House of Faith Ministries HoFM

Unbelief hinders us greatly, and many who are believers don’t realize it. Unbelief keeps us from walking in the power of God and it makes us blind to everything around us. In fact, unbelief causes our heart, (soul – thoughts and feelings) to become hardened.

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Hebrews 3:7-8 NKJV

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today, if you will hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,

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Notice earlier in the chapter, we read:

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Hebrews 3:1-2 NKJV

Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.

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Confession is what helps us with unbelief. When we confess, it is an act of humility before the Lord. It is our spirit saying we were wrong and we need forgiveness, healing, deliverance, etc.

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Hebrews 3:16-19 NKJV

16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

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When we walk in unbelief, we stay in the dry desert, wilderness and don’t reach the promise land.

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So, how do we confess?

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Romans 10:9 NKJV

9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

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1 John 1:9 NKJV

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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Jesus promised us that He will forgive and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Another way to say this is that when we confess, we are called righteous.

Once in that righteous state of mind, we walk in the power of God. Jesus demonstrated to us in scripture what unbelief did to His disciples.

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Mark 9:17-29 NKJV

17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”

19 He answered him and said, “O faithless[b] generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I [c]bear with you? Bring him to Me.” 20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.

21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”

And he said, “From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

23 Jesus said to him, “If[d] you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”

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

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Let’s read the same event in Matthew:

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Matthew 17:14-20 NKJV

14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is [c]an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.”

17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O [d]faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”

20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your [e]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. 21 [f]However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

 

The disciples were unable to cast out this demon. Now notice, the disciples had already been casting out demons and knew how to do so. This wasn’t because they didn’t know what they were doing.

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Jesus explained to His disciples that unbelief played a role in this, as well as not being prepared through prayer and fasting.

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But look how Jesus handled the situation. He told the man that brought his son to him that if you believe, all things are possible. The man responded saying I believe but help me with my unbelief. He, the man, the father of this demon possessed child acknowledged that he could not help his son because he had no power.

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Since he had no power, he reached out to Jesus’ disciples and imagine what he thought when he saw that even the disciples could not cast out the demon. He came to the disciples because he believed but his belief was shaken. So Jesus reminded him but he said I believe but I need help with my unbelief. Because at this point, what else could be done when the disciples could not cast out the demon?

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Then Jesus cast the demon out and healed the boy.

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The disciples knew something wasn’t right here, which caused their belief to shaken. At this point, Jesus needed to restore their belief explaining that when you are shaken like this, you need to go back to the scripture, to Jesus and find out what’s going on. You need to bring your belief back up and Jesus did that by explaining that to cast out this kind of demon you need to be in prayer and fasting.

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Based on the outcome, the disciples weren’t praying and fasting like Jesus. Even Jesus was limited on what He could do when unbelief was present.

 

Mark 6:5-6 NKJV

5 Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.

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Here we are today, where unbelief is rampant here in America. This level of unbelief prevents the spirit from moving. Even the disciples didn’t believe those who told them Jesus had risen and Jesus rebuked them for their unbelief.

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Mark 16:14-18 NKJV

14 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who [d]believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they[e] will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

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Unbelief keeps us from walking in the power of the Holy Spirit.

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The question you should ask yourself is what areas in your life where unbelief is true. Many believe in Jesus but don’t believe in the power of Jesus.

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For example, do you believe that Jesus saved you or are you hoping that He will save you?

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Do you believe Jesus heals? Do you believe Jesus delivers?

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Ask yourself what you believe and ask God to help you see the areas of unbelief in your life like the father of the son demon possessed. Then confess Jesus is Lord over that area in your life and watch God move over that area so that your unbelief is turned to belief.