“Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, And saw My works for forty years. “Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they did not know My ways…" Hebrews 3:8-10 NASB
Can you imagine seeing the wonders and miracles of God on a daily basis for forty years and STILL dying of unbelief? That's exactly what happened. The generation that came out of Egypt by the wonders of God wandered to death. They died of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:19…check it out.)
The Lord has been talking to me about my own unbelief. It's insidious. It is almost unrecognizable at times because it has become so comfortable in my life that it feels like an old piece of furniture that belongs in the house. The problem is, this couch of unbelief is actually cancer. It's deadly. It steals, kills, and destroys. It's not providing comfort at all.
How'd you like to sit on a cancer couch? Me neither.
But that's what we do when we don't believe God's Word to us. That's what we do when we don't see this "pet" sin as deadly. Unbelief is not a minor sin. It's not a minor offense or infraction. It's a direct assault on the character of God. It's real and it's wreaking havoc in our lives.
The Greek word for unbelief in the Strong's dictionary is “Apistia”#570. And it means…
"faithless-ness, uncertainty, distrust, the lack of acknowledgement of Christ; want of confidence in Christ's power; a want of trust in the God of promise.
Wow.
Where am I not acknowledging Christ in my life?
What areas of my life am I acting as if Christ's power does not exist?
The world acts like God does not exist. Christ-followers should not.
We don't live in the same paradigm, and therefore we shouldn't live with the same response.
I was reminded recently of two separate healing miracles in my life early on. They happened so long ago and with so little travailing that I almost discounted them as less than miracles.
The first was my eyes. I was born completely cross-eyed. I was cute, but you couldn't tell where I was looking.
At six years old, before lasers, I had "guestimate" surgery on both eyes. And I came out with 20/20. I don't remember the odds, but I remember the doctors saying it was a long shot. I experienced a miracle. Yes, through the hands of a skilled physician. But every skill, every good and perfect gift, comes from the Father - especially a perfect surgery.
The second miracle was my left wrist. When I was about twelve, my wrist became so swollen I could hardly move it. It hurt to write, to throw a ball, to do anything with that wrist, for months.
I'm left-handed by the way.
I went to weeks of PT and got nothing. Then one day, for no reason at all, it just stopped hurting. The swelling left. The wrist became completely normal. I don't even remember praying for God to heal my wrist! It was just…gone.
My physical therapist was so perplexed and annoyed by this. He was truly happy for me, but he wanted to know why it healed. What did I do to fix it? What happened? There was no explanation. God did it and I could finally use my wrist again pain-free.
That's Jesus. Sometimes there's no explanation. No hoops to jump through. No Hail Marys. It's just No-Reason-Grace. It was simply a gift. It's been so many years without this pain that I forgot how miraculous it was. A wrist is pretty important for a piano and guitar player, don't you think?
If you want to overcome unbelief, you have to remember the wonders. Remember the miracles. Remember the provision and "God things" that have no explanation.
I've been asking the Lord to show me my unbelief, to awaken my spirit to the particular places of unbelief. I'm letting thoughts just "occur to me." The Holy Spirit works like that. All the sudden something occurs to you. You'll awaken to some thought, some idea, or some Scripture you've managed to miss your whole life - until now.
I want this spiritually cancerous beast out of my life. I want every Word of Scripture to be true in my real life. I want everything that son-ship (and daughter-ship) has to offer. I want every miracle off the shelf through faith.
What are you unbelieving for? Come on.
It's better to label it than to pretend it's not there.
I pray that unbelief gets uncomfortable in your home, your body, and your life. I pray that the Spirit of God rises up and overwhelms you in such a way that unbelief has to flee. I can just picture that squirrely, naked, critter running right out of your house. Good bye unbelief.
Speak to that unbelief in Jesus name, and declare your eviction notice. It’s time to break free.
Joyfully,
Rachel B.