Wednesday, February 12, 2014

The Evil Enemy that Opposes Faith: Establishing a Culture of Faith Part Two.



Not experiencing the supernatural?  Do you agree with me that it's time for the raw power of God to be demonstrated and realized?   Precious friend, it's our season to witness the miraculous.

I truly believe God desires to give us dynamic faith. I have spent time to write you because I desire to alert you to the enemies of your faith.  I discussed this to great length in my recent post "How to Identity and Defeat the Enemies that Oppose the Supernatural."  But I want to take this post one step further and focus on the enemy of unbelief. 

Hebrews 3:12 says "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." Unbelief definitely opposes faith.  And, as most of you know, without faith it's impossible to please God. (see Hebrews 11:6).  For years all I could focus on was the assumption that God was mad (unpleased) with me if I didn't have enough faith to access my miracle.  Rather that trust Him in the midst of crisis and run to Him for grace I would back away, filled with shame, because I believed I wasn't able to dig deep within myself to have great faith.  More and more condemnation piled upon me.  Soon I was overburdened with guilt and shame and even more self-centeredness- focusing on my weaknesses rather than my being more than a conqueror- as the Word states!  Maybe you can relate.

All this did was cause more and more unbelief.  Why?  Because I focused on me and my ability to conjure up more faith.  Which I couldn't!  The reason is now clear to me.  Allow me to encourage you with what I learned in this process.  We have already accessed faith.  Yes!  When you received Christ you did so in faith!  Your spirit man is perfected, holy and righteous because of the finished work at the cross.  However, we still need our minds renewed concerning the truths of God.  As we learn more truth our faith increases.  However, it is the Holy Spirit who teaches us, right?  So, as the Holy Spirit leads we gain more knowledge and grow in truth and faith.  We can't  make faith be there...in our own strength I mean.  Believer, I so pray you are getting this.  If you do, it will set you free!

When we study the passage closely concerning "...without faith it is impossible to  please  God..." a careful Greek study reveals that the word pleased means basically that God is entirely gratified because we are fully agreeable (with His Word!).  Yes!  He is pleased when we have faith to simply  agree with His Word.  I know that it is a battle to convince ourselves that God really desires to bless us, heal us, prosper us (and more!), but we are releasing faith when we simply agree with what He has promised.  Wow! 

Unbelief is an evil enemy.  Unbelief is connected to our not being in agreement with all that the Word says about each of us having provision, healing, etc.  The voice of unbelief negates all of God's promises.  Again, Hebrews 3:12  makes note of ..."an evil heart of unbelief ..."  This is not saying that we are evil if we don't have faith.  God will not condemn us by calling His precious children "evil hearted!"  No way.   This passage is saying unbelief, not agreeing with God, causes evil plans of the enemy to take root and rob us of experiencing the supernatural.  In fact, I love how The Message Bible says it: "So watch your step, friends. Make sure there's no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God. "

So you see, unbelief is evil.  It is connected to a wicked spirit that uses human reasoning to oppose God's Word.  (Please read my previous blogs about human reasoning and other enemies that oppose the supernatural for more information on this subject).  At its root, unbelief is a choice.  Choose to believe rather than doubt!  Choose faith rather than unbelief!

Be encouraged today to agree with God.  His Word is truth and light.  Jesus, Himself is Truth...He is the Word.  God's Truth is the very highest level of reality

Let's establish a culture of faith for the supernatural...NOW!



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