4th Sunday of Lent – Orthodox Homily on Faith

“Everything is in the power of the one who believes” (Mark 9:23). These are the words of truth and such great consolation and encouragement that the Lord offers us this day. St. John of Kronstadt says of these words, “Do you see what power the lord gives to faith and to the faithful?”

God desires to give us everything we need. Why then does it seem that our prayers sometimes go unanswered? The Lord knows our need even before we ask, but our cooperation, our humbling ourselves to come before the Lord to beseech Him for what we need, this act of contrition, opens our hearts to Him, to His gracious work in us and makes us more fit for the Kingdom of Heaven.

This is true for all that one needs in Christ for healing and salvation: God can take the stingy person, and with faith, can make him generous; God can take the prideful person, and with faith, can give him a humble heart; God can take the obstinate and self-willed person, and with faith, can make him obedient, implanting in him a teachable spirit; God can take the lustful person, and with faith, give him purity and whole-mindedness; God can take the insecure person, whose identity is grounded in this world and all its affiliations and false identities: political, social, work, and, with faith, give him the gift of sonship, the worth of which is beyond compare. “All things are possible for him who believes.”

Where then do we find such faith? Jesus Himself gives us the answer: prayer and fasting! This is the season of great effort but it is also the season of great potential progress in opening ourselves up to repentance and growth in faith. When we fast, we are more vulnerable and open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to open ourselves to God, the change and growth we need.

Sometimes, our unanswered prayers are a result of double-mindedness. When you discover a need that is truly a need, beseech God with all that you have—and do so consistently. Just as our fasting needs to be prolonged and consistent during the 40 days and Holy Week, so too our prayers need to be strong and consistent as we cry out to the Lord for the change He would work in us. This act of contrition, humility, patience, perseverance, is precisely the door through which our faith is strengthened and we allow the Lord to act.

Often our prayers are answered but in the Lord’s time and in the Lord’s way. The journey of learning to give ourselves and our physical and spiritual needs to the Lord is a journey of learning to trust God more. This trust is needed with regard to our material provision but also our spiritual provision. God works through our patient, persevering cries of our hearts.

The truth is that fervency and consistency of prayer will increase your faith. So ask God for what you need, but continue to beseech him for that which you are lacking until you receive it from him—whether that be for many months or years. God knows what He is doing in the heart and soul of each of us to conform us more into His likeness, to heal our souls, to make us heirs of His eternal Kingdom.

“Faith,” St. Paul says, “is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith begins with the bending of our own wills to desire Him and His Kingdom above all else. Faith is given to the one who asks, pleading for the mercy of God and the change of heart (repentance) necessary to acquire that which one still lacks.

Again, Christ says, “everything is possible to him who believes.” But how much do you really desire Christ and His Kingdom? How much do you believe? The father in today’s Gospel provides us with a supreme example, crying out: “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.” This cry of the heart is enough. The Lord responds to his tearful prayers, the faith that begins with a desire for the healing work of the Lord.

Make use of prayer and fasting and you too will defeat the evil one’s influence over you and will no longer be a slave to the passions and this world. The power that Christ has given to the one who believers, the one who desires the faith to believe is more powerful than the one who tempts us, deceives us, and wars against us. “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

Fr. Robert Miclean
Holy Archangels Orthodox Church
March 22, 2015
Sunday of St. John Climacus