How do one continued to believe without doubt when one’s patience is constantly tested and faith is constantly challenge?

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In Hebrews 11:1 of the bible, faith is defined as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is defined in two parts. The first part is pertaining to the essential value; the usefulness or the fundamental importance of a thing hopes for. Of course, the thing hoped for has not manifested or materialized yet in the individual life; nevertheless, to the individual it has value. The second part is pertaining to the obtainment; the manifestation; the materialization or the fulfillment of the thing hoped for through the evidence of proof; witness; sight; truth or touch. Hope is the fundamental core of faith.  When one’s confidence in what they desire; anticipate; and expect dissipate so does their faith; their belief; and their hope.

The bible tells us in 1 Peter 5:8; to be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary; the devil as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. You might wonder what does this have to do with faith; the dots will connect in a minute. Also, the bible tells us in John 10:10; that the thief, who is the devil, come to steal, kill, and destroy. In other words, the devil walketh about seeking to steal your blessings by killing your dreams and desires and destroying your faith. He will use you as your own worst enemy. Think about it, one day you are full of faith because you know your prayer was heard by God; after all you prayed a fervent prayer. For this reason, you are expecting God to answer your prayer soon. You tell yourself, my prayer definitely met God’s requirement; because, the bible declares you only need the faith as a grain of mustard seed, and I prayed with more faith than a grain of a mustard seed. Now, after a few days turns into a few weeks of still waiting on God to answer your pray, here comes the devil. He has you right where he wants you; so that it’s easy for him to steal your blessing by killing your dream and destroying your faith.  The devil begins to whisper into your spirit; he tells you that God is not going to answer your prayer because of some things you did in your past that wasn’t pleasing to Him. The devil begins to show you glimpses of your childhood when you were disobedient and defiant to your parents and to elders. He shows you how you cursed out your co-worker last week just because you were having a bad day. Your hope begins to dissipate and is replaced with doubtful thoughts. You begin to question within your mind; have God not forgive me for what I did as a child; or did he not forgive me for cursing my co-worker out last week; maybe, this is why he hasn’t answered my prayer. This is how the devil uses us to be our own worse enemy. He whispers into our spirit and cause us to believe in the thoughts he put in mind are our own thoughts and the reasons why God has not answered our prayer. For some reason, when the devil comes and causes us to believe these thoughts that is totally contrary to who God is and his word, we seem to hold on for years to what the devil has whisper into our spirit. We do not realize by doing this, we are executing belief in what the devil has deposit into our spirit above the word of God.  Why do we do this? Good question. We do it because the devil uses something we are familiar with. He uses actual past events or situations in our life that is real and tangible; therefore, it is more easily believed. We don’t need faith to believe in a past tense experience we previously lived. And because it is something that we have previously experience, the guilt of our action within that experience holds us in contempt, making is difficult for us to forgive ourselves. The devil makes us believe that the unforgiveness that we have for self is how God feel about us and the reason for him not answering our prayer. This is why the bible tells us in 1 Peter 5:8; to be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary; the devil as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

In order to change our mindset from what the devil has whisper into our spirit; we must first repent for believing the influence of the devil over the word of God. Next, we must go back to the word of God to help us obtain faith. In Roman 10:17; the bible declares “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” This is why we must guard our hearing by anything other than the word of God. When someone wants to deposit something negative into your spirit by way of hearing; rebuke it. You don’t have to shout in a defensive matter to the person “I rebuke what you are saying”. You simply need to say, within your mind, as they are speaking; I rebuke you. Then you change the subject to something more pleasing. That person may not be aware that the adversary is using them. When you rebuke, in your mind, what you are hearing, something might quicken in that person spirit letting them know they are in error; hopefully, causing them to repent in private. Okay, back to sustaining faith. As previously stated, the bible teaches us faith come by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Also, the bible teaches us in Matthew 17:20; “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed nothing shall be impossible to you.” Let’s briefly recap before concluding. We know that faith comes by hearing. We know the measurement of faith needed to see the impossible possible; and we know, how faith is defined in the bible. Also, we have learned that as soon as we execute faith, the adversary comes to kill, steal, and destroy our faith by using negative past life experiences. Therefore, because faith is about believing in something occurring in the future that has not yet occurred, we must meditate on God’s word and on biblical or current life experiences that has manifested because of one’s faith. One of my favorite biblical stories on faith is found in Matthew 9:20-22; as well as in Mark 5:25-34; it’s about a woman who was diseased with an issue of blood for twelve years. She pushed her way through a crowd of people to reach Jesus. She thought to herself, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, I will be made whole. She believed this in her heart without compromise. There was no doubt in her spirit for the devil to use against her belief of being made whole. It’s a possibility the reason why she was diseased for twelve years is because she allowed the devil to whisper into her spirit when she first became diseased. When a person is sick and tire of being sick and tire; they do not have room for the devil. When the woman finally reached Jesus and touched his garment; Jesus immediately felt something move out of him spiritually to someone else. He felt the sincerity of this person’s faith. The woman’s faith caused him to turn around as he was walking to ask “Who touched my clothes?” As he turns looking into the crowd of people to see the person that touched him; he laid eyes on her. She begins to tremble with fear after hearing him say “who touch my clothes?” She fell on her knees in his presence. Jesus was not angry with the woman touching him. He looks at her then say “woman your faith has made you whole; go in peace. The woman issue with blood was dried up immediately after touching Jesus’ garment prior to him asking “who touched my clothing?” When we pray, let’s all vow to counter the attached of the adversary by rebuking him in our spirit, mind, and thoughts; especially when our prayers aren’t answer within the time period we set in our minds. Some prayers are answered immediately and some take time; nevertheless, God is true to his word. He is a God that cannot lie. If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed nothing shall be impossible to you. Be blessed and at peace.

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