Jesus performed many miracles in response to people who exercised a belief in His power. To show that kind of confidence in Jesus to answer their prayers we call faith.

Hebrews 11:1 Good News Translation (GNT)
11 To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.

I’ve wrestled often with this verse. Some people seem to possess great faith while others struggle with the minutest amount. How does that affect the outcome when we pray? Does the one with the greatest faith win the prize?

What we are doing is looking at the result of the prayer to see if God answered according to our expectations.

Going back to the verse in Hebrew, it says we must be sure and confident that something will happen that satisfies our hopes and brings understanding to things we don’t see. Or to put it another way, the things we don’t get. When we say, I don’t get it; it means I don’t have the complete information; it doesn’t mean nothing is happening.

Faith is trusting that the things I’ve given to God will materialize in the way I would choose if I could see the whole picture.

Faith requires trust in what Jesus does, not in what I think He ought to do.

This explanation puts a different slant on this verse, doesn’t it? The text in Hebrews doesn’t promise to give us what we want, but for a hoped-for conclusion. The right and best result.