Believing in the Truth of God’s Word, without doubt, makes the difference in whether you live a defeated or victorious life. Jesus told the centurion, who asked him to pray for his servant, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened” (Matthew 8:13, NLT). The centurion’s faith brought healing to his servant. Unbelief stands between you and the promises God reveals to you in His Word. To receive God’s promises, you need to believe His Word with no doubt in your heart.
Whatever is born of God overcomes the world. Your measure of faith is from God, and it has the power to overcome anything that tries to come against it. Exercising the measure of faith that you have already received from God is a deliberate choice you make. You appropriate the Truth of the Word by faith. When you continually do this, God’s Truth renews your mind. When your mind is renewed, your heart is able to believe God’s Word.
When what you are taught becomes established in your heart, you believe it. If it is the Truth of God's Word, it speaks life and blessing. If it is wrong teaching, it speaks death and curse. Wrong teaching is a roadblock to believing the Word of God. To believe, you must know God's Truth.
Perhaps, you are sick. You discover verses in the Word that God heals. To experience healing, you have to make those verses yours. You must be convinced and believe God’s Truth about your healing in your heart. A heart change from unbelieving to believing is hard if you are double-minded.
A double-minded man is unstable in all His ways (James 1:8). His opinion changes based on how he feels. If you are double-minded, you have not decided in your heart what you really believe. When you allow the Word of God to claim your heart, you experience transformation. How you feel eventually lines up as a result. To not be double-minded, you must be convinced of God’s Word.
Belief based on what you feel comes from your natural senses—what you see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. Living by your feelings is detrimental to believing the Word of God. When you try to believe God and your five senses tell you that it is not working, you choose defeat based on your feelings. When you experience something that has become a disappointment or a disillusionment, emotions try to rule your heart. In experiencing this kind of unbelief, your five senses rise to dominate your mind. Renewing your mind with the Word is essential to overcome your feelings and believe that the Word is true (Romans 12:2).
At Calvary, Jesus healed you. Everything you feel screams that this can’t be true! But it is! What you feel is not real in God's Truth. "My child,” God speaks, “pay attention to what I say. Listen to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body” (Proverbs 4:20-22, NLT).
Unbelief holds us back from receiving from God. Pay attention to what the Holy Spirit says. Let the Word penetrate deep into your heart. His Word brings life and healing to your whole body. Be transformed by the Truth of God's Word. Believe what the Holy Spirit reveals to you. Doubt flees, and you can take captive every thought or feeling from the enemy.
“I believe. Lord, help my unbelief,” the father of the demon-possessed boy said to Jesus. Jesus met the father’s need and healed his child. To help us grow spiritually, Jesus meets us where we are in our measure of faith and encourages us to believe in His promises. And as we are transformed by the revealed Truth of God’s Word, feelings are crucified with Christ. We are able to walk by faith and not by sight. We believe because we know Jesus has given us victory over everything.
The Holy Spirit wants you to experience His victory in every area of your life. Begin by choosing to believe His Word over any feeling of doubt.
And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
—1 John 5:4 (NKJV)
© 2021 Lynn Lacher
www.lynnlacher.com/2021/03/overcoming-faith.html
No comments:
Post a Comment