Urban Legend #1: If We Pray With Enough Faith, God Must Fulfill Our Requests

11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. - Acts 17:11

It is no news flash that smart people can do some pretty dumb things. But lots of times we forget that smart people can also believe some pretty dumb things.

What possessed a military genius like Napoleon to think that the harsh Russian winter would be no match for his troops? Sure, they were well trained and well equipped, but it's not as if he had a shred of historical evidence to support his decision to march on.

What caused the leading scientists and thinkers of Galileo's day to ignore evidence they could see with their own eyes and brand him as a heretic and a quack?

And why would an otherwise brilliant leadership team at IBM bet the farm on mainframes and practically give away the PC, as well as the underlying operating system, to a young programmer named Bill Gates?

All of these, and many other equally baffling decisions, were made by smart people. Yet, in hindsight, they all look a bit foolish. What happened?

In each case, an otherwise intelligent person badly misinterpreted the facts, made an incorrect assumption, or relied upon information that we now know to be completely false—with disastrous consequences. Sometimes they were confused by cultural bias (which at times can be so strong that it literally blinds us to the truth).

In other cases, their underlying assumptions were so widely believed and accepted that no one thought to question them. Sometimes they were done in by a bad case of wishful thinking. But whatever the cause, they weren't alone. History is filled with examples of otherwise intelligent people who acted upon amazingly goofy assumptions— and paid a high price for doing so.

The High Price of Flawed Assumptions

We, as Christians, aren't immune. Even a highly moral, deeply sincere, smart Christian, with the best theological pedigree, has no guarantee of protection from the consequences of a bad decision based on flawed assumptions.

Over the years, people have made life-altering decisions based on what they perceived to be biblical principles, only to discover too late that what they thought was biblical didn't come from the Bible at all.

Most of the time, they were victims of a spiritual urban legend. A spiritual urban legends just like a secular urban legend. It's a belief, story, assumption, or truism that gets passed around as fact. In most cases the source is a friend, a Sunday-school class, a Bible study, a devotional, a book, or even a sermon.

Because they sound so plausible and come from a reputable source, spiritual urban legends are often accepted without question and then quickly passed on. Once widely disseminated, they tend to take on a life of their own. They become almost impossible to refute because “everyone” knows they're true. Anyone who dares to question their veracity gets written off as spiritually dull, lacking in faith, or liberal.

Admittedly, the consequences of some spiritual misconceptions aren't particularly devastating. For instance, if someone mistakenly believes that the Bible says that “God helps those who help themselves” or “a penny saved is a penny earned”, it will throw them a degree or two, but it will hardly destroy their faith.

Spiritual urban legends aren't just harmless misunderstandings. They're spiritually dangerous errors that will eventually bring heartache and disillusionment to all who trust in them.

But far too often the consequences are spiritually devastating. Think of the disillusionment that sets in when someone writes o= God for failing to keep a promise that he never made. Or the despair that follows a step of faith that turns out to have been a leap onto thin ice.

That is why an exposé of ten widely held but blatantly false spiritual urban legends is so important. They aren't just harmless misunderstandings. They're spiritually dangerous errors that will eventually bring heartache and disillusionment to all who trust in them.

My bet is that you've already seen through a few. Others you may have always questioned, but until now thought you were the only one who didn't “buy it.” Some may rock your boat. But whatever the case, I encourage you to examine each one with an open mind and an open Bible.

There is an old carpenter's adage: “Measure twice, cut once.” It's based on the observation that once we've cut a board too short, no matter how many more times we cut it, it will still be too short. The same holds true for the spiritual principles upon which we base our life. Once we've made a decision or set a course of action, it's usually too late to go back and start checking out the accuracy of our assumptions.

The Bereans of New Testament times o=er an example worth following. Believers who lived in the Macedonian city of Berea, they went so far as to check out everything the apostle Paul taught them, examining the Scriptures to see if what he said was really true.

Now remember, Paul was an apostle, an author of Scripture, God's spokesman. But rather than being o=ended, he praised them for their lack of gullibility and noble search for the truth.

I encourage each of u to follow their example as we work through some of the spiritual urban legends to come. I think you'll discover not only that they are false but also that each one flatly contradicts what the rest of the Bible teaches. In many cases, they even contradict what their so-called supporting verses, or “proof texts,” actually say.

Can anyone tell me what iron pyrite is? It's an iron sulfide comprised of one atom of iron to two atoms of sulphur, and it's often known as Fool's Gold — iron II disulfide, if you want it's technical name.

Spiritual urban legends are a bit like fools gold. They look great at first glance, but once tested, they prove worthless. I want to make it clear that nothing in this discussion of spiritual urban legends is meant as an attack on the people who believe these things. They themselves aren't dumb. Their assumptions and beliefs are.

No doubt we've all jumped to some pretty foolish conclusions in our lives. I know I have. But fortunately, early in my faith journey, I had some careful-thinking mentors who pointed out the folly of basing my belief system on what everybody else said rather than on careful biblical scrutiny. They taught me to avoid reading just my favorite verses. They showed me the importance of reading all the surrounding verses—and the rest of the book as well.

Their advice has served me well and saved me much heartache. It has also solidifed my confidence in the Bible. The more I've learned to toss aside the clichés, happy talk, and cultural assumptions that don't fit what the Bible actually says (or the way that life really works), the greater my trust in it as God's Word and the ultimate source of spiritual truth.

"See now that I, even I, am he; there is no god besides me. I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver from my hand." -- Deut. 32:39

Healing is a manifestation of God's power and compassion: Jesus' healing ministry in the Gospels demonstrated God's power and desire for restoration.

Healing can occur without the recipient having great faith: The healing of the man at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-15) and the man born blind (John 9) are examples where the individuals did not necessarily have great faith beforehand.

God's purposes extend beyond immediate physical healing: The Bible acknowledges that suffering can serve a greater purpose, such as strengthening faith. Romans 5:3-5; 1 Peter 1:6-7; James 1:2-4; 2 Corinthians 4:17; Romans 8:28.

Faith is important, but not a guarantee: While the Bible encourages prayer and faith in seeking healing, stating that "the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick" (James 5:14-15), it also emphasizes that healing is ultimately up to the Lord's will. The importance of faith in approaching God is highlighted in Hebrews 11:6.

God's sovereign will is the ultimate factor: The Bible teaches that God's will is decisive in all things, including healing. While faith is essential, it does not guarantee a specific outcome as God's purposes are beyond human understanding.

Healing is also linked to the coming Kingdom of God: Jesus' healings were signs of the inbreaking of God's reign and a foretaste of future restoration.

The biblical examples of Jesus healing based on faith highlight that faith is a response to and reliance on God's ability and desire to heal, rather than a force that compels Him. Therefore, faith healing ends where God's sovereign will determines otherwise.

The Bible directs believers to pray for healing, particularly in James 5:14-16, which instructs the sick to call for the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil, and in Acts 4:29-30 where believers pray for boldness and for God to perform signs and wonders, including healing. Additionally, many Psalms express prayers for healing and restoration, such as Psalm 103:2-3 and Psalm 41:3.

Pastor Larry W. Osborne, of Oceanside, California, said:

While faith is a concept deeply rooted in the Christian Scriptures, most of our modern ideas about it aren't.

Much of the blame can be placedon the way the original manuscripts of the New Testament have been translated into English. It's not that the translators are unskilled or deceptive. It's simply that translating anything from one language to another is a difficult task, burdened by all the ancillary meanings and uses found in one language but not another.

A quick comparison of how we use the words faith, belief, and trust in modern-day English with how they were originally used in the Greek language of the New Testament can be eye opening. Let's take a look to see what I mean.

Faith

For most of us, the word faith conjures up an image of confidence. It's the opposite of fear and doubt. It's often defined by our feelings as much as by anything else. That's why most teaching on faith tends to focus on eradicating all fear, doubt, and negative thoughts. It's also why“You gotta have faith” has come to mean “Think positively.”

Belief

On the other hand, the word belief usually conjures up an image of intellectual assent. We say we believe in something as long as we think that it's probably true. And since our beliefs are thought to exist primarily between our ears, we're not particularly puzzled when people claim to believe in something—say UFOs, Bigfoot, Darwinian evolution, creationism, even Jesus—but live as if they don't. For most of us, beliefs are intellectual. Acting upon them is optional.

You can see this definition of belief in the way many of us approach evangelism. We tell the Jesus story to people and then ask them if they believe it. Those who say yes are immediately assured that they're headed for heaven. After all, they're “believers.” It doesn't seem tomatter that the Bible adds quite a few qualifiers beyond mere mental assent.

Trust

In contrast to our use of faith and belief when we use the word trust it almost always carries an assumption that there will be some sort of corresponding action. If we trust a person, it's supposed to show up in our response. For instance, if the parent of a teenage girl says, “I trust you,” but won't let her out of the house, we'd think that parent was speaking nonsense.There's no question the daughter would.

Clearly, each of these three words carries a distinctly di/erent meaning in the English language. But to the surprise of mostChristians, almost every time we find one of these three words in our English New Testaments, each is a translation of the exact same Greek root word.

That means that the Bible knows nothing of the sharp distinctions we make between faith, belief, and trust. Biblically, they not onlyoverlap, but they are practically synonymous.To the writers of Scripture, our modern distinctions between faith, belief, and trust would seemquite strange and forced.

The Greek word for all three — faith, belief, trust — is pistis.

To better understand what biblical faith is and how it works, let's take a look at the most famous faith passage in the Bible: Hebrews 11. Often called God's Hall of Fame, it offers a lengthy list of examples, each one showing what God-pleasing faith looks like and what it produced.

The writer of Hebrews starts with Adam's son Abel, then moves on to Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, laying out aseries of vignettes that describe their steps of faith and the great victories that followed.

Then the writer adds twelve more examples. But this time he offers only a name or a cryptic reference to the great victories their faith accomplished. It's an inspiring list. At first glance it seems to support the popular notion that faith rightly applied can conquer anything. It tells of kingdoms won, lions muzzled, 0ames quenched, weaknesses turned to strength, enemies routed, the dead raised. All in all, a pretty impressive résumé.

But the writer doesn't stop there. He goes on. After reciting a litany of victories, he suddenlyswitches gears and changes direction. Now he speaks of people whose faith led them down a di/erent path—folks who were tortured, jeered, flogged, imprisoned, stoned, sawed in two, and put to death by the sword. He ends with a reminder that still others were rewarded with financial destitution, persecution, and mistreatment.

Then he writes these words: “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.” In other words, these weren't the faith rejects, the losers, the ones who couldn't get it right. These were men and women whose faith was applaudedby God. Yet their faith didn't fix anything. In some cases it made matters worse.

In Hebrews chapter 11, we learn how trusting and obeying God might get you torn in two, thrown into jail, hated by your friends, and force you to drive an old beater the rest of your life.” That ought to thin the herd. That's essentially what the Bible says that faith (at least the kind of faith that God commends) might do. It may lead us to victory. It maylead us to prison. Which it will be is His call—not ours.

WhyBother?

That raises an important question. If faith is primarily about trusting God enough to do what he says, and yet it won't fix everything andsometimes will make matters worse, why bother?

One reason stands out above all others. It's what God wants from us. He says so himself: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Heb. 11:6) Now, it seems to me that if God is really God, and not just some sort of mystical force, cosmic consultant, or favorite uncle in the sky, then knowing what He wants and doing it is a pretty important thing to pay attention to. Few of us would mess with our boss's stated preferences. What kind of fool messes with God's?

A thousand years from now, all the things we try so hard to fix with our positive thinking, visualization, and drive-out-all-doubt prayers won't matter. The only thing that will matter is our awesome future and our face-to-face relationship with God.

Another reason to live by faith (even if it can't fix all the problems we face) is that it does promise to fix our biggest problem and our biggest dilemma. What do we say and do when we stand before a holy and perfect God who knows every one of our secrets and all of our sins? Honest now—what's to keep us from becoming toast? Frankly, nothing. But that's where the real fix-it power of biblical faith kicks in. Jesus promised that all who believe in Him (remember that includes trusting Him enough to actually follow and do what He says) will receive forgiveness and the gift of eternal life.

A thousand years from now, all the things we try so hard to fix with our positive thinking, visualization, and drive-out-all-doubt prayers won't matter. They'll be but a distant memory, if they can be remembered at all.The only thing that will matter is our awesome future and our face-to-face relationship with God.

Faith: God's GPS System for Believers

There's one more benefit to a proper understanding of biblical faith. Biblical faith gives us something that all the positive thinking andvisualization in the world can't provide. It gives us a life map, something we can depend on to always take us exactly where God wants us to go.

Admittedly it's not always an easy map to follow. It takes time, experience, and an occasional leap into the dark to master. It can be frustrating—and scary at times. But in the end, for those who are led by it, it's a trusty guide, guaranteed to always take us where we need to be.

In many ways the adventure of learning to live by biblical faith is a lot like my love/hate relationship with Siri and Google Maps when I travel for work. Let me explain. I'm a geographical moron. My wife has no idea how I get home after traveling somewhere for my job. She's always surprised to see me walk through the front door.

My problem is twofold. First, I'm often in two places at once, mentally. I call it multitasking. My family and friends call it something else. But the end result is that I can be completely oblivious to my surroundings. And when that happens, I literally don't know where I am. I may think I do, but I don't, mainly because I haven't been paying attention.

My second problem is an absolute lack of an internal sense of direction. Without the Pacific Ocean and the mountains as benchmarks, I have no idea which direction is north, south, east, or west. That means that along with not knowing where I am, I often don't know where I'm heading.

Put those two things together and you have a recipe for search-and-rescue. But fortunately (or so you would think), I live in a day when GPS is within reach of the common man. Yet, despite that, there is one frustrating problem. The pesky voice often tells me to turn the wrong way.

My first response is always a quick flash of annoyance at the company that makes the mapping software. I wonder why they can't get it right. I know there are lots of streets they have to include, but come on. That's what I paid for. And I'm not talking about thinking I should turn left when it says to turn right. I'm talking about those times when I know I should turn left.

To make matters worse, as I make the turn that I know I should make, the little lady in the box starts nagging me. In a mildly disgusted tone, she repeats over and over, “Recalculating.Recalculating.”

Faith is not a skill we master. It's not an impenetrable shield that protects us from life's hardships and trials. It's not a magic potion that removes every mess. It's a map we follow.

It's enough to make me reach over to hit the Off button. But before I do, I'm usually struck with a haunting realization. I've been certain I was right before—but somehow ended up wrong. And despite the fact that my GPS sometimes seems unaware of a street or two and occasionally takes me on a circuitous route, it's always found a way to get me where I want to go.

But doggone it, this time I know I'm right. I'm absolutely certain. I don't care how many times she spouts off, “Recalculating.” She's wrong. So, what do I do? This is, in essence, a crisis of faith. I have a choice to make. Will I place my trust in my own sense of direction, knowing that this time my not-so-trusty GPS has gotten it all wrong? Or will I place my faith in the little map and voice and turn right, despite my certainty that it's directing me far from where I want to go?

You probably know the answer. Based on my past experiences, I've learned to shrug my shoulders and do what the unit says. So I reluctantly make a turn that makes no sense to me. As I do, my pulse quickens and my stomach churns. My mind fills with images of deadlines missed and irked superiors at work.

I follow the map and turn anyway. And that's the reason that I always surprise my wife when I walk in the front door. Somehow east magically turns into west and the “wrong” route gets me there anyway. Go figure.

Once I arrive at my destination, it really doesn't matter what doubts or concerns I had along the way. As long as I follow the directions or quickly get back on track after a little “recalculating,” I always end up where I need to be.

That's exactly how biblical faith works. When rightly understood and applied, it doesn't matter how many doubts we have. It doesn't even matter if we're convinced that all is lost. Ultimately all that matters is whether we have enough faith (maybe just a mustard seed's worth) to follow Gods instructions. Those who do, get where they're supposed to go. Those who don't, end up lost somewhere far from home.

Faith is not a skill we master. It's not an impenetrable shield that protects us from life's hardships and trials. It's not a magic potion that removes every mess. It's a map we follow. It's designed to guide us on a path called righteousness. Along the way, it doesn't promise to fix every flat tire. It won't reroute us around every traffic jam. It won't even stop the road rage of the crazy guy we cut off at the merge. But it will take us exactly where God wants us to go. And isn't that where we want to be?