Don’t be a but-ting goat

Today, I’m playing on the fact that goats butt and too many Christians add the word “but” to their statements of belief. I’m not talking about when we’re speaking to the pastor and trying to look holy, I’m talking about when we talk with one another and say things like: “I believe God heals everyone, but it doesn’t work for me.” or “I believe that God is my provider but I never have enough money.” What you say after the “but” is what you truly believe! This may seem a little hard but that doesn’t make it any less true.

The Bible is clear that while Jesus died to set us free from sin, sickness, poverty and every work of the devil, that this victory is received through faith. The Bible is also clear that when we ask God for things, we must believe that we receive and not be double minded (full of doubt).

Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

The word “saved” above is a translation of the Greek word SOZO. It means:  I save, heal, preserve, make whole, rescue. Also to save, to keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction.

Mark 11:22-24
So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

James 1:5-8
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;  he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Praise God, that when He asks us to do something, He also provides the power and ability to do that thing. We have everything we need from God to be clear in our faith, without disbelief.

Did you know that you can have faith and disbelieve operating in you at the same time? You can both believe and disbelieve something (double mindedness).

Mark 9:23-24
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”  Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Disbelief will cancel out your belief if you let it run free. Even Jesus was unable to operate in a place where the people were acting in unbelief.

Mark 6:4-6
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.” Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.

We banish unbelief from out lives by learning the truth of the word of God, which is called renewing our minds (Romans 12:2) and by prayer and fasting.

See Mark 9: 14:29. This is the story of a boy inhabited by a deaf and dumb spirit which caused him to have repetitive seizures. The father of the boy brings him to the disciples of Jesus for help but as he goes into another seizure before their eyes, they are overwhelmed and allow their faith to be overcome by unbelief. The disciples are unsuccessful and Jesus is called upon to help. Jesus casts out the spirit after encouraging everyone to believe. When the disciples ask why they could not cast out the spirit, Jesus replied that the kind of unbelief they had entered into, required prayer and fasting to overcome.

(Remember, fasting doesn’t “move” God, He’s not stuck! Prayer and fasting, “re-calibrates” us from focusing on the natural world to focusing on the spiritual things of God.”)

We have all the faith we need because God deposits it in us. God does not play favourites (Rom 2:11, Acts 10:34), He gives everyone an equal measure of faith. We also as born-again believers, have Jesus living in us. We are to live our lives not in our own strength but using His faith.

Romans 12:3 (KJV)
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Galatians 2:20 (KJV)
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

[If your Bible version has “a measure” and “faith in” instead of “the measure” and “faith of” in the above two verses, then know that the Greek versions of these words are not as clear as they are in English. Translating them is difficult and requires an understanding of context and often the translator’s personal theology enters into which English word is used. I believe the KJV’s use here is consistent with the context and the Gospel of Jesus.]

Let’s be committed to living lives of faith, banishing unbelief from us. Don’t be like the double minded man who get’s nothing from God!