Monday, January 17, 2005

Faithless Unbelief

by Donna L. Watkins
© Donna L. Watkins - Young Male Deer

Matthew 17:14-21 - "And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him and saying, "Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is a lunatic, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.

"Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. 

Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?

"And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."

Here's a man who had tried to get his son healed through Jesus' disciples and they had not been able to help him. Jesus answered saying they were a FAITHLESS generation. When the disciples asked him why they couldn't cast the devil out, Jesus told them it was because of their UNBELIEF.

Could it be that they saw the manifestation of the devil's work and had more fear than faith? Could it be that is the same mountain that we come up against in our lives?

We see the devastation that the devil has had in our lives. We hear it when the doctors give their "medical diagnosis." We hear these disease names and with them comes fear and hopelessness, because the medical world says "there is no cure." Why do we believe a medical system, when it has had its fallacies from the beginning. The statistics are not good.

We believe man rather than God. Jesus says all we need is faith - even the size of a mustard seed would be enough. We have to stay in God's Word and principles for healing until we believe it more than we believe what man says. We have to believe it more than what our bodies are saying to us. They are manifesting the works of the devil and we look at it and say, "There's no hope." Maybe we don't say it, but our thoughts confirm it over and over as we "feel" bad and our bodies continue to agree because "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."

We cannot base our lives on feelings. If we did, we wouldn't get out of bed in the morning. We wouldn't go to work because we didn't feel like it. We wouldn't make dinner for the family because we weren't in the mood to cook. We must learn not to make choices based on feelings. As Christians, our daily lives must be based on faith and God's Word.

This is a big hurdle. We have become used to instant gratification. Ask for it and get it now. Drive-through fast food, dry cleaners instead of doing laundry, prescription pickup, pizza delivery, email, cell phones. Fast, faster, fastest!!!

We are not used to waiting patiently on the Lord at all.

Jesus said "this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." We just have to set aside some time to focus on what we truly want. We say we want to be healed, but are we spending dedicated time moving down that path? Or are we using every "good health moment" to get something done? Do we feel better getting something accomplished than we do having a few solid uninterrupted hours with the Lord?

Many people say they want to spend more time with their families, but they don't put the actions with their words. They continue to be driven by what seems to be the "urgent" and the important things in their life suffer. That produces guilt within which creates autoimmune problems.

Some folks have convinced themselves that they are so important in this world, that they can't possible arrange some time away from their daily activities to spend with the Lord. They can't see how they could "get away."

God will always make a way for you to spend time with Him if it's in your heart to do it. It's amazing what can be revealed in a day of prayer and fasting. It makes you wonder why you didn't take that small segment of your life before you actually got around to it. No need to wonder -- all the forces of Hell are against you doing it.

Whose report (whisper) will you choose to believe?

Prayer and fasting can turn around 'faithless' and 'unbelief' when we see who He is and what He did on the cross for us. He bore our sickness and disease upon Himself so that we might be able to choose life. Choose it and have it more abundantly.

It's a process to turn our fear into faith and our unbelief into belief that God's Word is true. God doesn't promise 30 minute deliveries, but He does promise we will reap what we sow. Sow time into what you say you want. Many people say they want to be healed, but live their lives like it's at the bottom of their list of priorities.

Others have gone so far down the road in illness that they can't "do" much of anything any more, and when they do spend time in the Word, they are so convinced that nothing will help, that they negate the effects of what they are reading. The Word and Truth are being swallowed up by the fields of thorns of disbelief and doubt because your vision can only see yourself in bed and in pain, so the Word is choked out. You must reach beyond what you see to what Jesus says there is for you.

Regardless of what the church is teaching about healing, you need to find out what God has to say about it in the Bible to YOU! Many of you have bought the book, "A More Excellent Way" and haven't gotten around to dedicating any real time to it. We've sold 30 cases of books in less than two years and many people tell me they haven't had time to really get into them yet. You haven't taken the time to find the Truth about your health issues and to renew your mind.

Our belief systems and strongholds keep us from experiencing true freedom in life. Freedom from pain and disease. We have to get to work and change those belief systems. Change those thinking patterns for the renewed mind we were promised at salvation. Remember the words, "work out your own salvation" (Philippians 2:12). This is work! Renew your mind. Get all that comes with salvation - keep discovering the gifts God has for us.

It's work! But anything that is worthwhile in life requires time and work. You will reap what you sow. Take time now!

There are some of you that have taken the time, and I appreciate you taking the time to email me about your results also so that we can share with others and give them "reason" to take the time also.
View information on A More Excellent Way.

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