away for decades because of this. I have come back into the fold, but still cautious and confused on this topic. I have become a cessationist, an avid listener of Justin Peters (a strong man of God, who also has a very low view of our ability to influence God’s hand, and in fact admits that he only “sometimes” prays for healing of the sick) more in an effort to lower my expectations so as to protect my faith from a basis in “answered prayer”, than from any real understanding of what the Bible says we should expect from God. I’ve watched people close to me “step out in faith” and be obliterated in a mushroom cloud of physical, financial and spiritual disaster. Hard won careers thrown into the toilet. All under the sneering eyes of the “I told you so” crowd. “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes”. I’ve seen sick loved ones “lifted up”, prayed over “in faith” and summarily die followed by a crescendo of shoulder shrugs and mutterings about “God’s Will”. In reality, God wasn’t glorified in any obvious way. Nobody was edified by the display of “faith”. Instead, people wore egg on their face, mocked, and made to look like fools. Aren’t we supposed to seek “God’s Will”? Then why not simply pray “God’s Will” be done? What’s the point of standing on faith for a result if that result is contrary to God’s Will and seriously in doubt? Where does the “mountain/mustard seed” promise fit into all this? How do we, as you say... “humbly ask”, the very act of which is asking with uncertainty....which Jesus “appears” to say we should not do? We have to “believe it will be done”...well that’s back to Kenneth Hagin’s “name it and claim it” doctrine is it not? Jesus said the centurion had more faith than any in Israel, but he did not believe Jesus WOULD heal his servant, he believed Jesus COULD heal his servant. HUGE difference. I believe that way explicitly. My mother is dying of cancer as I write this, and I have no idea how to pray for her other than to ask for her healing but having no real belief that God WILL heal her, only that he could. I don’t know what God’s Will for her or myself is, other than to be saved, sanctified, and shaped into the image of Christ.”
Faith is Not a Coin and God is Not a Candy Machine
Have you ever felt like Aaron in today’s recording, discouraged and confused by unanswered prayer? Perhaps you've even questioned God's existence or His care for you. The pain of unanswered prayers can lead to doubt, frustration, and even a distorted view of God. He can seem distant, uncaring, or even manipulative, like a cosmic candy machine dispensing blessings only when we insert enough "faith coins." But this is a dangerous counterfeit of the true God revealed in Scripture.
The Word of Faith movement, with its "name it and claim it" doctrine, perpetuates this distorted image. It suggests that God is obligated to fulfill our desires if we simply have enough faith. But as Aaron discovered, this approach often leads to disappointment and a rejection of faith altogether. True faith, as my recording explains, is not about moving God, but about allowing God to move us. "Faith is not a coin, and God is not a candy machine," the wise minister said to me.
So how do we approach prayer with genuine faith? Firstly, we must examine our hearts. Are we truly seeking God's will or our own? "If we ask anything according to his will, we know that he hears us," John assures us in 1 John 5:14-15. Obedience to God's Word is a prerequisite for answered prayer, as Jesus Himself taught: "Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?" (Luke 6:46).
Secondly, we must recognize that God is sovereign. He is not obligated to answer our prayers in the way or timeframe we expect. Sometimes, He allows trials and unanswered prayers to deepen our faith, refine our character, and draw us closer to Himself. Like Jesus, who "learned obedience from what he suffered" (Hebrews 5:8), we too can grow through difficult seasons.
Finally, we must ensure that the Jesus we are praying to is the authentic Jesus of the Bible, not a counterfeit version created by our own desires or flawed theology. If we are praying to a false Jesus, we might as well be praying to an idol (false god) and expecting it to answer. Paul warns us in 2 Corinthians 11:4 that there are "different Jesuses" being preached. Take time to study God's Word, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal the true nature and character of Jesus Christ. When we align our understanding of God with the truth of Scripture, we can begin to experience the joy of a living, breathing relationship with Him, a relationship where our prayers are not just empty words, but heartfelt conversations with a loving Father who cares deeply for us, and satisfying answers which show us God has heard our prayers.
