James says in his 1st chapter, verse 6, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.”
Are you allowing fear to take you to a place of doubt and disbelief? Every attack we receive from Satan through other people has a purpose and that purpose is to get you caught up in a mind-game of belief and disbelief. So let’s talk about the origin of this disbelief that resides in your mind. Disbelief is our second thought. It’s an afterthought called doubt. Disbelief is a mind-game created by Satan to move you into a place of fear. Once he has instilled fear in you Satan will begin to use other weapons from his arsenal. Fear is just the beginning and fear always has a purpose. That purpose is to move you to a place of doubt. Now think about it. When you’re afraid of something you begin to think irrationally and when you are irrational you begin to make mistakes like getting angry or saying hurtful things, which then will take you to a place called guilt, but let’s focus on fear for now. Fear is joined with disbelief as is anger. Anger is the emotion that is projected from fear and disbelief and fear is just contaminated faith. It’s contaminated when we begin to have doubt. Have you said or heard someone say things like, “I know God can heal me but He’ll do it in His time” or “I know God can do it but God helps those who help themselves.” This is erroneous thinking that comes from that place called doubt. You have allowed the afterthought to come forward. Not only do we allowed it to come forward, but some of us have allowed it to lead. Think back to a time that you resided in “GOD WILL.” For many this has changed to “God can.” Doubt, disbelief and fear. You are tramping around in the devil’s playground and you are having trouble finding your way back out. Well I’m here to tell you that there is a way back out. While Satan needs our fear in order to operate, God needs our faith to operate. The way out begins with a leap of faith. And the path will become clearer with every leap you take. (Ps. 89:33) Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. You have to be willing to not allow your faithfulness to fail. Don’t focus on how small your faith is. Instead begin to declare the growth of your faith. Romans 1:17 says, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”” God reveals Himself to us through our faith. Not unchanging faith. Faith is an action that is supposed to be constantly changing. Constantly growing. “From faith to faith to faith.” And as this faith grows it begins to push out all doubt, all unbelief and all fear. But it’s not going to happen by you just sitting around waiting for some faith. No, it’s just the opposite. You need to be seeking out faith. Seeking it with your eyes, with your ears and with your heart. Notice how I conveniently left out your mind. That’s because your mind will make you overthink and lead you to be grounded in doubt. And yes I said with your eyes. Many are under the misconception that you can’t see faith but faith carries a manifestation. If your is in action you WILL begin to see it and it’s manifestations. You have to go looking for faith. Colossians 1:20-23 says, “and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,” You see Satan playing mind-games to make you your own enemy. Step out of your thoughts and step into faith. Faith doesn’t need you to think. It just is. “yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.” To continue in the faith means to keep going. To continue means you don’t stop and live in a place of doubt. You don’t get rutted in your disbelief. You are in a constant movement towards greater faith. Let me give you an example of how even after being a witness to the greatness of God, sitting still will begin to rob you of your faith. I personally have witnessed miraculous things through God. He has sent me a personal message using birds. I have heard birds speak, but when I began to get laxed and was too busy to spend time with God, (that’s a standstill in case you didn’t know it. Not waiting on the Lord just standing still), I begin to question the power of God. My faith began to waver as I allowed doubt to creep in. Did I notice any of this while it was happening? No. It wasn’t until later when I began to serve the Lord again that I was able to look back and see how the enemy had begun to take little bites out of my faith. We have to continue. We have to be constantly moving forward in faith in order to get from faith to faith. I’ve said this before, if faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain then our faith must be smaller than that if we cannot operate under the power of God. The bible says these signs will follow those that believe. To believe is to have faith and we all need to do some growing in our faith. Let’s go to the Bible so that we can see that doubt has always been here but it can always be defeated. Mark 9:14-27, “And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. 15 And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. 16 And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them? 17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; 18 And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. 19 He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. 20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. 21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. 22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. 23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. 24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. 26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. 27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. So how did Jesus defeat the people’s doubt? With works and with action. He didn’t stop when the child lay as if dead. He continued on by taking his hand and lifting him up. So I say to you today, no standing still. You must go forward if you want to defeat doubt. You have to continue in the direction that God was leading you. That’s the only way that your faith will grow. That’s the only way your faith will go from faith to faith.
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Side notes:Understand that these sermons are only outlines of the message Archives
January 2016
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