And Jesus answered, "O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me." And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly.
(Mat 17:17-18 ESV)
Here's a man who had tried to get his son healed through Jesus' disciples and they had not been able to help him. (vs.16) Jesus answered saying they were a FAITHLESS generation. When the disciples asked him why they couldn't cast the devil out, Jesus told them it was because of their UNBELIEF.
Could it be that they saw the manifestation of the devil's work and had more fear than faith? Could it be that is the same mountain that we come up against in our lives?
We see the devastation that the devil has had in our lives. We hear it when the doctors give their "medical diagnosis." We hear these disease names and with them comes fear and hopelessness, because the medical world says "there is no cure." Why do we believe a medical system, when it has had its fallacies from the beginning. The statistics are not good.
We believe man rather than God. Jesus says all we need is faith - even the size of a mustard seed would be enough. (vs.20) We have to stay in God's Word and principles for healing until we believe it more than we believe what man says. We have to believe it more than what our bodies are saying to us. They are manifesting the works of the devil and we look at it and say, "There's no hope." Maybe we don't say it, but our thoughts confirm it over and over as we "feel" bad and our bodies continue to agree because "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
We cannot base our lives on feelings. If we did, we wouldn't get out of bed in the morning. We wouldn't go to work because we didn't feel like it. We must learn not to make choices based on feelings. As Christians, our daily lives must be based on faith and God's Word.
This is a big hurdle. We have become used to instant gratification. Ask for it and get it now. Drive-through fast food, dry cleaners instead of doing laundry, prescription pickup, pizza delivery, email, cell phones. Fast, faster, fastest!!! We are not used to waiting patiently on the Lord at all.
Jesus said "this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." (vs.21) We just have to set aside some time to focus on what we truly want. We say we want to be healed, but are we spending dedicated time moving down that path? God will always make a way for you to spend time with Him if it's in your heart to do it. Prayer and fasting can turn around 'faithless' and 'unbelief' when we see who He is and what He did on the cross for us. He bore our sickness and disease upon Himself so that we might be able to choose life. Choose it and have it more abundantly.
It's a process to turn our fear into faith and our unbelief into belief that God's Word is true. God doesn't promise 30 minute deliveries, but He does promise we will reap what we sow. Sow time into what you say you want. Many people say they want to be healed, but live their lives like it's at the bottom of their list of priorities.
Others have gone so far down the road in illness that they can't "do" much of anything any more, and when they do spend time in the Word, they are so convinced that nothing will help, that they negate the effects of what they are reading. The Word and Truth are being swallowed up by the fields of thorns of disbelief and doubt because your vision can only see yourself in bed and in pain, so the Word is choked out. You must reach beyond what you see to what Jesus says there is for you.
Regardless of what the church is teaching about healing, you need to find out what God has to say about it in the Bible to YOU! Our belief systems and strongholds keep us from experiencing true freedom in life. Freedom from pain and disease. We have to get to work and change those belief systems. Change those thinking patterns for the renewed mind we were promised at salvation. Remember the words, "work out your own salvation" (Philippians 2:12). This is work! Renew your mind. Get all that comes with salvation - keep discovering the gifts God has for us. Anything that is worthwhile in life requires time and work. You will reap what you sow. Take time now!
Faithless Unbelief by Donna L. Watkins, Taken from the free online ezine, "A Healing Moment"
Permission is granted for use of any articles written by Donna L. Watkins if credit includes the author's name and an active link to this website.
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