Devotion: Great Things Happen When You Believe – Part II

In part one of our “Great Things Happen When You Believe” series, we talked about faith and the three elements of faith, which were:

• belief, which is accepting that something can be true or that something is real when it has not been seen,
• confidence or conviction, which is believing or trusting that something is, especially when there is no logical proof that it exists,
• and action, which is doing something in order to reach a goal, to obtain a result, or to get that thing which you hoped for.

We found that faith is confidently acting upon what you believe, what appears to be impossible and expecting results.  Scripture tells us that “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23).  And while your faith plays a key role in causing those great things to happen, in making all things possible, there be a few other things we need to consider, things that are equally as important and equally as strong but can cause those great things not to happen.  The sad part is that most people are not aware of them.

Just as faith and its elements will cause impossible things to happen, “doubt and unbelief” can nullify your efforts.  Scripture tells us about a man who brought his demon possessed son to the disciples to be healed.  After the disciples attempted and failed to heal the boy, the father turned to Jesus for help, saying, “But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us” (Mark 9:22 NIV).  Jesus tells the father, that “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23 NKJV).  And the father replies with tears in his eyes, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24 NKJV).

From this story we see that it is possible to believe and have doubt or unbelief at the same time. But what causes this doubt and unbelief?  There are many factors, but here are our top three.  First, there is our lack of knowledge or our ignorance when it comes to the word of God.  According to God says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge…” (Hosea 4:6).  This lack of knowledge is not due to a shortage of knowledge but because we have rejected knowledge.  God has provided boundless knowledge in his word just for us to seek and find, but we continually reject it.  And because we do not know what to place our faith in, this lack of knowledge keeps us in captivity.  You cannot have faith in or for something that you do not know about.

Next, there is our failure to act as if God’s word is true.  In other words, it is our disbelief or unbelief in the word of God that prevents us from acting as if his word is true.  This brings to mind the story of the Israelites as they arrived at the promised land as told in Numbers Chapters 13 and 14.  Instead of acting on the promises of God, acting as if the word of God was true, they allowed their disbelief or unbelief to prevent them from getting the land that God had promised them.  They did not place their faith in the word of God and act upon it.

Last, there is a thing called sense-knowledge.  Sense-knowledge is the kind of knowledge that is based on physical evidence.  This is where we focus or concentrate on only those things that can be perceived by our five senses.  We only believe those things that we can see, taste, smell, hear, or touch.  Sense-knowledge requires us to place our faith upon the witness of the senses and not what the word of God says as the motivator for our belief system.

Doubt and unbelief are faith killers. Our lack of the knowledge, our failure to act as if the word of God is true and/or our dependence upon the witness of the sense or our sense-knowledge will counteract our faith.  Any combination of these enemies will stop our faith in its track and cause our faith to fail.  Since we now know that we can believe and have doubt and or unbelief, simply believing is not enough to see great things happen in our lives, we must give equally attention to those enemies of our faith.  Great things happen when you believe, so expect great things from God, expect the impossible, Amen.

We pray that today’s inspirational message will give you a new perspective on “those great things that happen when you believe.”  We also pray that this message will bless you, inform you, and that you will be the better for having read it.  If blessed by this message, please share so that others may be blessed as well.  Amen.

Enjoy your blessings - KW

More About KWM

Kingdom Worker Ministries offers a series of products and resources to those desiring to dig deeper into the Word of God and break traditionalism to gain full truth of God’s words and principles.  Our products are designed to increase your awareness, improve your understanding, deepen your knowledge and inspire you to walk in truth.

Our desire is to impart knowledge that will enable you to discern the truths hidden in God’s word (Ezekiel 44:23) and to provide validation to those who have an ear to hear his word (Ephesians 4:29).

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