Faith Is Not Bargaining

Faith is trusting God regardless of the outcome. When a person says, “I am trusting God for ___________.” That is not faith, that is bargaining. I do not see any justification in scriptures that we have Biblical permission to name this attitude, faith. Faith is when Jesus said “…yet not what I want but what you want.” (Matthew 26:39, NRSV). Paul’s message regarding his faith testimony is “I have learned to be content with whatever I have.” (Philippians 4:11, NRSV). I have heard many testimonies in which God has blessed a person’s faith with wonderful experiences or results. I do not doubt that is true. I wish, however, we also heard testimonies in which the person said they have faith in God and either not much happened or things in their life deteriorated, yet they still had faith in God. That is also true. It seems to me that the lesson from the Psalms is to trust God regardless of the circumstances. A person’s faith in God is not dependent upon specific results of faith. Genuine faith does not attach itself to any outcome. Faith just is. Faith is not bargaining.