Because of your unbelief

Did you know that we were all given the same measure of faith when we were born again? In Romans 12:3 the Bible says that we have all been given THE measure of faith. That means that there is only one measure and we all have it in equal quantities. There aren’t some people with inherently more faith and some with less.

So why is it that faith works for some people and not for others? Why is it that some people see a manifestation of their prayers while others don't?

The Bible says that if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can remove mountains and that nothing shall be impossible for you (Matthew 17:21). You don't need that much faith at all to get a mountain moving! So if we only need a little faith why isn't our little faith working?

Most people believe that they have not got enough faith and that's why they cannot see answered prayers. However, the Bible is clear that you only need (a) a small amount of faith and that (b) everyone has been given the measure of faith.

The answer to the faith problem is not more faith. The answer to the faith problem is less unbelief. In Matthew 17:18, Jesus just got through praying for a child who was demon possessed that the disciples couldn’t heal. The disciples perplexed, as to why they couldn't cast the devil out of the boy, asked Jesus why they couldn't do it:

"19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?

20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." Matthew 17:19-21 (Please note the NIV Bible completely omits verse 21)

Notice 2 things:

1. Jesus said it was their UNBELIEF that caused them not to be able to cast the devil out, not their lack of faith. That's why He goes on to explain that even if they had a tiny amount of faith, they could remove a mountain. He said all of this to make the point that even with a little faith they could still have done it. So it wasn't the amount of faith that was the problem.

2. Jesus said that this 'kind' of unbelief only comes out with prayer and fasting. Contrary to popular belief, Jesus was referring to the unbelief and not the demon. This is an important statement. Many people misinterpret this verse to mean that this type of 'demon' only goes out by prayer and fasting but this could not be true, because if the name of Jesus and faith in His name could not cast out a demon neither could their prayers. Demons do not respond to a certain type of prayer or fasting better than the Name of Jesus. The Name of Jesus is and always will be, the final and most powerful authority in heaven and on earth. Special prayers and fastings do not have more power than the name of Jesus. However, prayer and fasting can can get rid of our unbelief.

We live in a fallen world and are constantly surrounded by unbelief that enters our soul and mind through our five senses: our eyes, our ears, our touch, our smell and our taste. We hear things contrary to God's Word all the time. We see things contrary to God's Word. We experience things contrary to God's Word. These shape what we believe. The only way to get rid of this kind of unbelief is by unplugging from the world and becoming saturated with the Word of God.

How do we do that? By prayer and fasting.

Prayer and fasting does not change God but it changes us. The whole point of fasting is to get us to be less distracted with our own physical needs and desires and be soley focused on the Word so that unbelief is eliminated and our faith can work properly. If fasting moved God then we would ascribe our actions or performance to God's response. Then it would no longer be God and His grace but our works that moved Him. This is incorrect. It's not our fasting or our prayers that move God, it's our faith. To have 'more' faith, or more correctly, have less (or no) unbelief, we have to saturate ourselves with the truth so that we can believe the truth more than the lies. Simply put, you can have faith and unbelief working simultaneously but the unbelief negates the faith. That's why it's not little faith that's the problem, it's coexisting unbelief that interferes with the faith. If we work on eliminating the unbelief by prayer and fasting, we will only have faith working and not unbelief (refer to Mark 5:36 when Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue "Be not afraid; Only believe." To only believe implies that there is an option to not only believe but to simultaneously doubt as well.)

Try this: when you are believing God for something, starve your unbelief by fasting the things that would feed it. For example, the TV, social media, newspapers and news reports, gossip with friends and family, articles or books about sickness, financial reports, etc.

Connect with the Word exclusively. Let it not out of your sight. Give it priority. Listen to it, read it, meditate on it. Do a food fast if you need to and give yourself wholly to the Word. You will be amazed at how the faith rises and the unbelief disapears!

Stay blessed!

Oceans