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12/23/03 - Unbelief - Part 1
By: J.D. Heiney
Recently as I was reading through the Gospels and the Spirit began highlighting the extreme disgust of Jesus towards doubt and unbelief. I was suddenly very aware of Jesus' frustration with the unbelief of, not only those He encountered in His earthly ministry, but also of His people today. There are so many verses in the 4 Gospels alone where Jesus addresses unbelief that I won't even try to mention them all. One example that I will mention is Mark 9:18-24 because it is such a great example of Jesus's attitude towards unbelief.
Verse 18 reveals that Jesus' disciples could not drive out a demon that had possessed a young boy. Look at Jesus's response to this in verse 19,
"O unbelieving generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I PUT UP WITH YOU?"
Jesus is clearly upset and saddened, that even after all the miracles He had already performed, there was still much unbelief within the people. I can imagine that Jesus was probably asking Himself, "What in the world is it going to take to get these people to believe in me and the power of God?" I think Jesus is probably still asking us this question today. Yes, maybe we have believed in Jesus and accepted him as Lord, but what about when we need a miracle? Do we let unbelief set in and begin to doubt. What about when the Spirit breaks into a service and wants to take over and do something that isn't on the schedule? Do we have the faith to let him go ahead and have his way or do we let doubt take over and say, "Oh, that is just emotion. Besides, we need to beat the other church folk to Ruby Tuesday's". My point is that, Jesus is saying enough is enough, what will it take for you to believe.
I love verses 22 and 23 because they reveal something about Jesus's personality that many probably never expect. He was sarcastic sometimes! I love that. Look at verse 22 and 23.
The man asks Jesus in verse 22, "..if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."
Look at Jesus's response in verse 23,
"IF YOU CAN? EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE FOR HIM WHO BELIEVES."
HAHAHA...that cracks me up every time. Jesus seems to be saying, "what are you talking about IF I can...Of course I can. It isn't up to me, it depends on if you have the faith to recieve it or not. Everything is possible if you just believe."
Then the boy's father prays what I think is one of the most POWERFUL prayers in the entire bible.
"HELP ME OVERCOME MY UNBELIEF." WHAT A POWERFUL PRAYER. If you only knew how many times I have prayed that same prayer. "Lord, I don't want to limit you. I want to believe, but this petty little mind of mine is having problems today. Help me overcome my unbelief."
On a more serious note, I really felt the Lord place a word in my spirit about the dangers of unbelief. The Lord gave me three dangers of unbelief.
Danger #1: Unbelief will abort destiny
Danger #2: Unbelief will confine the Spirit and ultimately push
Him away.
Danger #3: Unbelief will stop the miracle flow in your life
or ministry.
I will discuss these more fully in an upcoming article entitled, "The Dangers of Unbelief".
For now, let's make a fresh commitment to God that we will not
limit him with our unbelief. Let us make the prayer of Mark
9:24 the prayer of our heart as well. "Lord, help me overcome
my unbelief." I don't ever want unbelief to keep me from
accomplishing all that God has for me and I pray that you won't
let it keep you from experiencing the fullness of what God has
in store for your life either.
God Bless!
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