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The Bible defines faith in the book of Hebrews 11:1 [faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.]

The bible says faith is the assurance, that means you are sure of the things you are praying for that you have them before you can feel them. and faith being the evidence means that you have proof, title deed of the things you praying for before they can be seen with a physical eye. you are confident that you possess them.

[And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him] (1 John 5:14-15)

Faith is the foundation of a Christian life, it will determine what will and will not happen into your life. Faith is not based on how bad or good are the circumstances, nor is it based on how we feel. But faith is based on the word of God. We are confident that He listens when we pray.

I love the teachings of Jesus, they carry so much power and wisdom. here is one of them that I want to take a look at.(Matthew 15:22-28) [And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.

But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshiped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters 'table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.]

Here it sounds like Jesus was being cruel to this woman, he doesn’t answer her as she pleads with him. he keeps quiet until his disciples plead him to send her away.

they did not mean to chase her away, but what happened was that this woman was so persistent such a way that she was annoying the disciples. then they asked

Jesus to help her so she could walk away. that was the only way Jesus was going to send this woman away.

the first answer Jesus gives to this woman was very discouraging, it seemed discriminating. he said he is only sent to the lost sheep of Israel.

this could have made someone to give up and leave, but this woman did not do so. she began to worship Jesus pleading for help.

the second answer that Jesus gives to the poor woman was very cold and say it is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs.

it sounds like he was swearing at her, but the truth is that he was not. he basically meant it is not okay to take what is meant for children

of Israel and give to the Gentile. in that time they did not have spoons and knifes so they would break bread with their hands when they eat, as a result crumbs will fall on the table and they would pick it up with hands and give it to the puppies that were around the house by the table.

Jesus was not really being cold and harsh to the woman, he knew that at the end of the day he will help this woman.

but he wanted to activate her faith. it happens that we come across situations so difficult and when you pray to God, he doesn’t answer.

The question is, what do you do? do you give up and stop praying or you continue to pray until you get the response? most times we don’t get what we pray for

not because we don’t deserve it, but we give up so easily. we are not persistent enough, we fail to exercise our faith.

This woman knew and believed that by coming to Jesus her problem would be solved. the silence of Jesus did not stop her from believing and having faith in Jesus.

It’s like she left home with one desire only, that I am not going back home having not received what I came for to Jesus. You need that kind of attitude when you pray. Pray until something happen.

The bible says she persisted until the disciples were annoyed and began to plead with Jesus to send her away. they actually asked Jesus to help her so she could leave.

They were interceding for this woman in a way. Listen, you need to pray until people around get fed up and annoyed about you praying. pray until they begin to intercede for you not knowing they are. pray until they begin to call upon God saying He must have mercy on you and answer your prayer now, they must plead with God saying you are annoying them every day and night.

The bible says then Jesus answered but he didn’t give her the answer she was looking for. she still did not give up on her faith in the power of the holy spirit within Jesus. you need to persist on prayer having faith even if the response seems to be negative. you need to trust in God even if circumstances prove to be impossible.

This woman pressed on and she worshiped Jesus, and Jesus gave her another answer that seemed very harsh. “it is not meek to take children’s bread and give to the dogs'’

when Jesus said dogs he was referring to the word “Gentile dog” of which it was the only way for the Hebrews to refer to someone unclean. This woman said “even the dogs eat the crumbs that falls from the masters table” and Jesus was so amazed by this woman’s faith and said it is done unto you.

This woman exercised her faith and it worked for her. Jesus was moved by her faith. The bible says it is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6). We see in the bible that Jesus always healed in response of faith, he always said “your faith has worked for you, it is done unto you” most times our prayers are not answered, not because it’s God’s will not. but the problem is that you doubt Gods ability to change things in your life. like Peter in the book of (Matthew 14:29-31). He was okay while his eyes were fixed on Jesus, but the moment he looked at the water and the wind he began to sink. that’s what happens with most of us, you shift focus away from God and look at your troubles and the circumstances and begin to doubt that they can actually be changed. and said to Peter, Oh you of little faith. Faith is the key to unlock all your unanswered prayers. You need this faith of the Canaanite woman.

The bible says some would touch the hem Jesus garment and they would be whole. It wasn’t that Jesus had a robe with miracles, but it was the faith of those who touched it. they believed that by touching his garment they will be healed. the garment was the point of contact where they would release their faith. Paul sent out handkerchiefs, and Peter they would need his shadow to fall on them and they would be healed. you need to be able to release your faith like that and things will change in your life.