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Doubt or Unbelief Concerning God's Word “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be removed, and be cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he says.” –Mark 11:23 “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” –Matthew 13:58 “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” –Hebrews 3:19; 4:6 “Let us labor therefore to
enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” –Hebrews
4:11 If we want healing, health, success,
happiness, and prosperity from God and through the gospel, we must first of
all learn the lesson, and learn it well that we must stop doubting the Word
of God on anything that it says. If man had never permitted himself to doubt
in the first place, if he had warded off all suggestions of Satan to doubt
God, and if he had got immediate and full victory over all doubt to begin
with, there would not have been the struggle that there is today to believe
God without a doubt. The first and last lesson we must learn is to doubt not,
if we want anything from God. It is reported that Franklin D. Roosevelt said,
"It never occurs to me to doubt God." We all should maintain this
attitude toward God at all times. God has made it very plain that the
absolute condition of answered prayer is "Let him ask of God, that
giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not [without rebuke]: and it
shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that
wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let
not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A
double-minded man is unstable in all his ways" (James 1:5-8). The Moffat translation reads, "Let him
ask God who gives to all men without question or reproach, and the gift will
be his. Only, let him ask in faith, with never a doubt; for the doubtful man
is like the surge of the sea whirled and swayed by the wind; that man need
not imagine he will get anything from God, double-minded creature that he is,
wavering at every turn." The Weymouth translation reads, "Let
him ask God for it, who gives with open hand to all men, and without
upbraiding; and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith and have no
doubts; for he who has doubts is like the surge of the sea, driven by the
wind and tossed into spray. A person of that sort must not expect to receive
anything from the Lord- such a one is a man of two minds, undecided in every
step he takes." The secret of answered prayer is very clear
in Scripture. Note how simple the Bible is on this point: "As thou hast believed, so be it done
unto thee" (Matt.8:13), "According to your faith be it unto
you" (Matt. 9:27-29), "O Woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee
even as thou wilt" (Matt. 15:21-28), "And ALL THINGS,
whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, BELIEVING, ye shall receive" (Matt. 21:21-22),
"If thou canst believe, ALL THINGS ARE
POSSIBLE TO HIM THAT BELIEVETH"
(Mark 9:23), "Have faith in God For verily I say
unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and
cast into the sea; and SHALL NOT DOUBT IN HIS HEART, BUT SHALL
BELIEVE THAT THOSE THINGS WHICH HE SAITH SHALL COME TO PASS, HE SHALL HAVE
WHATSOEVER HE SAITH. Therefore I say unto you, WHAT
THINGS SOEVER YE DESIRE, WHEN YE PRAY, BELIEVE THAT YE RECEIVE THEM
[Believe that you have got them], AND YE SHALL HAVE THEM"
(Mark 11:22-24); "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for
he that cometh to God MUST BELIEVE THAT HE IS, AND THAT HE IS A
REWARDER OF THEM THAT DILIGENTLY SEEK HIM" (Heb. 11:6). If faith is God's condition
of answered prayer, it will pay each of us to make up our minds before we
pray that we are going to cleave to what we decide to ask of God and fight it
through until we get an answer. If we children of God could learn this one
secret, we would stop asking God for blessings until we thoroughly made up
our minds that we want them badly enough to see our desires through to a
complete answer. Then, following this procedure, our prayers will be
answered. But many times we change our minds when the answer does not come
all at once. We decide that it is not the will of God, or that it would not
have been best for us to have received an answer. These things should always
be settled before a prayer is made for something. The fact that an answer is
not forthcoming the same moment we ask is no proof that it is not the will of
God or that it might not have been best for us. This is the most harmful procedure for a
child of God to follow, but, sad to say, it is one of the most common
procedures followed by multitudes. A few failures like this will soon make us
form a habit that causes failure in almost every prayer that is prayed.
Failures are so common in the lives of people concerning answered prayer that
it is safe to say that not one percent of all prayers are answered. But under
the circumstances even this is a high percentage. Definite requests are made
by the hundreds but few are the answers. This condition seems never to bother
the average praying person, who seems to take it as part of the prayer life
not to get an answer, except occasionally. We can wake up to realize that if we can
get an answer once in a while, we can get an answer every time we pray; that
if desperation and absolute necessity can force us to have faith enough for
God to answer one time, we can force ourselves to become earnest and have
faith enough for all things that we pray for at all times. Why should there
ever be a doubt in any of our minds, if the simple definite promises of God are
found to cover the need, and if we who are praying can find firm assurance in
the Word of God that He has promised that particular thing? If God's Word
does not promise what is asked, it is not necessary to have it; for Peter
said, "According as his divine power hath given us ALL
THINGS
that pertain to life and godliness.... Whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the
divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust" (2 Pet. 1:3-4). If absolute, unwavering faith is what God
demands before He obligates Himself to answer, let each of us who asks see to
it that we ask in faith, nothing wavering, and since we have the definite
Word of God promising us what we ask,
we then will receive. Since it was Satan
through the serpent that raised the first doubt in man and made it second
nature to doubt God, let everyone recognize that all doubts are of the devil
and are contrary to the Word of God. Let us put a stop to all doubting by
definitely and wholeheartedly resisting the devil, and the devil will flee
from us (James 4:7). All doubting is definite opposition to God and His Word,
and when we are in such opposition to the One we expect an answer from, we
cannot hope to receive it. In order not to doubt God's Word, we must know it beyond question; this is the key of knowing the truth, and it will make us free, as promised by Jesus (John 8:31-32). The way to know the Word of God is to take it for what it says and reject the interpretations of demons and people who try to change even one jot or tittle of it. All such changes are satanic in origin and propagation, and must be rejected before doubt can be finally and completely dispelled. All doubts must be rooted out of the life before prayer can be answered. Prayer must be answered before the benefits of the promises can be fully realized. The way to answered prayer then becomes clear, and it is the duty of each individual to see to it that we master all doubt and demons and cooperates with God's Word with all his heart. See “What to do to Stop All Doubt” below. Unbelief
MEN FAIL TO GET ALL THE BENEFITS PROVIDED
IN GOD'S PLAN BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF AND BECAUSE OF THE MANY CONDITIONS THEY
MANUFACTURE AND WHICH THEY THINK THEY MUST MEET BEFORE GOD WILL ANSWER PRAYER.
Many students who were training to be ministers, missionaries, and Christian
workers, once were asked in a classroom to state the conditions they believed
one would have to meet in order to get God to answer every prayer. It was
surprising to hear the scores of conditions that they thought must be met
before God would answer prayer. The whole classroom seemed to be filled with
nothing but conditions. When they all got through, they learned, "It is
no wonder that we have so few prayers answered. The great wonder is how
anyone could ever get one prayer answered if he had to meet all those
conditions." Then they were given the all-inclusive
condition of answered prayer: "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in
you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John
15:7). This is really all one has to do to get answers to all his prayers.
This implies that one believes from the heart all the promises of God, that
in Christ one is living a life of righteousness and true holiness, and that
one expects God to answer prayer when he does pray. Any one person who will
do this without wavering in his faith is just as sure to receive that for
which he has asked as he is sure he is alive. One must "ask in faith, nothing
wavering.... and it shall be given him" (Jas. 1:5-8). One "must
believe that he [God] is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him" (Heb. 11:6). Is this too much to ask of us? Is this too much for us to do in order to get what we want in life? This is asking very little on the part of God. Why should He not be firm in His demand for unwavering faith? Why should He freely and abundantly give to us in answer to our prayers if we do not believe that He is true to His Word? Should we expect God to answer us upon any other grounds? God has not once in the history of the human race failed one person of all that He has promised. We have no reasonable excuse for unbelief. We freely choose the way of unbelief if we do not choose the way of faith. We cannot be neutral. We easily believe Satan when it comes to doubting God's faithfulness to meet His obligation to answer prayer and fulfill His word to believers. We can, if we will believe God instead of Satan. God can and does expect this belief from us before He will give what He has promised. See “Rationale of Unbelief Answered With Scripture.” What
to do to Stop All Doubt
The first thing for us to do is to study
the Bible and become settled as to what God promises for all
people today. If He has made promises that cover every human need and if He
has made some that cover any particular need, then it can be relied upon
without further questioning that it is the will of God to give to each person
that which He has promised. We should get the particular promises that
plainly state the will of God in granting what is desired and then we should
refuse to tolerate any wavering concerning the question. We should not listen
to, or entertain for a moment, or argue the case with people or devils. It should be settled once
and forever that it is God's will to grant what He has promised. It should
also be settled that any time one truly has faith in prayer that the
answer will be granted. This kind of attitude naturally implies that we
believe that God has made such provision or He would not have made such
promises. Just as it is impossible to get by faith some blessing that one is
not sure that God has promised, it is impossible for us to fail to receive
what we claim by faith if we do not waver. God is true, the Word of God is
yes and amen to them that believe, and no person can fail to get what we have
asked for in faith when we refuse to waver and question the will of God as
revealed in His promises. The Big Picture
The plan of God is to end evil and suffering forever (Exodus 34:6-7; Matthew 13:37-43; I Corinthians 15:24-28; 1 Timothy 1:5; Revelation 21-22). The ultimate purpose of God in all His present dealings with man is to bring him back to the place where he was before the fall (beloved fellowship) and purge him of all possibility of failing in the future. “The object and purpose of our instruction and charge is that all believers would be filled with charity (love) that comes from a pure heart, and a clear conscience, and genuine trust faith.” —1 Timothy 1:5
There
are 750 promises of
God (benefits) in the New Testament alone The Prayer That Unlocks All
Promises See
the reality of evil, Satan, or
the devil See
The Source of Sin,
Sicknesses, and Diseases See
How to Get Health and
Healing From God “Beloved,
I wish above all things that you
may prosper and be in health, even as your soul
prospers.” – 3 John 1: 2 Thank you Finis
Jennings Dake and Dake Publishing! Thank you Derek Prince and his
book Blessing
or Curse...!
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