When You Believe

On November 2, 1998, two of the great divas in the music industry released a duet performance of a song that would go on to win an Oscar for Best Original Song. "When You Believe" was recorded for the animated film, "The Prince of Egypt," and was sung by these two, the most famous divas at the time, at the awards themselves. The performance was epic and is still mentioned today as one of the greatest musical collaborations of all time. The song not only was vocally challenging, but was quoted by Mariah Carey as having "a profound message of hope."


Matthew 21:21-22 (NLT)
Then Jesus told them, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don't doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, 'May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. [22] You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it."

In the Christian volleyball league that I play in, one of the leaders from an opposing team shared the following story: It was time to plan a fundraising softball tournament. Up until the day of the tournament, all reliable sources had forecasted oceans upon oceans of rain. Nevertheless, this leader was adamant that the tournament would go ahead as scheduled. When asked why she was so persistent given the outlook, her response was, "because I prayed about it."



It is my strong belief that this type of faith, a faith that truly believes what is being asked for will come to fruition, is lost amongst nearly all adults. A comment that this leader later stated was, "if you ask for something from God but don't really believe He can deliver, then don't expect for it to happen to you." After all, there can be miracles when you believe:

Luke 7:2,6-10 (NLT)
At that time the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death. [6] So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, "Lord, don't trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. [7] I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. [8] I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, 'Go,' and they go, or 'Come,' and they come. And if I say to my slaves, 'Do this,' they do it." [9] When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, "I tell you, I haven't seen faith like this in all Israel!" [10] And when the officer's friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed.

For the record, it DID in fact rain that morning... The leader fervently prayed through the rain, asking God out loud to cease the rain so that she could raise the money to benefit His kingdom. The rain stopped. The sun came out. The tournament went on. No lie.

The challenge: What are you praying for right now? When you do so, do you REALLY believe God's going to deliver? Do you blame him when it then doesn't work out just how you wanted it?