82. UNBELIEF CANNOT COME!

(The Faith Forum Series – Batch 3)

Belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, his power and his promises is the door that will take you through to a heavenly inheritance (salvation) and earthly opportunities, blessings and miracles.

People who are lost and die without their sins being removed by God through Jesus, don’t just experience the reality of hell but they also never get to experience the BEAUTY of heaven because unbelief CANNOT come.

You have to believe to see. If you don’t believe, you will not see. This is why Jesus told the Jews in John 8:21 and 24: “…Whither I go, ye CANNOT come…for IF YE BELIEVE NOT that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”

It is also why Jesus did not perform many mighty miracles in his home country. The Bible says, “And he did not many mighty works there BECAUSE OF THEIR UNBELIEF”. (Matthew 13:58).

It was why, when two blind men followed him crying and saying, “Thou Son of David, have mercy on us” that Jesus replied, “BELIEVE YE THAT I AM ABLE TO DO THIS?” (Matthew 9:27) When they answered, “Yea, Lord”, the Bible states “THEN touched he their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it unto you.” (Matthew 9:28-29)

It was also why Jesus cautioned Jairus to fear not but to continue believing, despite the evil report he had just received, that his daughter for whom he sought healing, had died. It was why when Jesus arrived on the scene, he put all those who were wailing and weeping at the death of the girl, out of the room, before he performed a miracle and raised her back to life.

It is clear that they were wailing and weeping before Jesus arrived but what is also evident is that even when Jesus, who was the Master of their salvation, their Creator, the Messiah, the one called Emmanuel, the God of miracles and the Prince of Peace had arrived on the scene, they STILL continued to wail and make a commotion.

This was because THEY DID NOT BELIEVE that he could raise her from the dead. Jesus was in the ‘ship’ but alas, THEY DID NOT BELIEVE that there was hope in him.

For those that may have been present at other times when Jesus did miracles and experienced same or heard testimonies from others of what he had done before, the extent of the problem was to them, so far gone, that it made them distracted, forgetting who was in their midst.

This man made the lame to walk again, healed all manner of sicknesses, both physical and spiritual and turned water into wine. Yet, in that moment of adversity, they forgot who he was and of his proven track record or perhaps THEY DID NOT BELIEVE that his power was without limitation and therefore, that he, who was in fact THE RESURRECTION and THE LIFE, could bring the girl back to life.

They therefore magnified the problem more than Jesus and because UNBELIEF CANNOT COME, he put them all out before he worked his miracle.

Mark 5:22 -24 and 35-42 state:

“And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet, And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him…While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further? As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue,BE NOT AFRAID, ONLY BELIEVE.

And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James. And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.

But when HE HAD PUT THEM ALL OUT, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.”

Finally because one has to believe in the all mighty power of Jesus in order to see the miracle manifest, this was why Jesus told Martha, right as he was about to raise her brother Lazarus from the dead (although, as Martha remarked, he had been dead and stinking for FOUR days!), “Said I not unto thee, that, IF THOU WOULDEST BELIEVE, thou shouldest see the GLORY of God?” (John 11:40).

Sometimes, the only thing standing in the way between you and the MANIFESTATION of your MIRACLE is your unbelief. Where Jesus is there are miracles but a heart of unbelief CANNOT come and therefore, will not be blessed by such experiences.

The Israelites who doubted God would take them into the Promised Land as he had promised and therefore complained along the way and while in the wilderness, which, while it may have been difficult was necessary for their processing, died along the way because where God was leading, unbelief COULD NOT come. Instead, he took their children in.

The Bible says of them in Hebrews 3:17-19:

“But with whom was he (God) grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should NOT enter into his rest but to them that believed not? So we see that they COULD NOT ENTER IN BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF…”

Psalm 78:12-16, 19-22, 31-33 and 41 state of God, who took the Israelites out from Egypt and delivered them from bondage under the Egyptians:

“Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap. In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers….Yet they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people? Therefore the Lord heard this and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob and anger also came up against Israel; BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED NOT IN GOD, AND TRUSTED NOT IN HIS SALVATION…The wrath of God came upon them and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel. For all this they sinned still AND BELIEVED NOT, for his wondrous works. Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble…Yea, they turned back and tempted God, AND LIMITED THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL.”

When you BELIEVE to SEE the impossible, the impossible becomes POSSIBLE. When you place limits on God’s power however and in his ability to work miracles, your unbelief will be detrimental to your own advancement. For, the Lord chooses to operate through faith.

In Hebrews 4:6 and 11, it reads:

“Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached ENTERED NOT IN BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF…Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of UNBELIEF.”

Faith in Jesus OPENS doors. Faith in Jesus MOVES mountains. Faith in Jesus UNLOCKS blessings but if you don’t believe, then you CANNOT come. Faith QUALIFIES you to experience MIRACLES through the supernatural hand of almighty God.

If you put your trust and faith in Jesus and in his power to save, cleanse, keep, preserve, protect, provide and bless you, THEN you CAN come.

(Written on 25th February, 2017)