Slay the giant of unbelief and revolutionize your prayer life

Note: Greetings to friends in the #U.S., #UK, #Canada, #Ireland, #Greece, #Italy, #Ukraine, #France, #Russia, #Singapore, etc.! Some of you found us on the blog and others through Facebook. Blessings to all of you!

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.]