I know a lady who speaks of doubt and unbelief once in a while. I never really thought about it before. The last few days it’s been on my mind – do we really understand what doubt and unbelief are? So, I began reading about it. And you know I have to share.
I have heard the unbelief comes from not having “enough faith.” Yet, the Bible is clear that God honors faith. I think maybe our understanding of how doubt and unbelief specifically hinder that faith in our, lives is lacking.
On the subject of faith, we hear that it is anything from “a living channel of trust between us and God,”and even a spiritual force. But, faith is not how we get God to work in our lives. Faith comes with communication from God concerning His will in the situation, based on the promises in the Bible. And believing is a process of being consistent with what we hear from God. I believe having faith is not enough. Having the ability to believe is not enough. We must act on that ability by being consistent with what we believe.
If we look at the account of Peter walking on the water in Matthew 14:22-33, we can see that Faith is hearing Jesus say, “come,” and believing is actually throwing his leg over the side of the boat.
When Peter began sinking Jesus stretched out his hand, and took hold of him and said to him, “you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
It comes down to knowing God’s will and then knowing we have a choice. How we respond to God’s voice determines whether we are in faith, doubt, or unbelief.
The definition of doubt is “a feeling of uncertainty or lack.”
Jesus says in Matthew 21:21, “Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith, and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, “Be taken up and cast into the sea, it would be done. All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.
When I was diagnosed with bladder cancer, the doctor told me I had 1 year to live if they couldn’t get all the cancer removed. After a baseball-sized tumor was removed from my bladder, it was touch and go for a while. To say I was scared was an understatement. My children were still relying on me, and I wasn’t ready to die. I had all but given up when I decided that I was not going to let Satan win. From that point on I began getting better. Every time I would get a cancer treatment or checkup, I would tell the doctor “I am healed.” Eventually, my checks would come back “cancer-free.” I was healed. That was faith without doubt.
James 5:15 says,
“And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he had committed sins, he will be forgiven.”
This verse emphasizes the power of faith-filled prayers offered by the elders of the church, that can lead to healing, and restoration by God. This is the scripture I stood on for years. Having people from church pray for me weekly.
I believe that too many people think that all roads lead to God, and all good people go to heaven. People rely on the man behind the altar at church too much, we’ve gotten lazy, too many think that once a week a church or watching a teacher on the internet constitutes getting into heaven. It takes more than 1 day at week to get into heaven. It takes more than believing what the man behind the alter is saying. It takes studying the message he puts out there.
Unbelief is described as a lack of faith, a refusal to trust in God, and can hinder blessings, limit God’s work, and even lead to eternal separation from God.
Unbelief throws us down when we are lifted up. Faith brings us near to God when we are far from Him, and unbelief puts us far from God when we are near to Him. We shouldn’t let ourselves be destroyed because of our unbelief in God.
From Pity to Praise 