In previous issues of this newsletter we have observed that most Christians are limited in their understanding of true biblical faith. Most of us think FAITH is simply one’s belief in the existence of God and in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But fully developed biblical faith is actually a force that can cause God’s promises to become reality in our lives (for more details request a FREE e-mailed copy of Part Seven of this series). Therefore, the more complete definition of biblical faith includes the following properties:

• Faith is the act of trusting in God instead of what we see in the natural.
• Faith is being confident that God will bring to pass what we are hoping for.
• Faith involves taking ownership of the things we are hoping for before we receive them.
• Faith requires that we take action on what we believe before it actually manifests.
• Faith is a force that is strong enough to overcome the world.

If God has told you to expect something specific this year, faith will be required for you to see it manifested. You can’t neglect His promise with apathy and disrespect and expect it to show up later, on its own, with no effort on your part. Believers are called to live by faith (Romans 1:17); in fact, it’s impossible to please God except through faith (Hebrews 11:6). Therefore, releasing one’s faith simply means to use it as the force it was intended to be in order to draw the promises of God from the supernatural into where we live. If we fail to release our faith, the manifestation of His promises will continue to be confined indefinitely to the supernatural.

The greatest hindrance to the full release of our faith is doubt. The Bible says you can have what you say if you believe (release your faith) and don’t doubt in your heart (Mark 11:23). Most Christians read this verse and gloss over it as something impossible to perform; but why would Jesus have spoken it and encouraged us to do it if that were so? This is an invitation to move mountains with the force of one’s faith! What’s required is to speak out what we are believing for and to make a determined decision to not doubt that God will deliver as He has promised.

Doubt (unbelief) is the principal thing that causes us to become passive and forget about the promises we are waiting for God to bring about. The word “doubt” actually means to waver or stagger in one’s belief or to be unstable. In other words, to doubt means to be double-minded (James 1:8). In fact, both of these words come from the same root. Doubt (double- mindedness) is what your enemy uses to weaken your faith, to separate you from God’s promises and to delay their full and timely manifestation in the natural. What the Bible actually says is that if you doubt you shouldn’t expect to receive anything from God (James 1:7). Therefore, it ought to be apparent that many Believers need to awaken to the principle that casual doubt impedes the Lord’s ability to deliver His promises so we can begin to focus on how to overcome it.

The truth is most Believers frequently forget or disregard that resisting and overcoming doubt is a big part of faith. The result is we routinely fall short of our potential so that biblical prosperity is not fully manifesting in our lives. Therefore, we need to recognize that doubt is actually a problem that we should want to overcome. Once we have reached that level of awareness, there are some actions we can begin to take that will lead us eventually to overcoming doubt.

1. Ask Christ to help you with your doubt – To start with you are going to need some help. You can’t overcome something as big as unbelief in your own strength. On one occasion a certain father brought his demon possessed son to Jesus and asked Him if He could do something to help him. Jesus responded that “all things are possible to him who believes.” And the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief” after which Jesus delivered the boy from the oppressing spirits (Mark 9:14-29). The point is Jesus will help us with our unbelief. All we have to do is ask Him and then release our faith that He’ll do it.

2. Study the Word to make your faith grow and strengthen – The development of strong faith requires that we immerse ourselves continually in the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17) and strong faith is essential for resisting doubt. If we are negligent in studying the Word, our faith will be weak and our ignorance will cause us to act in unbelief (1Timothy 1:13). Even if it has been strong at times in the past, if we stop studying, our faith will regress and return to weakness. Strong faith requires a steady diet of God’s Word as well as our commitment to obey and live by what we find there. Soon you can come to the point where your faith becomes a force that moves God’s promises from the supernatural to the natural.

3. Confess the promises of God – In order to resist doubt, what you speak must agree with the Word of God and with your understanding of what He has promised to do on your behalf. When doubt presents itself, speaking is your first line of defense. If you are believing for debt freedom for example, then your speech should agree with it even though your circumstances appear to be entirely to the contrary. It is not denial to agree with the Word instead of your circumstances because you are agreeing with what God already has done for you in the supernatural. Your job is to let the power of your confession draw the promise by faith from the supernatural into the natural. When you decide to let your speaking agree with your faith instead of with your doubt, you will be resisting that doubt and you will soon see the promises of God manifesting in your life.

4. Speak directly to your problems – Once you have asked the Lord to solve a particular problem in your life, you should believe that He has heard and answered your request. That means you don’t have to ask Him anymore to take care of the same problem. Rather by faith you should begin to speak directly to the problem (Mark 11:23); command it to get in agreement with the promises of God and to get out of your life. You can also speak directly to the good things you have asked for and command them to manifest. If your faith is strong in the Word, your commands will move the promises of God into the natural.

5. Cast down negative thoughts – When thoughts of doubt come to you, instead of passively entertaining them and allowing them to weaken your faith, cast them down. Cast them out and away from you. The Bible tells us to cast down every reasoning that is raised up against the knowledge of God and to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). By casting down wrong thoughts, you will be resisting doubt.

6. Rest, don’t worry – Once you’ve heard from God, begin to rest on His promises instead of worrying about how and when they are going to manifest. Worry is the outward evidence of a lack of faith (Mark 4:40). In fact, it is one of the primary things that chokes the Word and causes it to be unfruitful in your life (Matthew 13:22). When you start to worry you need to get yourself into the Word so you can transfer your focus from the thing(s) you are worrying about to Jesus. If you focus on Christ, you won’t be worrying. Rather you will be enjoying the peace that passes all understanding where the force of a mature faith can move mountains.

7. Walk in love – Finally, the essential requirement for overcoming anything in the Kingdom of God is walking in “agape” love. Your faith won’t work without love (1 Corinthians 13:2) and the result of faithlessness is doubt and fear. God is love (1John 4:8) and perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). Since fear is the opposite of faith, the logical and correct conclusion is that perfect love releases your faith. You can’t be in strife or unforgiveness and walk in either love or faith. You also can’t be rude, quarrelsome or easily offended. Lack of love will always produce doubt. Every principle and law of biblical prosperity depends on love (Matthew 22:37-40) because God is love.

Having thoughts that contradict our faith doesn’t necessarily mean we are doubting; but we need to speak to those thoughts, take control of them and kick them out by the power of the Word and our faith. It’s all about what we do with those thoughts that defines whether or not we have actually entered into doubt. Friend, the truth is passive faith won’t get you very far and the biblical principle of Law that applies to our topic today is this: if you want the full manifestation of biblical prosperity in your life, you must aggressively resist the temptation to doubt the promises of God. If you can aggressively resist doubt and walk in love, you will come to the point that you receive what you say without delay and without fail. Indeed, if you can overcome doubt and walk in love, your faith can become a force that will move mountains.

May God bless you and your family today with His prosperity and abundance. Thank you for reading Prosperous Life Newsletter and we’ll be looking for you again in three weeks.

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