Why Faith Doesn't Always Get What You Want
Faith is one of the most misunderstood concepts in Christianity. Many people wonder if faith means believing strongly enough to make something happen or whether unanswered prayers indicate weak faith. In this message, Dr. Rocky Ramsey scours Scripture and the life of Abraham to explain how Biblical faith actually works.
Abraham's faith was not based on wishful thinking or personal desires. It rested on the promises of God. Scripture teaches that faith comes from hearing God's Word, and that God's Word itself is the most powerful force in existence. The God who spoke creation into existence is able to accomplish everything He purposes to do.
The message emphasizes that faith does not deny reality. Abraham understood the reality of his age and Sarah's inability to have children, yet he trusted a greater reality—the promises of God. Likewise, Jesus Himself experienced deep emotional anguish in the garden while continuing to trust the Father's will.
Dr. Rocky Ramsey also addresses common misconceptions about faith. Genuine faith does not guarantee that we will always receive what we want when we want it. Hebrews 11 reminds us that many faithful believers never saw every promise fulfilled during their earthly lives, yet they continued trusting God.
Ultimately, faith is not confidence in ourselves but confidence in God. It is choosing to believe His promises above our fears, doubts, and circumstances. True faith demonstrates itself through perseverance, obedience, and a life that acts on what it believes.
“For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, (as it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness.”