Spirit Daily

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When Faith Is Exercised In All Things, Big Prayers Are Answered In A Very Big Way

By Michael H. Brown

Want results? Get faith. It's that simple. It's also that powerful. But we have to remember a few things, and one is that faith builds upon faith.

That is, for faith to grow, it must be exercised, and we have to be faithful first in small things. We need positive internal dialogue (or "self-talk"). We have to think the best.

And we need to pray. It helps to pray with specificity. Envision the end result and pray for all aspects -- the details -- of what you seek. Don't just glance over matters. Don't just throw off prayers. Pray from the heart for every aspect until you have a tranquil feeling. The more we pray, the more God answers, and the more He answers what seem like those little prayers -- those prayers about small matters in life, those requests for everyday assistance, those constant supplications about our jobs and children and even a traffic light -- the more our faith is increased.

This is how faith works and builds and how healing begins.

"Small" miracles grow into larger ones.

We roll a little ball down a mountain and it grows into a bigger ball -- until we can move the mountain itself.

Didn't Christ say that? It wasn't hyperbole. If we build up faith like we build up our muscles, we'll get to the point where truly astonishing things occur. In Florida prayer groups have prayed away storms and nuns in Omaha prayed away a tornado that suddenly lifted from its direct path toward them and in California the Big One has not yet come in part due (we are convinced) to those who have unfailingly prayed over that fault known as the San Andreas. Want a mountain? Last November, an archbishop in Italy,  Monsignor Salvatore Gristina, went up Mount Etna, Europe's highest volcano, when its eruption jeopardized neighboring buildings. For weeks the lava had been posing a dire threat, but only five hours after his benediction the flow suddenly veered off course. "'Divine intervention' diverts Etna lava," said a headline in England's Daily Telegraph,

Fantasy?

Faith can do anything.

How do we start?

As with every other attribute, the way to increase faith is to constantly practice. When we use what we have and all of what we have, faith grows; we receive more; it is a tightened, larger muscle. To use another metaphor, developing faith is like planting seeds. Mustard seeds. Those are among the tiniest seeds, but when nurtured they grow into an awesome tree, the branches of which reach heavenward, the bark of which is impenetrable, and the roots of which can split rocks beneath it.

If you want to crack open a mountain, plant mustard seeds on top of it!

If we plant enough seeds, there will still be a "harvest." Any time we have faith, we are blessed. And the better we become at it, the larger our harvest will become. Even if some of the things we have faith in don't pan out -- even if certain prayers aren't "answered" -- we will still receive benefits. To us it may have seemed like an unanswered prayer -- like we wasted faith -- but that's never true. He knows when we have done something in faithfulness. He knows when we have held hope despite all the odds. He may not answer in the way we want, but if so, it's because it is not the time; it is not in His plan for us; it's not what is best for us.

But it still goes into what can be likened to a spiritual bank account.

God keeps track of our faithfulness and adds "interest" each time we exercise it.

Once we identify a problem in our lives, we verbalize its remedy. We do this in prayer. We remove thoughts of illness and failure and fear. We replace them with hope -- with knowing that God will do what is best for us. If it is right for us that the prayer be answered, then God will work the miracle. We don't deny the presence of a problem; we don't hide our heads in the sand. And we certainly don't lie to ourselves. But we do deny the power of a problem over our divine right to remove it.

We have the right. That's how good God is.

When we practice faith in both small and large things, when we are constant, and when we never allow discouragement, we can expect a large harvest. Sometimes, it takes a while; sometimes, it comes in a gradual fashion. But it comes. It is inevitable. No exercise of good faith is ever wasted. If we maintain faith in all things -- if we keep exercising it, if we keep tossing those seeds, relentlessly -- it's only a matter of time before a big prayer is answered in a big and miraculous way.

[Resources: Miracles Are Real, Prayers and Heavenly Promises, Spiritual Secrets]