Ask Not for More Signs, But for More Faith

Some of you might have noticed that I have a podcast set to be launched on my homepage called The Truth is Counterintuitive.

That was the initial impulse for me to found this publication — to introduce a Godly way of thinking and to inspire people to pray for a renewed mind.

The truth is counterintuitive. I wasn’t able to see it manifesting everywhere each day before my mind was renewed by the Word of God.

Today, I want to talk about prayer, and specifically, praying for faith.

In this article:

1. Faith only comes into play after God’s promise
2. Intuitive thinking vs. Counterintuitive thinking
3. “A burning of the heart”—How to pray for faith
4. A thankful note with a revelation

God also bound Himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that He would never change his mind.” Hebrews 6:17

Faith only comes into play after God’s promise

Of course, like a good Christian girl, I always prayed for more faith, peace, and the ability to love, but I was never in circumstances that forced me to pray viscerally, desperately, and specifically for faith.

In the past, I prayed for faith half-heartedly—you all know how half-hearted prayer feels like.

Seasons changed.

I received a tremendous promise from God, and after that, everything went the opposite way.

I realized one thing amidst all the fallen pieces of my life:

Faith does not even come into play until you first receive a promise from God.

In my last week’s post, “The Law of Attraction vs. Biblical Faith,” I explained the nature of biblical faith —

It starts from a promise,
follows a wilderness where nothing appears remotely like what God has promised,
and finally, the fulfillment of the promise.

(That post is 100% free, so go check it out before it’s archived.)

Such patterns prevail in the Bible, Exodus, Abraham, Joseph, David—it’s how God raises those He chose: in the wilderness.

The wilderness season is a walk upon the water, and the only way to get through it is to fix your eyes on Jesus, to hold fast to His word, believing and keep believing.

I’ve been asking for deliverance for months, but things seemed to grow worse—I was cornered to the limit of my faith, where I lost all strength to keep praying for deliverance.

I was exhausted.

When I stopped working, God started moving. Grace is given, not earned.

He sent a word to me through a stranger online and immediately I was delivered—not from the physical circumstance, but from the spiritual.

I started giving thanks and praises to God for His promise, for His yet unperceivable deliverance.

This shift of mindset at once lifted the darkness that had shrouded me for months. I finally understood what was going on.

I lacked faith to survive this wilderness.

It was not that God can’t deliver me; it was my lack of faith that delayed His deliverance.

Sounds counterintuitive?

That’s right. That’s how you know you truly heard God.

Intuitive thinking vs. Counterintuitive thinking

Let me explain it this way: Have any of you ever felt oddly resistant to the idea of forgiving someone?

Have you worried, perhaps subconsciously, that if you forgave them, they’d go unpunished? And that you'd be walked over again by someone else in the future?

Now, returning to the idea of asking for more faith—have you ever worried, even in the slightest, that if you did, God would have more “leverage” to not deliver you right away?

Ha. Got you.

This is why we must learn to think counterintuitively—