Follow Jesus Christ

In Christian circles people often talk about the need to “train” faith. The assumption is that if you believe more strongly and pray more persistently, God will inevitably change the situation. If that doesn’t happen, the conclusion is that your faith is weak or insufficient. This approach sounds spiritual, but it doesn’t fit well with what Jesus actually taught. It turns faith into a tool for influencing reality and turns prayer into a form of covert magic.

Jesus understood faith differently. In his teaching, faith is a living trust in the Heavenly Father. It is not a technique, not a psychological effort, and not a way to get the outcome you want. It is a relationship. Faith is not aimed at changing God or forcing the world to submit to human desire. It is aimed at preserving connection with the Father in any reality, even a reality that does not change.

This is clearest in Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. He asks that the cup of suffering pass from him. It is a sincere plea born of fear and pain. There is no doubt in it and no lack of faith. But then Jesus says, “Not my will, but yours.” He does not cancel his request or declare it wrong. He simply leaves the decision to the Father. Here it becomes obvious that faith is not a means to obtain what you want. It is trust that remains even when the request is not granted.

If faith were an instrument for producing results, Jesus’ prayer should have “worked.” His faith cannot reasonably be called into question. Yet the outcome is not what he asked for. That shows that the logic “the stronger your faith, the more you’ll get” is not Jesus’ logic. He demonstrates that mature faith does not erase reality but allows a person to pass through it without losing the Father.

The same applies to praying for other people. Jesus taught to pray for others, but he never said prayer decisively changes another person’s heart or will. Free will remains intact. It is fine and good to pray for an unbeliever: such prayer can clear the mind, soften the heart, and create an inner space for reflection. But it does not decide for the person. The choice is always personal.

This is easy to see with a simple example. You can pray for a plant to grow, but growth depends on the seed, the soil, and the laws of nature. Prayer does not cancel those laws. The same is true of a person. If there is no inner readiness, no amount of spiritual pressure will manufacture faith. Prayer can accompany the journey but cannot substitute for it.

Jesus’ words about moving mountains are often taken literally and used as a promise of supernatural effectiveness of faith. In the Jewish tradition, however, that is figurative language. It signifies overcoming difficulties, not a physical miracle. Jesus did not teach people to control the world by means of faith. He did not offer a technology for manipulating reality. He cared about the person’s inner state, not the display of power.

When faith becomes a matter of training, prayer becomes an attempt to persuade God. A person repeats the request, increases the strain, and waits for the result. If it does not come, guilt and anxiety follow. God begins to be seen as someone who must be convinced and begged. That destroys both faith and the image of God. In Jesus’ teaching, God is Father, not an object to be pressured.

Prayer does not change God’s plans and does not override human freedom. Faith is not meant for instantaneous remaking of the world. It is meant for an internal choice to trust. Even God does not impose truth; he waits for the person’s assent. Faith in Jesus’ teaching is not measured by outcomes and is not tested by miracles. It shows itself in a person’s ability to remain trusting when circumstances do not bend to their wishes. This is trust without guarantees. That is the faith Jesus shows in Gethsemane: not a faith that breaks and subdues the material world, but a faith that does not lose the Father.

Therefore, “training” faith in the usual sense is unnecessary. We need not learn how to cajole God. We should not turn prayer into an instrument. We must learn to trust. That is the faith Jesus spoke about.