2 Chronicles 20:19-21 "Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high. And they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established. Believe His prophets, and you shall prosper." And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: "Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever."
The man who didn't know what to do learned what to do and he "rose early in the morning" to do it. Jehoshaphat's instructions to his people contain the next key to in resolving our own dilemmas of life: "Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established. Believe His prophets, and you shall prosper."
"If you believe God, you will be established," declared Jehoshaphat. The prophet Isaiah later articulated the converse of these words, "If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established" in Isaiah 7:9. When you are established in God, negative circumstances no longer immobilize you. You may not know what to do, but you know God has the answer. Confusion is replaced by confidence. Fear is conquered by faith.
But how do you believe and become established in faith?
-Reject doubt!
If you are going to embrace belief, then you must reject unbelief and doubt like the plague because they result from a hardened heart:
Mark 16:14 "Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen."
An unbelieving heart will not receive God's message:
John 5:38 "But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe."
Unbelief hinders you from receiving solutions for your problems. Doubt literally cuts you off from the blessings of God! This is graphically illustrated by the experiences of the nation of Israel. God supernaturally delivered Israel from Egypt, parted the Red Sea, and guided them through the wilderness. At Kadesh-Barnea God directed them to take possession of their promised land, but when ten of the twelve spies returned with an evil report the people's hearts were filled with unbelief:
Hebrews 3:17-19 "Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief."
The Amplified Version translates verse 19, "Unbelief had shut them out." Unbelief cuts you off from the supernatural life flow of God:
Mark 6:5, 6 "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."
Don't limit God's power to work in your circumstances by your own unbelief. Reject doubt and assert your confidence in God. You must believe it is God's will to establish you because Isaiah 7:9 says,"if you will not believe, surely you shall not be established."
The Psalmist David declared in Psalms 40:2, "He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps." God sees the hurt and confusion generated by the situations for which you have no answers. God longs to lift you from the pit of your circumstances and He will do it, but you must believe.
(a) Belief is a command:
1 John 3:23 "And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment."
Have you been in perplexing circumstances so long that you see no way out? As the New Testament man whose child was ill, begin to cry out, "Help my unbelief!"
(b) Belief is fostered by immersing yourself in God's Word:
John 20:31 "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."
To be established you must believe God exists and that He will respond to those who seek Him, for "he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him " according to Hebrews 11:6. Belief generates faith and soon you will receive an internal witness that your confidence is not misplaced:
1 John 5:10 "He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son."
Jesus said:
-“Don't be afraid, only believe."
-“Believe and you will receive."
-"If you can believe, all things are possible."
"All things" includes the solution to your circumstances for which there seems to be no answer. Just Believe!
No comments:
Post a Comment