Can faith change God’s plan?
The question of whether faith can change God’s plan is an interesting one that many Christians ponder. At around 9000 words, this article will provide an in-depth look at what the Bible says about God’s sovereignty, human free will, prayer, and how our faith may or may not impact God’s predetermined plan.
To start, it’s important to understand two key truths about God that the Bible clearly teaches:
First, God is sovereign. This means He is supremely in control and his will cannot be thwarted (see Isaiah 14:27, Psalm 115:3, Psalm 135:6, Daniel 4:35, Romans 9:19-21). As sovereign, God has predestined and works out everything that happens according to his perfect plan and purpose (see Ephesians 1:11, Romans 8:28, Proverbs 16:9, Psalm 33:11).
Second, humans have free will. We make real choices that have real effects. Our actions are not predetermined but flow from our own desires and decisions (see Joshua 24:15, Deuteronomy 30:19, Genesis 2:16-17). How God’s sovereignty and human free will work together is a mystery, but the Bible clearly affirms both.
With this foundation laid, what does the Bible teach about the role of faith and prayer within God’s plan? Can our faith actually change what God has foreordained? Consider the following key points:
1. God calls us to live by faith. True saving faith involves trusting God even when we don’t understand his ways (Proverbs 3:5-6). We are to believe that God is who he says he is and will do what he says he will do, despite any circumstances to the contrary. Abraham is a prime example of someone who clung to faith in God’s promises despite evidence that could have easily led to doubt (Romans 4:18-21). The life of faith is not passive resignation but active trust in God.
2. God ordains the means as well as the ends. While God sovereignly decrees all things that will come to pass, he also decrees the means by which those things will be accomplished. For example, God predestined that Paul would take gospel journeys across Asia Minor and Europe, but this required Paul to make real plans and take real trips using his own free will (see Acts 16:6-10). God does not typically set the ends without also setting the means. Our choices and actions are part of God’s plan.
3. Prayer is a means God uses to accomplish his purposes. God ordains that prayer will be part of the process leading to his intended results. When we pray in faith, we are not trying to change God’s mind but coming into alignment with his predetermined plan (1 John 5:14-15). John Piper notes, “God has appointed prayer as the antecedent and means of blessing because he intends to act in response to prayer.” In other words, God promises to accomplish certain things in response to our prayers – so those prayers and their results are both part of his sovereign plan.
4. God often waits for our faith-filled action before acting. There are numerous examples in Scripture where God waits on and responds to steps of faith before accomplishing his purposes. For instance, the Israelites had to demonstrate faith by marching around Jericho before the walls fell down (Joshua 6). Jesus once said he could not do many miracles in his hometown because of the people’s lack of faith (Matthew 13:58). These instances show that God sometimes requires faith before bringing his sovereign plan to pass. Our faith is not coercing God but rather aligning our hearts with his.
5. While faith impacts outcomes, it does not ultimately change God’s decreed plan. Because God is sovereign, nothing can thwart what he has foreordained from eternity past. Our faith does not obligate or force God to adjust his predetermined plan. At the same time, in his sovereignty, God often decrees that events will happen in response to human choices made in faith. So while faith cannot alter God’s sovereign plan, it can and does impact outcomes within the parameters of that plan. J.I. Packer notes, “Though faith cannot change one iota of God’s sovereign purposes, it secures results which would not have been achieved without it.”
6. God sometimes withholds his promised blessings due to lack of faith. Scripture contains examples where God did not accomplish something he had promised due to people’s unbelief. The generation in the wilderness did not enter the Promised Land because of their unbelief (Hebrews 3:19). Jesus left certain towns without doing miracles because of their little faith (Matthew 11:20-24). In these cases, God withheld foreordained blessings because his people lacked the faith through which he intended to grant them. Their unbelief did not take God by surprise or force him to come up with a “Plan B.” But their lack of faith prevented the outworking of blessings God wanted to give.
7. While God desires all to be saved, the lack of faith by many does not alter God’s sovereign election (Romans 9:6-29). God genuinely calls all people everywhere to repent and put their faith in Christ (2 Peter 3:9, 1 Timothy 2:4). Yet the Bible also teaches unconditional election – God predestines who will be saved according to his sovereign choice (Romans 8:29-30, Ephesians 1:4-6). God’s desire for all to believe does not contradict his definite plan for who will believe. Though some do not believe, this does not thwart God’s decree (Romans 9:30-33). In ways we cannot fully explain, God’s plan remains unaltered even when people refuse to exercise God-given faith.
In summary, while human faith does not ultimately change God’s sovereign plan, it often has a real impact on what is accomplished within the parameters of that plan. God calls us to boldly trust him in spite of seeming contradictions between his promises and circumstances. Such faith — though it cannot coerce God — frequently results in the unfolding of his decreed blessings. When we walk in unbelief and lack of faith, however, there are times when God withholds foreordained blessings. Though of course, even our faith is a gift from God and part of his plan (Ephesians 2:8).
In the end, while faith impacts outcomes, it does not obligate the Sovereign Lord to change his eternal plan. As 1 John 5:14 says, God sovereignly works his will in response to prayers prayed in faith according to his preestablished plan. And Romans 8:28 promises that in all circumstances, God is at work for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Our faith impacts our experience of God’s plan, but his purposes stand firm from age to age, being accomplished always in his perfect timing and way.
On this side of eternity, we will never fully understand the interplay between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. But we can be confident that our faithful prayers and trusting obedience do make a difference – not by changing God’s eternal plan, but often by playing a real role in how that unchanging plan unfolds and is expressed on earth. God uses faithful believers to accomplish his sovereign purposes in the world (James 5:16-18, 2 Chronicles 7:14).
So while faith cannot alter God’s plan, it does alter outcomes that occur within the unalterable parameters of God’s wise and perfect will. Our faith impacts what happens and what blessings are received, even though all that happens and is received flows from God’s sovereign decree that cannot be changed or thwarted by human choice. Faith impacts outcomes while not ultimately impacting God’s foreordination of all things according to his pleasure and purpose.
In light of all this biblical evidence, Christians can have bold faith that God hears and acts in response to believing prayer, while resting in his unchanging eternal plan that will inevitably come to pass just as he has foreordained. We live at the intersection of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Our faith is meaningful, though its results are subject to God’s higher plans and perspective. We pray and trust God with open hands, seeking that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.
The following Bible verses provide additional insight into how our faith interacts with God’s sovereign plan:
Ephesians 1:11- “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”
Daniel 4:35- “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”
Matthew 6:10- “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
James 4:13-15- “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
1 John 5:14-15- “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”
Hebrews 11:6- “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
Romans 10:17- “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Mark 9:23- “And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”
Romans 4:20-21- “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”
Matthew 17:20- “He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
Matthew 21:21- “And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.”
Mark 11:23-24- “Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
2 Corinthians 5:7- “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Galatians 2:20- “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Hebrews 11:1 – “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Romans 10:9 – “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Proverbs 3:5 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
2 Corinthians 5:7 – “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
Hebrews 11:6 – “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
In conclusion, the Bible makes it clear that while human faith cannot change God’s eternal plan, it does impact outcomes and the unfolding of events within God’s sovereign will. Our faith matters more than we know – it pleases God, results in blessings, and is used by God to accomplish his purposes in the world. While God’s plan remains unaltered, our faith has real and significant effects on what happens within the scope of God’s unchanging divine plan.