The 2 Kinds of Faith

"Unanswered prayer stands between the individual and a faith life."

That is the opening sentence of a booklet by E.W. Kenyon titled The 2 Kinds of Faith.

I have spent a considerable amount of time reflecting on that supposition. How many, I wonder, are involved enough in their Christian walk to have this kind of thought rise to the surface of their consciousness? In our society today there is such an excess of plenty that one can obtain an acceptable level of living purely by osmosis. It is easy then to say, "Praise the Lord!" because it is obvious it came from Him and, after all, they DID pray for it.

There is a division at that point in life, however. On the one hand there are those as above who get what they are satisfied with in a reasonable amount of time and simply go on living as always. These are the same people that populate the "Success" seminars and make all the positive thinking preachers (religious or secular) rich.

The other side of the split is those who do not obtain what they want or need. Out of the many, many books dealing with the subject of unanswered prayer the overwhelming majority present the solution as some form of sin correction rather than dealing with the root of prayer- faith.

This booklet provides one of those light bulb moments in understanding the workings of faith. In it is presented the contrast between mere "Mental Assent" and "Faith."

The most basic point of relevance regarding these two reveals itself in the Bible teaching about Jesus. How many people give mental assent to the truths regarding Jesus, yet never truly exercise faith in Him for their personal salvation?

Such a person will always be separated from God-

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "but the righteous man shall live by faith." (Rom 1:16-17)