Have you ever gone to a restaurant and ordered a meal that you have eaten a hundred times before, but this time it was better? It was like the chef put in a secret ingredient that took the dish from good to great! The same way a great chef will add a secret ingredient to a dish that makes it great, God has a secret ingredient He wants to add to your faith that will cause it to be great That secret ingredient is unconditional love. Look at Galatians 5:6:
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
The first part of this verse is about keeping the law. In that day, many Christians believed they had to keep the law and be circumcised in order to be in faith. While most Christians don’t struggle with circumcision today, many of us strive to live holy, read our Bibles every day, and make sure we confess all the right things so God moves in our life. I’m not saying reading our Bible, confessing the promises, and trying to live right are bad things to do. They are great things to do as long as we aren’t doing them to earn favor with God so he’ll answer our prayers.
A person who believes they have to do all those things in order to get God to answer their prayers is under the law and will struggle to pray with great faith because they will always examine their behavior when they pray. Anytime we focus on our performance it is a faith killer because none of us have ever performed well enough to deserve an answer to prayer.
This is why it is so important to add the secret ingredient of God’s unconditional love to our faith! When we get a revelation of God’s love for us it supernaturally causes our faith to work. For example, I can’t tell you how many times someone has asked me to pray for them and I begin to think about something did wrong or a bad attitude in my heart. If I keep my focus there, I won’t have any confidence God will answer my prayer. Because I know this principle, however, I remind myself God doesn’t answer my prayers because I’ve done everything right. Instead I focus on Luke 12:32 that says,“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
When I remind myself that it brings God pleasure to give me the kingdom, how can I not pray with confidence? The promises of God are part of His kingdom and He delights to give them to us. Why? Because He loves us! And not just a little bit! He is head over heals radically in love with us! Look at Zephaniah 3:17:
The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”
God sings over you and me because He loves us! That’s the secret ingredient you need to mix in with your faith every time you pray. When you do, it will cause you to cease from striving and enter rest because God Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth loves you! If you would like to learn more, check out this message I taught at Grace Life Church.
