Why Belief Alone Isn’t Enough

what is happening when someone says I believe in God which is good but I don't believe in prayer hi my name is father Mike Schmidt and this is essential presents first of all what is it to believe in God first we have the intellectual Ascent right we have this sense of like oh no I believe that God exists that's what I that's what I mean when I believe in God that's one level I believe that God exists I believe Jesus Is God great that's belief in God now there's a different level that's not that's not called saving Faith that's that's just simply intellectual belief or Intel intellectual assent St James rice about this I might have mentioned this before I think it's James chapter two where he's writing and he says you know even the demons believe that Jesus is Lord even the demons believe that Jesus or that God is one and they tremble so that Faith he says that Faith can't save anybody that Faith doesn't save the demons so just to say I believe that God exists or I believe Jesus is god well yeah that's that's not saving Faith so what is saving Faith saving faith is something along more along the lines what Saint Paul talks about he also he calls it in Romans The Obedience of faith The Obedience of faith is this it's not just I believe in God intellectually I know that he exists there's the it's a deeper where it's that's actually touch not just my intellect this touch my will it doesn't just touch what I believe it touches how I act that I choose to obey the Lord and that the bridge between this intellectual ascent and the willful obedience is this five-letter word called Trust and when I recognize like no actually I trust in the Lord like I I've entrusted my heart to him I've entrusted my life to him that trans transforms essentially when you call intellectual Ascent intellectual belief to Heart faith where it's with my will I'm choosing to obey him with my will I'm choosing to do his will that word trust is so important in fact that the notion of I'm entrusting myself to God in that that's it I mean in so many ways right and so when someone says okay I believe in God great the first question is what do you mean by that is it just intellectual assent or is it actually trust him with my whole life because then the next piece is I just don't believe in prayer we have to pause and ask the question okay so what do you mean by I don't believe in prayer because they could mean something like I don't believe that God is a genie right I don't believe that you just rub the lamp and the genie pops out and says what are your wishes I would say good that is really good because God reveals that he's not a genie like he's not a genie novel right he's not you're just grant our wishes God is not a Divine ATM that if we punch in the right code he gives us what we want so if you were to say I believe in God but not in prayer in your mentality is that prayer is simply if I say the right things and do the right things then God gives me whatever I want Amen to that that is completely true that's not how prayer Works in fact that's not even the point of prayer the point of prayer isn't even to get what we want we do interaccessory prayer right we do petitionary prayer where we're asking for something either for ourselves or for someone else that's that's wonderful but we don't do that with the idea that if I ask and if I or if I ask the right way with the right heart with the right disposition with you know give with the right code that God's just going to give me what I ask for that is not Christian faith that is not Christian faith remember remember because Christian faith is intellectually Ascent that God exists now I choose I will to obey him and that word is trust how does Jesus pray Jesus prays with this attitude of father I trust in you regardless of the outcome I can bring before you my my human will I can bring my desires I can bring before you my fears God Jesus brings Jesus the son of God brings to God the Father all of these things that he experiences as a human being on this Earth with a desire but every aspect of his prayer is Guided by and driven per as I said permeated by this trust that ultimately I'm appealing to you God I'm letting you know what I what I desire father and I trust you that your will is done the Lord's Prayer the Our father has a number of petitions um give us this day our daily bread forgive us our trespasses um another one is thy kingdom come thy will be done and so even the Our Father where we're asking God please give us what we need for each day as we're praying God asking though God the Father to to forgive our sins we're also saying I want your will to be done I want your kingdom to come and so there's this this word trust I can't get away from it because I can't say I believe in God with that trust with that I choose to do as well I choose to obey him and I don't believe in prayer if I mean prayer is useless prayers ineffective prayer is not efficacious I can believe it if I say I don't believe that God is a genie I don't believe he just gives us whatever we want if we pray you're right I don't believe that either that's not what Christian prayer is but to know that I can approach the Lord and ask as a beloved daughter or beloved Son of God you can ask the father and he gives gifts he gives good gifts to his children remember Jesus even talks about this he says how many fathers among you would have hand their their son a snake when he asked for a fish or hand them a Stony ass or a loaf of bread and you you're not even good parents necessarily but God is good how much more will he give whatever his beloved children ask the one in one example Jesus says how much more will he give Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks we recognize that here is God who is a good father who wants us to come to him and ask his big question though but if God's already going to give this gift He's already good then he doesn't need me to ask well God doesn't need anything first of all second of all if you've ever been ever been a parent or ever or have ever like led a classroom or have ever led someone that you wanted them to grow you knew that you could give them what they need just just hand it to them you knew that you could you could give them um the good thing that they're made for but you also knew you also probably know that sometimes you need to wait for them to ask for it you you knew that sometimes it's also good to not give it the thing you want to give the thing that that they they're going to want it's not good to just give it without letting them experience the could I have that the desire I mean gosh we got this we got life we didn't even ask for it how many of us take life for granted imagine if you have the opportunity to say uh do I want life or not if we had to beg for our life all of a sudden our prayer becomes pretty powerful but we were just giving life and because of that I think in so many ways we take it for granted but God wants to give good gifts he doesn't want us to take any of those gifts for granted sometimes he waits to give good gifts until we ask not because he's trying to be an ogre because he's trying to be a jerk or trying to be mean or cruel to us because he's being a good dad and oftentimes good Dads wait for their kids to realize I want this thing before they give it I believe in God meaning I trust in him I entrust my whole life to him and because of that I know he's not a genie I know he's he's not a toy he's not a Divine ATM but he is a father who gives good gifts to his children and so you can trust your father he will not give you everything you ask for that's okay in fact that's good news but he will give you the best things so don't be afraid to ask anyway my name is father Mike what am I saying what do I say out at the end anyways anyways that's what I've got uh for almost here from all of us here at Ascension presents my name is father Mike God bless [Music]

Channel: Ascension Presents

Views: 76,132

Keywords: ascension press, ascension presents, fr. Mike, father mike, catholic advice, catholic inspiration, catholic motivation, fr. mike schmitz, fr. Mike schmidt, father mike schmitz, michael schmitz, fr. Mike advice, fr. Mike videos, what if I discern wrong?, advice for discernment, belief in God, Intellectual Faith, Prayer works, Does Prayer Work?, Does God hear me?, Catholic prayers, What is Faith?, Is faith in God logical?, How to have faith in God, The Catholic Faith

Id: 8jpxEjyko2k

Length: 8min 18sec (498 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 08 2023