“He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.” (Romans 4:20-21 NKJV)
As Abraham continued to walk with God, he got to a point in his walk with God that he could no longer doubt any of God’s promises.
The Scripture reveals that there was a point in Abraham’s walk with God that “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.” (Rom. 4:20-21 NKJV).
From that point Abraham’s eyes became fixed on God’s promises and he would not “consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.” (Rom. 4:19 NKJV).
You also must desire to get to that point in your personal walk with God!
Undoubtedly, Abraham’s conviction about God’s ability to perform what He had promised was the result of his intimacy with God. He had come to know God too well to doubt His willingness, power or ability to fulfil His promises to him.
Even when all things in the natural realm were contrary to what God had promised Abraham, yet he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief because of his personal revelation knowledge of God.
Abraham had come to know God as the One who gives life to the dead and who calls those things which do not exist as though they did (Rom. 4:17).
Like Abraham, if you also know God well enough, you will never doubt His willingness and ability to fulfil His promises to you.
The root of unbelief is ignorance!
Your lack of confidence in God’s Word is an indication or expression of your lack of revelation knowledge of the God of the Word.
The primary reason why you always struggle to believe or trust God to perform what He has promised you is because you don’t have personal revelation knowledge of God’s infinite love, wisdom and power.
It is impossible to know God intimately and still doubt His willingness and ability to do whatever He said He will do for you.
Unbelief or doubt is an offshoot of ignorance of God’s love for you in Christ Jesus!
You will always doubt God’s promises to you until you are fully convinced that God loves you completely, unconditionally, and infinitely.
If you are rooted, settled and grounded in God’s love, nothing will be able to shake or overthrow your confidence in God’s words or promises (Rom. 8:35-39, Eph. 3:17-19).
You cannot have revelation or experiential knowledge of God’s love for you in Christ Jesus and still struggle to trust God to supply all your needs, to heal you, to deliver you, to protect you, or to guide and help you.
Like the Psalmist, when you know, recognize, or acknowledge God as your light, salvation and the strength of your life; your heart will never fear or doubt, rather, you also will be confident and bold in life.
Psalms 27:
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell.
3 Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war should rise against me, In this I will be confident. (NKJV).
Although the children of Israel saw diverse signs and wonders of God while they were in Egypt and in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land, yet they continually doubted God’s love, wisdom, power and promises.
The Scripture testifies to their incessant unbelief.
Psalms 78:
19 Yes, they spoke against God: They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 Behold, He struck the rock, So that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also? Can He provide meat for His people?” (NKJV).
You may ask, “What on earth was wrong with the children of Israel?”
Ignorance!
Lack of revelation knowledge of God!
They never got to know God intimately!
They only knew the acts of God, but they did not know the ways of God (Psa. 103:7)!
Like the children of Israel, you will never know what it means to be steadfast in faith, not wavering at the promise of God through unbelief, if you don’t have personal and intimate revelation knowledge of God.
It is only those who know God intimately that can trust Him wholeheartedly. Therefore, intimacy with God is an effective antidote against unbelief.
It is the depth of your personal, intimate or experiential knowledge of God that determines your level of trust in God. You cannot trust God more than you know Him. Trusting God is the fruit of knowing God!
When you know God deeper, you will trust Him better!
Like Abraham, as you grow in intimacy with God and thus grow in revelation knowledge of God, you will get to a point when you also will be fully convinced that what God has promised He is also able to perform.
Moreover, it is also as you renew your mind increasingly with the truths of God’s Word that you can trust God increasingly.
An unrenewed mind is the breeding ground for fear, unbelief and doubt. Therefore, you cannot overcome fear, doubt or unbelief without renewing your mind according to the truths of God’s Word.
As a born-again believer in Christ, your recreated spirit is identical with Christ in every form, for “he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” (1 Cor. 6:17 NKJV).
Your born-again spirit was “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Eph. 4:24 RSV).
Your born-again spirit has been “renewed into full knowledge according to the image of him that has created him.” (Col. 3:10 DBY). Your born-again spirit has the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).
It is therefore impossible for your born-again or recreated spirit to doubt, rationalize or reject God’s promises or words.
It is your unrenewed physical mind that doubts, rationalizes and rejects God’s promises or words (Rom. 8:7).
Your physical mind has been properly schooled, trained, programmed or set by your old sinful and fallen self to fear, doubt, rationalize or reject spiritual realities.
Paul states, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor. 2:14 NKJV).
Even though you are now a new creation or self in Christ, yet you still possess the same physical mind of the old self that has been trained to doubt and rationalize God’s Word.
Therefore, when you allow your unrenewed physical mind to rule, dominate or control you, you will always doubt and rationalize God’s promises or words. If you don’t renew this mind, it will always cause you to doubt and rationalize God’s promises or words.
It was not the boisterous wind that was responsible for Peter sinking while walking on the water towards Jesus, but his unrenewed physical mind.
Peter began to sink when he began to see and process the boisterous wind in his physical mind as any natural man will do (Matt. 14:30). It was at that point that fear and doubt began to dominate his mind, thereby causing him to begin to sink.
The unrenewed physical mind is the primary cause why many believers today are sinking in sins, sicknesses, defeat, failure, or poverty. You cannot walk in perpetual victory that Christ has won for you if you only see, think, or process things in your physical mind as a natural man.
Like Peter, God has given you all that it takes to walk on the troubled water of life, but without renewing your mind or thinking according to the truths of God’s Word, you may not walk long on the troubled water of life before you begin to doubt God’s Word and thus begin to sink.
It takes a renewed mind for Paul not to sink into doubt, unbelief, depression and discouragement when he was hard pressed on every side. Apparently, he didn’t see or process his sufferings for the sake of Christ with his physical mind as a natural man will do.
That is why Paul could say, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” (2 Cor. 4:17 NKJV).
Similarly, no matter how hard the devil may press you on every side, like Paul, you will not doubt God’s love for you and God’s faithfulness to keep His promises if you don’t see and process things with your physical unrenewed or carnal mind.
Beloved, no boisterous wind or storms of life can cause your faith to falter, shake your confidence in God’s promises, or make you to doubt God’s love for you and thus make you sink into depression and despair if you choose not to see, perceive, view or regard the storms of life as natural men would do but as a spiritual man in Christ Jesus.
Fear, doubt or unbelief can only rule and dominate your mind when you begin to see, evaluate and process what happens to you as a natural man will do.
Therefore, stop seeing, thinking, or processing things as natural men. Rather, begin to see, think and process things as a new creation in Christ, just as Jesus Christ Himself would do.
This is the sure way to overcome fear, doubt and unbelief!
Prayer: My Dear Heavenly Father, teach me daily by Your Word and Spirit how to see, think, reason, perceive and process trials and challenges of life as a new creation in Christ, in Jesus’ name. Amen.