searching out the unbelief
Mark 9; 23-24
SEARCHING OUT THE UNBELIEF
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.”
It seems as though when we start a walk with the Lord we begin to think that we don’t need to repent anymore. This is not true for we need to be constantly in a state of repentance. Jer. 17:9 says the heart is deceitful above all things. Have you ever wondered why a bird preens its feathers? It is a type of maintenance to keep the feathers in top condition. If he did not do this he would get to where he could not fly and he would die. It keeps parasites away, it smooths out the feathers, it weatherproofs them, and repairs them, just like the bird we have to do daily maintenance on our spirit with repentance. Things can get absorbed into us during the day and we need to be vigilant to clean our spirit as the day goes on. Our bodies are still in a fallen state, our minds are being renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4; 16 ).
We have to build a strong foundation to stand in these last days. The old way of “just let things happen as they happen” just won’t cut it anymore. We have to take a stand and guard our hearts against the wiles of the devil. He is come to Kill, steal, and destroy, this is what the word says, and you can trust that. God has a purpose in doing things this way and it is to make you strong and to fortify your defenses. Do you remember that Paul said to put on the ( whole ) armor of God? This is a part of that, for when we guard our hearts we stay close to the Lord. When you read the Psalms you find that David is always repenting, worshiping, and praising God. At one point the word says that David is a man after Gods on heart. He is a warrior worshiper.” Search me oh God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me”, Oh! To stand in thy presence oh Lord. This should be the cry of all our hearts.
To move forward in this walk with God we have to have a spirit of repentance. A person can learn to drive a car but if you don’t drive and drive often you won’t get into traffic for fear of having a wreck. If however, you drive often you will hone your driving skills to perfection. Soon it becomes second nature, automatic if you will. It is the same with this walk with the Lord, the more you practice His presence the more confident you become.
Just because you opened the door to walk with the Lord does not mean that you are perfect. There are pockets of unbelief in all of us. We just need to search them out and deal with them. I have been doing this for sixty years and I still find remnants that are a hindrance to me. I repent and go on walking with the Lord. Do you remember the old saying “you can’t see the forest for the trees”, well this is so with us. It is hard to see our faults. Iron sharpens iron, so we need our brothers and sisters to be the thing that rubs us the wrong way to bring up the garbage that has been lying in our spirits causing us problems. In a sense, we are our brothers’ keeper
Dig deep don’t be afraid to dredge up the unbelief that lies beneath the surface of your soul. This will free you in so many areas. Your thinking will be clearer, your judgment will be better. Your worship will be much more intense. Your intercession will be more accurate. All in all you will be a much more pleasant person to be around. And you will begin to like who you are. Now that is some change!
A horse will sometimes get a burr stuck in his hair and it gets tangled and matted. Well, sometimes it gets close to his skin and begins to irritate him. No one can see it but it is there and this animal becomes a nightmare. No one can ride him just because of the burr. When you comb his hair out you find the burr, problem solved. The horse becomes sane again. It’s the same with us sometimes the unbelief can be embedded in an area of us and we just don’t understand why we act the way we do. These burrs are from some of our old ways. Religion has a way of teaching a person to believe but the underlying truth is that you are being taught unbelief. They teach,” believe all the stories of the Bible, they are true”. If you try to walk in the faith of those stories now then that’s when they say, “That does not happen nowadays”. This is a lie and it needs to be told that if the great prophets had insight way back then, and if the Apostles had wisdom and discerning and could heal the sick, and raise the dead then it can be and will be done now. The apostles didn’t have the New Testament yet. They were speaking it and writing it. A wise man told me one time that we are writing the Kingdom Chronicles now. To do what has to be done we have to dig out these areas of unbelief. Perfection is near some may say we cannot be perfect in this life. Did you hear what Jesus said,” Take up your cross and follow me.” He showed us how to be perfect in this life. Granted! ( It ain’t easy.) This is a life worth living though. The rewards are great. You might not be chosen as the most likely to succeed in life. But we are not here to gain the approval of others. We are here to do the will of the Lord whatever that may be.