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Slay
the giant* of unbelief
and
revolutionize your prayer life
The lack of faith in God is the main reason why we don’t
receive answers to our prayers. Other factors also affect our prayers,
including cultural influences such as fatalism [1], but unbelief – not trusting
God – is the most prevalent among Christians.
Mark
6:4-6 - 4 But
Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country,
among his own relatives, and in his own house.” 5 Now He could
do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and
healed them. 6 And
He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a
circuit, teaching.
Matthew
13:58 - Now
He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
This verse suggests that our unbelief can limit God’s ability
to act on our behalf.
Mark
9:23-24 - 23 Jesus
said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately
the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help
my unbelief!”
This passage demonstrates the status quo of many Christians
- vacillating between faith and unbelief. We could almost call it a “partial
faith.” [2]
John
5:6 - 6 When
Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He
said to him, “Do you want to be made
well?”
Luke
5:12-13 - 12 And
it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of
leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his
face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me
clean.”
13 Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him.
Do you suppose that the Lord does “not want to” make us
well? It is the same as doubting God’s love for us. He proved His love with His
suffering, crucifixion, death and resurrection! Then, we ought not to minimize
in any way the act of salvation. What Jesus Christ obtained for us cost Him
Everything! He would not have done it if He didn’t care about us.
Hebrews
13:8 – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and
forever.
Mark
16: 17-18 - 17 And these signs will follow those who believe:
In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they
will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means
hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.
James
1:6-8 - 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he
who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For
let not that man suppose that he will
receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
At the beginning of his
discipleship, the apostle Peter’s faith was unstable (Matthew 14:22-31; John
18:10).
And then there was Thomas …
John
20:24-29 - 24 Now Thomas, called the
Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The
other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the
print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my
hand into His side, I will not believe.”
26 And after eight days His disciples were again
inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in
the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas,
“Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my
God!”
29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen
Me, you have believed. Blessed are
those who have not seen and yet
have believed.”
Romans
10:17 - So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
We need to fill ourselves with
God’s Word, and in this manner, we will be building a reservoir of what we need
from His Word. Reading the Bible and listening to a Bible version via audio,
are of great help in this.
Romans
12:3[d] - God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
All of us were given a measure of
faith, beginning with the faith that sealed our salvation
.
Cultural influences (watch out for extremes)
Expressions like “if God wills
it” reflect a cultural influence that at times contradict faith.
Also, when we ask for healing and
for other things, and then later on after the church (brothers, sisters in
Christ) pray for us, we are again telling others our symptoms and problems
instead of giving thanks to God for what He is doing to do in our lives and the
lives of others.
We demonstrate an “instability” in
our faith. Why did Peter deny that he knew Jesus Christ? The lack of trust in
God was at the root of his fear (Mark 14:72). Nevertheless, he matured
in his faith to such an extent that the Lord put him in charge of taking care
of His sheep. Peter died a martyr for the Christian faith.
Other cultural influences (and spiritual strongholds
[3])
Mark
16:14 - 14 Later
He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their
unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen
Him after He had risen.
Jesus Christ had sent Mary Magdalene to tell the apostles
that He had risen, and they didn’t believe her (Mark 16:9-11). Why would the Lord’s closest disciples not believe
the news that Mary shared with them?
It is likely that despite that Jesus Christ trusted Mary
with the most important news in the history of humanity the apostles (1) were
still frightened at what had happened to Jesus (crucifixion) and (2) they held
a cultural stronghold that that did not permit them to receive God’s Word from
a woman.
We have to remember that they lived in a period and culture
that was strongly patriarchal, when women were treated as second-class
citizens. Jesus Christ did not doubt in sending Mary Magdalene – the first
witness of the Resurrection – just as He did not doubt in sending the Samaritan
woman – after clearing declaring to her that He was the Messiah – to tell her
village what He had shared with her (John
4:5-43).
Unbelief is a sin
Unbelief is a root sin because it
affects so many other things in the life of a Christian. And, like any other
sin, we can confess it and repent of it. Through the grace and mercy of God, we
decide to exercise our faith in God and trust Him for everything. That’s right –
decide!
The Holy Spirit can reveal whether
we have any existing cultural strongholds that impede our faith, y we renounce
them in the name of Jesus Christ!
2 Corinthians
5:7 - For we walk by faith, not by sight.
Remember – God is willing!
Shalom
* Giants in the Promised Land – Deuteronomy 9:1-3
All verses above taken from the NKJV.
[1] Fatalism is the view
that everything is predetermined; therefore, prayer won’t make much of a
difference. We are powerless to change our destiny.
[2] A partial faith means that we
believe sometimes, but doubt at others. We may think that erroneously so that God
is not willing to answer in the affirmative, that He is too busy with more
important things, or that He is mad at us and won’t answer.
[3] A spiritual stronghold is a
view or attitude, usually held for a long time, that is contrary to the word of
God.
[All opinions expressed here are
of those of Lion of Judah Christian Ministries International/John the Baptist
Ministries International/Diana Washington-Valdez.]