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Helping our Unbelief

by Jeff Lowe
10/25/2011 / Bible Studies

When Christians are waiting for the manifestation of healings or miracles from God they may overlook one of the greatest obstacles to receive, which is: unbelief. In Matthew 17:20 Jesus said the disciples could not cast out a demon because of their unbelief. Although they were full of faith (The disciples who had recently come from being sent out to successfully heal the sick and raise the dead), they still had some unbelief in this particular case. This shows that you can be a strong believer, but have a natural part of you rise up and attempt to pull against your faith. This shows a biblical example that you can have belief and unbelief working in your mind at the same time (James 1:6-8).

Unbelief is a Jesus stopper (Matt 13:58). Unbelief isn't something we try to have or are constantly aware of (Mark 9:24). We should continually check to see if we are in the faith (2 Cor 13:5). We can get into a routine (and when you do, faith is already left) or 'go through the motions', which is called works. But, by these works no one is justified (Gal 3:11) or divinely healed (Eph 2:9). The unbelief may show up in our heart when we realize a portion of our life (or another's) does not function in the way our Creator designed it to. Whether there is intimidation of a tumor bigger than a grapefruit or 'it runs in the family' (not God's family) condition, none of these things or any disease found under a microscope is more powerful than the blood of Jesus.

Consideration is the link between hearing and acceptance. The consideration of a second opinion from your flesh or the enemy may add delays in your trial of faith if you choose to accept them. When you consider God and judge His promises to be faithful, it paves the road to manifested victory (Heb 11:11). When you become increasingly aware of the blessings that God has already given within you (Eph 1:3, 3:20, 2Pet 1:3) instead of the common or natural ways of thinking (Prov. 3:5), your mind becomes renewed (Rom 12:2).

Unbelief is like having weeds in your garden, they have to be uprooted. When we find a thought that exalts itself against the Word of God, we need to refuse to entertain it or sustain it and have a practice of tearing it down (2 Cor 10:5, 6). The longer you entertain statements of unbelief, the more challenging they are to uproot. If you consider that God might not do what He said He would do, you cannot please Him (Heb 11:6). If you consider that healing is not our loving Father's will or that he gives our enemy permission to make us sick, you may open up the opportunity for the devil who looks for who he can devour (1 Pet 5:8, John 10:10).

There are three root causes of unbelief
Ignorance or Lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6)
Bad teaching (Col 2:8, 2 Cor 4:2, Matt. 23:15)
Our natural senses (1 Cor 2:14, 1John 2:16)

Lack of knowledge can be corrected by giving the Word (John 8:32). Bad teaching can come be overcome by reproof (2Tim 3:16). Our natural senses are more challenging to deal with. Even though your body is designed to heal itself, the mind has been taught to accept whatever it sees and do natural things to attempt to fix it. There is nothing wrong with most remedies or doctors, but there are so many things that need super-natural intervention and there's a great advantage of seeking God's word on it first (Matt 6:33). If there is any spirit of infirmity (Luke 13:11), the will of the Lord is for you to be loosed (Luke 13:12, 13). Your eyes may see fire and think of getting hurt or your mind may remind you that fire will burn, but the word of God is not bound (Is 43:2, Dan 3:27, 2 Tim 2:9). Let your senses become second nature and God's word become first.

Our flesh is the greatest contributor to our unbelief. Its goal is to be slothful (Prov. 12:24, 15:19, 19:15 and 21:25) and always wants the easiest way out. It is so much easier not to believe God in our trial of our faith. It is easy to listen to your flesh tell you;
"It didn't happen to others and they were spiritual"
"It didn't happen when the preacher laid hands on them"
"It's o.k., it isn't God's timing"
"God will do it one day"
"I can put up with this"

But the word of God says any unbelief does not make God's promise void (Rom 3:3, 4) and we can all realize that it didn't take a long time for Jesus and His apostles for healing and miracles. Your flesh would rather you die than to believe (Gal 5:17), but what we believe will become our reality (Prov. 23:7).

If you are not happy with unfavorable circumstances, than that is a good place to be. The process of getting rid of this unbelief is to adjust the 'tug-of-war' to the other side.

Know that God does not move in response to our faith only, but has already provided for us with His grace. (God has already moved) (2 Pet 1:3)
God is not in control of everything and we have free will to believe and receive (John 15:7)
Although we live in a fallen world, Jesus showed us we are overcomers (1 John 4:4)
Take on a fast from food and/or entertainment to help deny your flesh (Matt 17:21)
Accept the Word of God without picking and choosing which parts to have unbelief in.
Know that just a 'mustard seed' of faith is all we need to move mountains and we already have that (Matt 17:20).

As God gave Adam dominion to tend to his garden, Jesus reminded us of the authority we already have over our garden (1 John 5:4). Since He made so great an effort to allow the stripes on His back (Is 53:5), we should allow grace (His efforts that have no respect of persons) to give us liberty from the curse of the law (1 Pet 2:24). We are pre-approved! Even as Abraham heard the word and did not stagger with unbelief (Rom 4:20), we have the opportunity to enter the 'rest' that Jesus gave us (Heb 4:11) no matter how much time passes (Heb 10:35) or delay comes (Dan 10:13). Even if we have stumbled, as many 'super-heroes' do, we know the end has been planned to result in a victory (Deut 2:24, 25). The early chapters in your life may have seen circumstances take advantage of you, but it's not over yet and you are still standing and haven't dropped your armour. The Spirit of God is still our trainer, coach, referee and the 'fight' is fixed!

Jeff Lowe is a graduate of IMI with a doctoral degree in theology. He also holds an honorary doctorate in divinity from AFLI Bible College. He has been in evangelism since 1988 and also does work as a missionary. www.jdaniellowe.com

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