Doubt vs Faith, Winning the War in your Mind, Part 2, Ep 3-14

Welcome Back! I am your host Dawn Simmons, and in this episode of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies we are going to be discussing the second part of our two-part series on the ever-common struggle we have with doubt versus faith so we can begin to win that war in our head. Understand if doubt is with you, there is a war going on, even if you don’t recognize it.  How we respond to doubt reveals a lot about our relationship with the Lord. This is a two-part series and in the first part we talked about the Spirit of Doubt and laid the groundwork for both episodes and now we will dig into faith and how we go about winning this war in our minds.

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The pivotal scripture for this series is Matthew 21: 21-22, because in it we hear what Jesus has to say about the relationship between the two, doubt and faith.  Remember, there is an inverse relationship in these two and it is our responsibility to manage that relationship both in the natural realm and in the spiritual realm.  We live in both simultaneously and we need to speak and move like we live in both simultaneously.

Matthew 21:21-22 says this, Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Let’s review where we started last week with the definitions of doubt and faith

Doubt: to be uncertain about; consider questionable or unlikely; hesitate to believe:

Faith: complete trust or confidence in someone or something

To talk about faith, we need to understand there are levels of faith and why there are levels of faith. I am presenting these in a specific order, your faith will generally grow in this order.  As it grows, it becomes elevated for what you are believing the Holy Spirit will do in your life, lead you to do in your life, lead you to do in the lives of others, whatever your plan and purpose is with Him in Kingdom business.  

First is what I refer to as a beginner level faith or saving faith as found in Ephesians 2:8, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—” So we truly need to be saved first.  Our salvation is through our beginner level or saving faith in who we believe Jesus is and what He did for our sins, his death and resurrection.  If that is all we have, we know where our eternal security is, but we are expected to move beyond that level of faith. So let’s move beyond and talk about the next level.

Second, is just a simple faith, some call it general, but most functioning Christians operate in simple faith. When I say functioning, I mean Christians who attend church and have some involvement with Christian principles or practices in their lives. Paul describes it in Romans 12:3, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” When we think of simple faith, it is what every believer operates in as they pray and move in their lives.  We must have this level of faith to have encouragement in the Word.  This level of faith is increased the more we read His word and understand who He is. Going beyond this level of faith becomes rare.  Faith is uncomfortable and those willing to go past their comfortability are rewarded greatly.

The third level of faith is more complicated.  The third level I call “Faithfulness” because it is through our faith that we change and become more Christlike.  This level of faith is where many of us say are always trying to attain but may feel like we never truly measure up.  We all probably know someone who has “faithfulness” and we admire them for their commitment, but overcoming that challenge is likely something still just our of our reach, not because it us unattainable, but more likely because it takes time, effort commitment, consistency and discipline to allow our faith to grow because it does not grow alone. Another way to look at it is like a ladder where somedays we climb up and then, some days we go down a level.  Imagine it as a ladder with 9 rungs and we are trying our best to get up but even on our best days, it can be a difficult to get all 9 rungs.  Any guesses what I am referring to here?  This third level is called “faithfulness” because it is part of our goal to live our lives with the fruits of the spirit.  Galatians 5:22 puts it this way, “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” 

I believe most of us focus on all of the other 8 gifts and leave “faithfulness” out in the cold a bit because it doesn’t seemingly get tested the way the others do. 

The fourth and final kind of faith is Supernatural Faith.  This is one of the 9 supernatural gifts as described in 1 Corinthians 12.  It is one of the Power Gifts and it is the greatest of the Power gifts.

When people talk about the spiritual gifts, faith is misunderstood. It is looked at as just being super extra faithful.  It’s not thought of as supernatural.  People are unable to grow in their faith because we focus on all the things we aren’t, instead of all the things we actually are and will become.  When we get caught up in all we struggle with, we neglect to fully partner with God because we think we aren’t worthy to move forward into supernatural levels of anything. That’s a lie from the enemy and we need to deny any of those thoughts from a place in our mind and heart.  The Lord cares about our heart and our willingness to seek Him. Grow through all of that and elevate your faith.

Now let’s talk about why the gift of faith, supernatural faith, is the greatest of the power gifts and I hope this ignites in you the desire to pursue it.  Supernatural Faith Brings into operation the invisible and limitless resources of heaven so that the one with this faith has protection of the angels. Once you have the spiritual gift of Faith, nothing can stop you, the enemy cannot move you and you can undo what the enemy has done. In order for Supernatural faith to operate, there is an element of danger required, that is why we have the shield of faith, for protection. Supernatural faith is passive, it receives the miracle.

Faith, I think gets a bad rap though because you cannot see faith.  It is intangible so it is overlooked.  A leg growing back, a person raised from the dead, you cannot miss that. If you saw either of those things occur, you would be mesmerized by that gift and the action that you witnessed. 

You don’t witness faith, you can’t see it so you can’t qualify it’s importance. 

Supernatural faith can still exist and needs to exist to be able to accomplish what we are called to do for the Kingdom. Just because you may not have seen it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. There are plenty of things in this world I have never seen, but it doesn’t mean they don’t exist. If we all carried that level of faith, which we are capable of, think of how many people would still be with us, think of the cures we could have, think of the diseases we could eliminate, think of the birth defects we could correct.  

If I were to define supernatural faith, I would say “A supernatural level of faith is exhibited when the words spoken by the individual operating in the gift of faith is powered by the Holy Spirit and enabled to come to pass.” 

Examples: Moses parting Red Sea Ex 14, Daniel in the Lions Den Ch 6, Elijah and Fire, 1 & 2 Kings

We have now discussed the Spirit of Doubt and the four types of faith.  Where do we go from here? Assuming you want to win this war, then we need to be honest with ourselves and I have 7 steps to Grow Faith and Dissolve Doubt, it seems like a lot, but it’s really not.

1.     Identify what level of faith you are operating with or without and decide at what level of faith you are interested in building toward.

a.     You are still going to go through the natural progression, that’s part of the growth process, but knowing the starting point and your end goal is important to allow yourself the time, understand the discipline needed and your willingness to be consistent in growing in Him.

2.     Set aside consistent time to read the Bible where you focus on areas of faith.

a.     This can be done by reading the stories of those who had to exhibit great faith in order to accomplish what God called them to do.  Both Old and New Testament.  As you read, look for commonalities, spiritual principles, how they overcame their struggles with doubt.

b.     Set aside time to read the Bible and focus on areas addressing doubt. Use same method you used for studying faith.

c.     Find outside reading of people of faith and read their stories of how they were able to accomplish Kingdom projects through their faith.

3.     Set aside consistent prayer time to build your relationship with the Holy Spirit specifically asking Him to help you build your faith. 

a.     This is not time to complete your prayer list for your neighbors and friends.  This is quiet time for the Holy Spirit to fill you with what you need to grow.

b.     Be patient and listen to what He has to say to you

c.     Follow through with what He is guiding you to do or not do.

4.     Begin to move in areas of your life that require faith.  We have to practice faith in order for it to grow. 

a.     Partner with the Holy Spirit on areas where you can begin to level up your faith and see how He will move with you and what He requires of you.

b.     Remember to thank Him for all He is doing with you and for you.

5.     Keep going

6.     Keep going

7.     Keep going

Before we end, I want to go back to our pivotal scripture in Matthew 21.  Jesus says, if you have faith and do not doubt, this is a conditional statement with an inverse relationship.  Remember back when you were a kid, way back in grade school.  I don’t even know if they still have these, but I’m sure most of us remember the see saw.  You would get on one end of the plank, someone else would get on the other and the plank would pivot over a center point and you could go back and forth and oh it was so fun. The best part was to be the one on the top end, high above everything. No one wants to be the one down on the ground. It was all so fun until that one kid, the one kid that is was a wildcard, that can sometimes be mean spirited, and they get on opposite you.  You have no control, and the next thing you know, they decide to bail on you and without any weight on the other end of the plank, you come crashing down. Those were the worst. Now I want you to think about faith and doubt this way.  That is your see saw.  Your faith is on one side, your doubt is on the other.  How are you going to handle that see saw?  Are faith and doubt going to be looking eye to eye, straight across? Are you going to sandbag your faith and stay on the bottom while Doubt rises above? That’s how most people would ride that ride, maybe a momentary pop up but right back down? Or are you going to fully trust in the Holy Spirit, get on that see saw, push the weight of Doubt down and let your faith rise above and live out your life up there on that see saw high above and in full sight of all that the Holy Spirit is planning in your life? Does it mean that at some point you might be a little nervous you are going to fall off, maybe, but you won’t. It all comes down to how you are going to manage that ride.

That’s a decision you have to make and once you do, then that’s what Jesus was talking about when He said, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

I hope this has been time that inspires you to want to learn to grow in your relationship with the Lord and build your desire to partner with Him. We want to grow in Him and learn how to work with Him to build the Kingdom and Conquer Our Unseen Enemies. The more we grow the more our life will change, and you can help change the lives of anyone around you who is willing.

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I have enjoyed our time this week and look forward to spending time with you again next week!