UNBELIEF

UNBELIEF

Today I want to talk about unbelief. So many of us are asking God for things in our lives and we don’t seem to see results. We pray once or twice and if we don’t see results we just say God isn’t listening or His answer is simply NO. That may not be the case, you see God does hear us and answers all of our prayers if you ask according to His will. 

1 John 5:14-15 Says: This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.(15) And if we know that he hears us whatever we ask we know that we have what we asked of him.

If you are asking but not receiving results it could be for many different reasons lets look at a few. 

1. Maybe it is with what you are asking for. If you are asking for someone else’s spouse, to win the lottery or other worldly thing chances are your answer is NO. Let’s remember we ask according to His will. His will is for us to be healthy, prosperous, in peace, without fear. I suggest you learn what our LORD has for us you may be pleasantly surprised but you need to know before you ask. 
2. Are you asking thinking you are not really going to receive? That is unbelief. Not believing that God has already answered your prayer is a sure fired way to see zero results. In Mark 11:24 Says: Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Note it says believe that you have received it. That is pass tense. As soon as you ask God has answered. Just believe and stay in belief. We see this in Daniel 9 when Daniel was praying the angel Gabriel came and answered his prayer immediately. 
3. Maybe we are asking expecting to see results immediately but this time it may take time for our prayers to be answered. Once again we look at Daniel and in Chapter 10 we see Daniel fasted and prayed for 21 days until he received his outcome from God. It wasn’t that God did not answer right away it was the prince of the kingdom of Persia that got in the way of what was coming to Daniel.  For 21 days Daniel stayed in faith until God answered him, knowing God was faithful and true to His word. 
4. Maybe our wrong thinking is getting in the way of our receiving. In Genesis 3 Satan told Eve she would not surely die if she ate of the tree. He told her, her eyes would be open and she would be like God, knowing good and evil. Notice Satan was using the power of deception to make Eve doubt what God had said. Her doubt led to unbelief and got her into a lot of trouble. Her thinking was faulty, instead of focusing on what God had said, she allowed someone to deceive her into thinking something else. 

Let’s see what God has said we can ask for and believe we have received because of Jesus Sacrifice on the Cross. 

God has promised us healing, prosperity, peace, freedom of sin (Isaiah 53:5) But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.In (2 Corinthians 8:9) it says:  Jesus Christ "became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich." 

Psalm 103:2–5  Says:  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

If we look at the above scriptures we can see we have been brought peace, healing, prosperity, forgiveness, freedom of destruction, you are crowned with lovingkindness, tender mercies, and the list goes on. If we stay in faith (belief) we allow God to work miracles in our lives. If we are not in faith and doubting Him we will become like Eve, allowing Satan to take our joy, peace and all that God has freely given us. 

Let’s look at what Jesus said about unbelief in Mark 9 there is a story of a boy who was posed by demons since childhood. In verse 23 of Chapter 9 Jesus said to the boys father. “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!”  Notice the father of the boy asked Jesus to help his unbelief. If the father had no belief at all Jesus couldn’t help him because He would have nothing to work with. In Mark 6 beginning in vs 4 it says this; 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. Notice Jesus couldn’t do any miracles for the people in His village do to their unbelief. 

Unbelief is an inroad for the enemy to take your joy, prosperity, peace, health and all that God promises us. When we stay in faith we allow God to use our belief in Him to do miracles in our lives. Think about how you would feel if you were constantly told you are a liar even if you never lied. When we don’t believe what God tells us in His Word, we are calling Him a liar. 

We need to stay in faith and believe in the word of God. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 If you know God’s word He doesn’t lie we can believe all that He says. It’s our job to know what He says to us. Luke 11:9 says; So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. We need to Ask, Seek, Knock...ASK!  James 4:2 says: You do not have, because you do not ask.    Mark 11:24 Says; Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. I love this verse because it says believe that you have received it and it will be yours. We spoke about this verse earlier. When you pray know that right then God answers your prayer. I know this works because it has worked for me. 

I had two emergency medical bills. When I received the 1st bill it was $7,000~. The second bill was $6,000~ They were 4 years apart. The first one I put on my credit card and got on my knees and said, God I know you are a good God and your promise is for me to be prosperous I am thanking you for the miracle of this bill being paid. Two days later an old friend wired $7,000. into my bank account to pay the bill. This past April 2012 the second medical bill came it was $6,000~. my husband went over to the window of the doctors office and prayed for a miracle, gave thanks and said to me “Don’t worry it is taken care of”. Five days later we found out that the bill would be paid by a previous insurance claim not related to this. God is faithful and good. Stay in faith, believe He will help. It’s also important to know what God’s promises are for all of us. Read your bible, start getting to know God, He wants a relationship with us. He is not the giant gum ball machine in the sky, He will help you but He is looking for a relationship. Take the time to know your God. Your life will be much richer for it.