By Donna Silva

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’” (Matthew 17:20)

Do you have faith? Is your faith that of a mustard seed? As a Christian, when you go to your Father in prayer through Jesus you should expect that He will answer your prayers. We need to go to ask our Heavenly Father for what we want. James 4:2 reminds us – yet ye have not, because ye ask not(KJV).

I am reminded of an incident concerning Anne Preston, a Christian woman in Ireland in the late 1800’s who became known as “Holy Ann” through her devotion to Christ. This event occurred when the well at their home was unusually dry.

The boys of the home were compelled to haul water from another well about a half a mile away. One evening Anne was telling the boys some of the remarkable ways in which her Heavenly Father had answered her prayers. Henry, one of the boys in charge of getting the water, asked in a kind of half-joking, half-earnest way, as though to challenge her faith, “Ann, why don’t you ask your Father to send water in that well? I looked at it today and it is just as dry as the floor.”

When she got up into her little room that night she knelt in prayer and said, “Now, Father, You heard what Henry said tonight. If I get up in class meeting and tell them, ‘My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus,’ the boys won’t believe I am what I profess to be if You don’t send water in the well.” She then continued to plead that the water might be sent, and finally, rising from her knees, she said, “Now, Father, if I am what I profess to be, there will be water in the well in the morning.”

When she came down the next morning Henry was out preparing to go for the water as usual. To his surprise and great amusement he saw Ann take up two pails and start for the well. He watched her from the kitchen window as she hooked the pail to the windlass and began to lower it. If she had done it the night before it would have gone with a bang to the bottom, but after a while there was a splash, and still down the pail went. Ann began with difficulty to wind up the windlass again, and at last put the pail upon the well-stand full of water. She repeated this and with both pails full of clear, sparkling water, she walked up to the house.

And who could wonder that there was a little air of victory as she set down the pails and said to Henry, “Well, what do you say now?” (adapted from A.W. Tozer and others, Prayer Warriors.)

If we pray fervently from our heart and believe, not just rote prayer like the Pharisees, but a heartfelt outpouring to the Lord, we can believe that He will hear and answer our prayers. For the Bible says – 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, KJV).

We must remember that it is not in our time but the Lord’s. If we keep asking and seeking with a pure heart our Lord will hear the cry of His obedient servant. Many people know about Christ but that isn’t enough, God wants your heart. What is knowledge without a heart? Clearly the Lord does not hear those with little obedience but if you’ve given your heart to Christ and you have faith as small as a mustard seed, then nothing will be impossible for you. Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on praying, and may your relationship with the Lord blossom. Are you like Ann today?