There are different terms that I have heard over the years where people are described as “people of faith” or as a person “with a lot of faith” but what does that really mean? Does it matter where a person puts their faith, or is it alright to just have faith in anything as long as it makes you feel better? Before I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ I thought that I had some sort of faith in “God” but my prayers were primarily to “Mother Mary” because that is how I was taught to pray as a Roman Catholic. I was taught to pray to Jesus “through Mary” but I later learned that this was merely a man-made Catholic teaching and nothing more. Was my faith where the Lord would have wanted it to be? No. Were my prayers to “Mother Mary” heard when I recited my rosary? No, they were not, because the Lord never told me to pray to her, and it is not to be found in the scriptures. In fact when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus told them to pray “Our Father . . .” (Matthew 6:9, Luke 11:2) not “Our Mother” and a person can only learn that if they study the Bible for themselves. I thank the Lord that he delivered me out from the man-made traditions of the Roman Catholic Church, but there are many other false religions in this world of ours, and people by the billions (literally) are swayed by them.
On a different note, there are people who do not belong to any “religion” so to speak, but they insist that they do have faith. Some people pray to their loved ones who have passed on (died) and they insist that they hear them talk back to them. There was a recent incident in the news where a man attempted to sacrifice his 8 year old son (and almost succeeded) because he said he heard his dead grandmother tell him to do this. It is a stark reality indeed that there is an unseen spiritual world out there, and you are right in the middle of it whether you believe it or not. There is a very real battle for your soul going on, and you are guaranteed to spend eternity in either Heaven or Hell, no matter what the atheist and the unsaved may tell you. Yes it is good to have faith, but unless that faith is directed toward the true and living God, then you are in big trouble. Here is what the Bible has to say about that:
For there is one God, and ONE (1) mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (1 Timothy 2:5)
The Bible does not mention any other person other than Jesus Christ when it comes to being a mediator between the father and earthly man. In the Roman Catholic Church there are all sorts of “patron saints” that a person can pray to and they cover just about every occupation that you can think of, but the only problem is that they are all man-made saints, and never mentioned in the Bible.
I forgot to tell you though, that it is important that you get saved first of all. It is important for you to settle the account between you and the Lord, because the prayer of the wicked is not even heard.
The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous. (Proverbs 15:29)
The beautiful thing about the true plan of salvation is that it is offered to all people throughout the world. If you want your prayers to be heard than you must be reconciled back to God. The beautiful thing about this is that it does not matter whether you are a man or a woman, because once you get saved, you are a TRUE minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter what anyone else may tell you. I promise you that the Lord will hear your prayers also.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)
You might say to yourself that you have been an ungodly person your whole life, and perhaps you even mocked Christians in the past. That is alright too, because Jesus Christ died for the ungodly, and that describes all of humanity anyway.
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (Romans 5:6-9)