Overcoming unbelief!

   Last week on Facebook I posted an article by Chris Cree that had to do with the differences between faith and belief/unbelief. He wrote the article in November 2015, but re-posted it. I loved seeing that because I had been studying that very topic for a week when I saw it. You can read this article HERE. I am still studying faith and unbelief/belief out and this morning I caught myself pondering something I thought worth sharing here.

   These two verses have been omitted from several Bible versions, translations, while others will footnote them discrediting their validity.

However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” 

Matthew 17:21

So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” 

Mark 9:29

    These verses are valid and very important. It is unfortunate they get in the way of certain scholars theology because they are quite simple to understand, support the overall message of the Bible, and are very powerful. Both verses are part of the same account of a man's son vexed by a demon spirit. Jesus' disciples could not cast it out even though they had done so with Jesus. Jesus comes on the scene only to find His disciples arguing with the scribes over the matter. When Jesus inquires as to the nature of the disputing the father of the afflicted boy tells him of the disciples inability to help his son, and says to Jesus, "...but if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." is Jesus' reply. The father cried out with tears in his eyes, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” 

   Jesus is not saying that this particular demon spirit is so very powerful that one must fast and pray to get it to leave a person. NO! Jesus' initial response to the arguing that He came upon was, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” He then cast the demon out of the boy. He did not begin to pray, call for a time of prayer with accompanying fasting. He just cast the evil demon out.

   Before I state the thought I was pondering this morning I want to say two things. Firstly, we do not do "works" to accomplish kingdom business, Jesus has done it all. We simply believe and use our faith for what we have already been given. Secondly, being a carnally minded rather than Holy Spirit led and minded is death.

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Romans 8:6

So the thought I was meditating on this morning is, the more you live (think and behave) like the world, the weaker your faith becomes because the world feeds unbelief.

   You see, Jesus was very clear that it was their unbelief that kept them from successfully getting that demon out of that boy. When the disciples ask why they could not cast it out, Jesus point blank said, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." 

   The point here is that we must be prepared for such opportunities to have victory when encountering the wiles of the devil. The only way to do that is to have been spending time in prayer (abiding in God's Word and making the Word, and God the center of our life) and then fasting those things that are of the world, are carnal and that destroy our belief in what God has given us. Stop watching the news and its horror and start putting the goodness, mercy and love of God our souls. Stop watching (I am not going to be politically correct here) the TRASH on television, including all the commercials about all the medication for all the diseases and a myriad of other messages that are completely contrary to what God has told us. Exchange the world influences in your life for the true life of God. When you are full of the world, you will only have the worldly and carnal to draw on. When you are full of God and His Word, you will have the kind of power to draw on that is required to operate in the things God left us to do.

   So from the thought I had this morning, "The more you live (think and behave) like the world, the weaker your faith becomes because the world feed unbelief" came this post.

   Guard your heart, build your faith and live victorious. If you haven't already, then start now! There is a great life ahead, just live it!!