Have you ever decided to bake something and failed to check if you had all the ingredients? I have, and when the main ingredient is flour and you don’t have it, that’s a problem!
I did that when making pizza. I had the yeast going and then I checked the flour and found out I had run out—not a pretty picture! Substituting bread flour for all-purpose flour didn’t work very well. Needless to say, I stocked up and learned a valuable lesson.
However, what puzzled me was that I endeavor to always keep my pantry stocked up for any baking project. So, what went wrong? Actually, nothing. I later discovered that I had put the extra bag of flour in the veggie drawer of the fridge for lack of cupboard space. I had recently moved into a new home and was still getting used to where I stashed things! But, it was still a good learning lesson.
So, you might ask, what does all this have to do with the message? A lot! Just like you can’t use the wrong ingredients when baking, you can’t use the wrong “ingredients” when praying. You can’t mix doubt and unbelief with faith and get the desired results. Let’s look at Mark 11:23:
Mark 11:23 (KJV) 23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou 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.
I want you to notice the ingredients in this verse for getting results: shall say, shall not doubt in your heart, shall believe, shall have. Mixing doubt and unbelief with your faith will not get you the right results. But let’s dig a little further.
Just what is doubt? Doubt actually questions the stand you’re taking; it withdraws from the original position of believing God. But, let me say that if you have doubt in your head but faith in your heart, you can still get the desired results. In Mark 11 Jesus tells us to doubt not in our hearts but believe. And you can only believe with your heart, not your head.
Now what about unbelief? Unbelief can come from wrong teaching or just not knowing the truth. It can also come from focusing on the physical realm instead of the spirit realm where all the answers are. So what do you do? I’m glad you asked because it’s not hard, just takes effort on your part.
First of all, you must re-program you mind with the truth of God’s Word so that it gets down into your heart. That’s called renewing your mind.
Romans 12:2 (KJV) 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Ephesians 4:23 (KJV) 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) 15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Faith is in the heart, not the head. That’s why you need to study God’s Word because faith comes by hearing God’s Word – Romans 10:17.
The way to get rid of unbelief is to know God’s Word. But, in addition to that, you need to focus on the spirit realm more than the physical realm. If all you’ll ever believe is what you can know with your five physical senses – see, hear, smell, taste, touch—you’ll never walk in the fullness of what God has for you.
Walking in the spirit realm is a higher realm, actually the parent realm of the physical realm. You must look beyond what you see with your natural eyes and look to God’s Word (the spirit realm) to determine what is the truth. For example:
If you’re battling a sickness, and you pray, rebuking it, commanding it to go, and standing on God’s Word that by the stripes of Jesus you have already been healed, but then look at your body and notice that it still looks sick, you have to bypass that and continue to stand on God’s Word. Don’t be moved by what you see. Be moved only by what God’s Word says.
Unbelief will negate your faith faster than a New York minute if you let it. Take your stand and be a faither, standing on God’s Word and walking in victory!
Romans 10:17 (KJV) 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
1 Peter 2:24 (KJV) 24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
—Pamela
Pamela Moyle Ministries 