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Question 579

The scriptures teach us that if we have faith as a mustard seed we'll be able to say to a mountain to move and it'll move. We are also taught that whatever things we ask for in prayer, believing we shall receive. We are also presented with many examples of miracles even contemporary ones which God performs through the Saints. We are taught that we sometimes don't receive because we ask wrongly to spend on our passions.  However, we do not always receive what we pray for even when we pray for things we need. My questions are:

1.Should we ask for things in prayer with the faith that God will provide what we ask for? We read in the gospels how Christ many times commended the faith of those who sought miracles and fulfilled their requests. 

2. Or should we pray and leave our requests entirely to God's will with the faith that they'll be accomplished if it is His will?

3. We're also taught to have persistence in prayer such as in the parable of the unrighteous judge and the syrophoenican woman who told Christ that even the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from the masters table. Therefore how do we know whether we should persist in prayer or accept that its Gods will for our requests not to be fulfilled?   

Answer to Question 579

The fact that we cannot move a mountain is proof that we do not have faith as a mustard seed. We may believe that we have faith and are good Christians, but if we are honest with ourselves then we will see that we are far short of what Christ teaches us. I remember a conversation I had with a monk years ago before I became a priest. I was troubled why as Christians we couldn’t perform miracles and heal people, because Christ said that we will do what he had done and much more. How much more now that I am a priest, having the grace of Christ’s priesthood, should I not be able to say “arise, take up thy bed and walk”?

The truth though is that Christ said “take up thy Cross and follow me”. Many of us follow Christ but only a very few actually take up their cross as well. Also if we believe that we follow Christ exemplarily we should have love for all people not only in word but in practice. Can we truly say that we come even close to resembling Christ?  But was is prayer?  Most people only remember that there is a God when they are in need of something, and usually resort to prayer when they suffer from some sort of ailment, when someone close to them is ill, when they are in trouble, when they need financial help, when they apply for a new position, in general when they have need of something worldly. At all other times they rarely think of God and live their lives without God and prayer. Others again have got into the habit of praying in the morning or before going to bed but don’t feel the need to pray throughout the day. On those rare occasions when they resort to prayer they expect God to respond by answering their prayers. If he doesn’t then that affects their belief in him and often people lose faith and say God didn’t help me when I needed him.

Prayer from this point of view is not prayer at all. The meaning of prayer has been grossly distorted from its main purpose which is communion with God. So how should we pray and for what things should we pray for?  Christ Himself, in his Sermon on the Mount, taught us how to pray and told us the things we should pray for. He said: “when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” (Matt. 6:6) This does not mean that we should enter into our room to be alone. The closet has always been interpreted as meaning our heart. We should look into our heart which no man can see but only God who sees the secret parts of man. He told us that: “Our Father in heaven knows what things we have need of even before we ask him.” (Matt. 6:8) “Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they? And why take you thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. But seek you first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.” (Matt: 6: 25-34)

So we should not worry about everything that has to do with our worldly existence, but only seek the kingdom of God, and his righteousness. That is all that we should strive and pray for, everything else will be provided for if we believe in Christ’s words. True prayer then is to seek for God’s love, because the kingdom of God is love.  Prayer is the means by which we ask God to help us love him and this is what we mean when we ask for God’s mercy. It goes without saying that God is love and his love is there for us to experience thus we don’t ask God to love us, we take it for granted that his love for us is total and unconditional. It is we who need to heal ourselves so that we may be able to experience God’s love. It is we who have a problem in our relationship with God. When we ask for God’s mercy we are in fact asking him to heal our existence in such a way as to allow him to find rest within our own hearts and bring about a union with his love. This is what we must first and foremost ask of God. When this happens then God offers us whatever else we might have need of. If fact, when this primary need has been satisfied then all other needs seem to fade away, they are not important to us anymore. We see things in a different light and even our infirmities are not seen as a burden but as a blessing.  We should look upon our infirmities and difficulties as a blessing from God for they are often a source for us to grow stronger in faith. We should remember that nothing in our lives happens without a reason. This doesn’t mean that illnesses and troubles come from God. They are the result and consequences of the fall, but by accepting them as blessings we use them for spiritual growth. When health problems arise People often say within their hearts: why me O God, why have you allowed this to happen to me, me of all people who believes in you, who goes to Church every Sunday, why have you kept in good health that person who doesn’t believe in you, but have dealt with me in this way.  This attitude reveals that we only have love of ourselves; our main concern is ourselves and definitely reveals our lack of faith in God. On the other hand, if we accept everything as God’s plan, then our troubles, our weaknesses become instruments that help us come closer to God’s love. That is why holy people never pray for their own afflictions, but only for God’s mercy. This doesn’t mean that we should not pray for other’s when they are in need. Praying for others is an act of love and as God is love and loves all of mankind, then we should also show love to all mankind. The most practical way for us to show love for others is by praying for them.