Believing Opposite to God (Un-Belief)

Often times we get faith and belief confused or backwards. Faith is not believing, and believing is not faith. Faith is a result of believing. When we take hold of believing in something of the Lord’s, the moment we step out in that belief, He shows up to provide the Faith we need to live out that belief. The outcomes to believing are Works of Faith. Faith is not what we do to get; faith is putting into practice the things we believe as a result of what we have already gotten. And the only way to have gotten is to have first believed.

Sometimes we feel we need to have faith to believe; but God only asks us to come to Him in belief. How did we accept Him? By believing. Christ Jesus satisfied Faith for us (Hebrews 12:2). We are saved by God’s Grace through Christ’s Faith (Ephesians 2:8). Thus, the only thing we need to do is just believe—a heart-condition, not a mind-condition.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Acts 4:4

Many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

And once we believe, how are we to walk with Him? The exact same way we came to Him—through belief.

Colossians 2:6-7

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. 

It is as simple as that. What results from that then is living a life of Faith, becoming established (as a solid foundation) in His Faith. And thanking Him for everything He did for us!

Why then do we not always feel like we are living a life of Faith, or a Life Abundantly? It can be because of what we believe; not about a having of faith. His Faith is a Fruit of the Spirit in and through us. But we cannot produce that Fruit of Faith if we are not believing (or believing in the wrong thing).

The first belief that always needs addressing is that we must believe in Him and that He is!

Hebrews 11:6

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

John 3:36

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

We either believe in Him or don’t believe in Him. And this plays out in all the belief areas of His Kingdom ways. We are told that if we believe, we shall cast out demons, speak in tongues, and lay our hands on the sick that they will recover (Mark 16:17-18). We will also do greater things than Jesus (John 14:12)! But those things won’t manifest in our lives if we don’t believe.

There are two aspects to the word Belief (and subsequently, Un-Belief) that is becoming apparent to me: that belief is like a light switch, either on or off. Or more specifically like binary (computer) code: a 1 or a 0. There is not an in-between (like a 0.5); and no "dimmer" switch. We either believe, or don't believe. We cannot not believe in everything, and thus we always have a belief in something. But there is an add to this, and that's that we can believe two things at the same time, even when those beliefs are opposing / opposite to one-another: like two ends of a stick—one end points one way, the other end points the other way. Or like a tug-of-war rope that is being pulled in opposite directions affecting what we are trying to believe for.

A very simple aspect to belief is this:

1.  Either you believe in God or you don't: On or Off.
   a.  Jews did not believe. Romans 3:3
   b.  The people in Jesus' own town did not believe. Matthew 13:58
   
   
2. You believe two opposing things: you believe that God can, but also believe in something that counters that God can (an opposing belief - which can manifest as doubt).
   a.  The dad believed but also believed He may not. Mark 9:24
   b.  Abraham believed he'd have a son with Sarah, but also believed He may not (and thus took upon himself with Sarah to have a child with the maidservant). Romans 4:20
   c.  Jesus led the blind man out of the City of Bethsaida to heal him (Mark 8:22). Why? Because the City was full of unbelief (Luke 10:13).

The one big aspect of belief I want to tackle here is the notion that there are varying strengths or amounts of belief. And this main part (big aspect) is that of the word Un-Belief (hyphenated here because I want to visually set apart the key word belief in the word unbelief). Un-Belief is not a diminished level of belief, but a belief in something that opposes a belief in another...i.e. belief in something of God opposed by a belief in something of this world. Most often unintentional; only because we grow up in a world that believes opposite to God by human nature (fallen-world nature).

So let's look at this word Un-Belief in the context & definition of believing in opposition to God. This is brought up through the story of the dad and his boy with epilepsy the disciples weren't able to heal, but Jesus healed.

Mark 9:14-29

And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them? And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; and wheresoever he taketh him, he tears him: and he foams, and gnashes with his teeth, and pines away: and I spoke to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. He answers him, and says, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, how long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, this kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

The dad had both Un-Belief and Belief at the exact same moment. He had asked the Lord, not to help his belief, but to help him with his unbelief. It wasn’t that he needed to “believe more” (increase his belief), but to remove his unbelief. The dad had two beliefs, not a diminished belief.

Sadly, thinking that we can have diminished belief leads to the phrase "I just need to believe more". Which is the worst kind of thinking we can get—as it only brings frustration, turmoil, and quit in our life. Leading to anger with God and confusion over Him. Which then we conclude that God only "does some things for some people, just not me in this instance". Grrr!

Un-Belief has nothing to do with not believing or lacking belief; un-belief is a belief. "Un" does not equal "not"—we cannot take the literal language interpretation of the prefix "Un" in what it means. "Un" ≠ "Not". The prefix "un" does not mean NOT, it means "in opposition to".

Because of the use of the word "un", we often relate that prefix to the word "not". i.e. we take the word "unemployed" as to mean "not employed" because one cannot be both "employed" and "not employed" at the same time. Yet, with un-belief, it does coexist with belief.

It is believing self / others / this world / media / evil / etc that is always opposite to how God believes. As Arthur Mentjies says: Un-Belief is belief that is "Un". The “Un” is undoing the belief in God's Word—believing in something opposite to God's Word is not NOT believing in Him, it is holding true to a belief that opposes God.

Un-Belief Is NOT Not Believing, Un-Belief Is Believing Opposite to God

(Intentional or Unintentional)

This is revealed to us in scripture by the dad of the boy with epilepsy: "I do believe, help my unbelief". He had both belief and unbelief.

Eve didn't not believe in God when she ate from the tree. No, she believed the serpent too—just as she believed God. She didn't stop believing in God, she let her belief in the serpent override (cancel out / negate) her belief in God at that very moment. Two opposing beliefs. This wasn't because she believed God less or believed the serpent more, it's that she chose (free will) to side with one of the beliefs she had. She "yielded" to the belief in the serpent than "yielded" to the belief in the Lord.

Our free will choice (yielding to) is the key to understanding belief.

Romans 6:16

Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

It's not that we believe something "more" or "less", it's that we chose one belief over the other through a free-will choice. We aren’t required to have “more belief”—just the removal of unbelief. If we were required to have “more belief”, how would we then acquire it; how do we produce it; and how can “more belief” exist? Since it is not about “more”, but about eliminating that which opposes, we then need to ask ourselves: Why am I choosing one over the other? Is it confidence in one over the other? Is it trust? Is it experience / inexperience?

With our relationship with the Lord, we grow in confidence of His ability; trusting in Him coming through when He says; and having more experiences with Him in how He works and behaves. This allows us to let go of control and the decision-making; to let Him be in control. And letting Him be in control, is believing in Him over believing anything else (including ourselves). Letting go of control because we trust in him and have confidence in Him, and experience Him frequently more and more.

We may not consciously / directly believe opposite to the Lord though. One deception of this is when we worry that the Lord won't provide financially--because worry puts the emphasis on someone or something other than the Lord. We might say, "I believe in the verses about the Lord providing for my every need, BUT, I don't know if He'll do it for me / I don't know if He will come through / I am worried that I won't be provided for on time / I still have a responsibility to do it on my own.

This world teaches us financial independence. Yet it is the Lord that wants us to be dependent on Him. Financial independence of ourselves is belief in ourself or our own systems. This is belief. But this is not belief in God. This is belief that opposes God. This is unbelief—not necessarily "not believing in God", but believing in something opposing to the belief we do have in God.

This is why we have to stop believing in other things that are contrary to believing in God. This is renewing our mind. Whether financial provision, or health, or righteous living, from believing in the Holy Spirit to believing He does not exist, to believing the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are still active, or believing that those gifts died away.

It's not hard to believe. It just sometimes feels hard to put aside what we believed before: we believed it was acceptable that God was angry with me, or that it was just "normal" to be sick, or to be poor, or to be defeated, or to be fearful. What hurts and what we feel is the letting go of everything that we believed that was not aligned with what God holds true for us. This is what we feel during fasting. This is renewing the mind. 

Ephesians 4:22-24 

that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 

Romans 12:2

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

When we have unbelief, we have a double-mindedness, being in conflict with ourselves on the inside (our heart and mind). When we have this dividing dispute (contention, hesitation, doubt), we don't always see the manifestation of what we are praying or believing for. We aren't at peace internally with what we want to receive.

James 1:5-8

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

The dad of the child had both belief and unbelief. He believed Jesus could do it, but also believed that the healing of his boy couldn't be done (after seeing the disciples not be able to do it). The dad was torn in his mind (wavering) about what Jesus could do to what the disciples could not do. The dad believed that his boy could not be healed. Yet, believed that Jesus could heal him. Yet the dad did all he could do, ask Jesus to help. Exactly what we need to do; we need to ask for wisdom. Wisdom helps eliminate unbelief--eliminating us believing on things that is believing something that is opposite to what God believes.

Ephesians 1:17-19

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power.

Wisdom and revelation are key. Without it, my heart or my mind can remain confused.

Personally, I can believe the Word that says, "nothing formed against me can prevail" and "I can eat (drink) any deadly thing and it will not harm me" when it comes to food. I can also believe at the same time that GMO foods and foods with artificial ingredients aren't healthy for me. I am believing two things regarding the same topic; I am double-minded: believing God, but believing what some scientists or specialists say about the food I eat.

I have found that my body will react to whatever I am believing. Since I am believing two things, it's going to act confusing--in one sense, it is going to react badly when I eat GMO or not-all-natural items (making me feel bloated, fat / weight-gain or lethargic). And it can react positively by digesting properly anything I eat without worry (worry is because of believing in the opposite) of my health or that I will feel icky or bad or have diarrhea or upset stomach. What I eat should not have any negative effect on our / my body:

Matthew 15:1-2,10-11

Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: not that which goes into the mouth defiles a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defiles a man.

Jesus said it’s not what goes into a person that defiles them. What we eat cannot defile us (make us unclean). In the Levitical-sense, sickness and disease is a form of uncleanliness. So, it should not be that food makes us sick—either through an allergy or because of what the food is. All foods have been deemed clean:

Acts 10:9-16

On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: and he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice spoke unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.

Though this vision also relates to the Christ making both Jews AND Gentiles clean (righteous), it also applies to all the forbidden foods the Jews under the Law were not allowed to eat. These Laws were forever negated, just as the unrighteousness of the Jews and the Gentiles have been forever negated. Thus, we are allowed to eat anything we want without worry of it affecting our health or relationship with the Lord.

But then I have to ask myself, is that true? Well, if the Lord says it is, then I have to agree. And then dismiss anything in me (through renewing of the mind) that believes otherwise.

Romans 12:2

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Conformity to this world is believing the things of this world over the things of the Lord. Believing in the world only creates confusion and frustration when also trying to believe the things of the Lord. But what happens when I stop believing in the opposite of what God believes of me, I don't "gain more belief” (or falsely classified as “more faith”). No! What happens (what appears as though I did "gain more") is just that the belief in God I have is no longer hindered or confused. It becomes pure.

So what we discern or see and misinterpret as "more faith" or "not enough faith" is really related to one’s belief / unbelief. The removal of believing in something opposite to God's belief allows us the confidence to move forward in belief, and thus His Faith manifests in our lives.

Often, I have found that when I start to believe something of the Lord, I have to go through a process of overcoming the unbelief. This can take a period of time as I maintain a grasp of His belief, letting go of the unbelief. And when I am committed to His belief, He provides the Faith for me to achieve it. His Faith is a Fruit of the Spirit in and out of me to accomplish His belief set before me. And as I hold onto His belief, I resist unbelief—likened to this verse:

James 4:7

Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

This is what I am then doing…I am submitting to a belief in the Lord and resisting that which opposes Him. The term ‘devil’ here is anything that opposes God (not specifically Satan). The Greek for the word devil, diabolos, means: prone to slander, slanderous, accusing falsely, opposing the cause of God. Unbelief is slanderous to belief and opposes the cause of God (the Will and Reality of God in our lives). I have to discern when a belief is aligned with God, or opposes God. When I am able to make that discernment, I can begin to resist the unbelief of the world, and it will (has to) flee from me. I then clearly can see the Truth.

A person that is color-blind believes that the true red color they are seeing is orange. It is orange to them, not because it is, but because their condition of color-blindness is causing them to see it differently. The color-blindness is the "Un" in Un-Belief. It is seeing things differently than how the Lord sees them. If the color-blindness is removed from the person, the "Un" is removed from their Un-Belief and they then see the color as it really is: red. They now only believe in the truth. When we see things the way God sees them, our "Un" is removed and we believe God as He desires—not more than we had before, but now not hindered.

Where unbelief shows up first related to God is just coming to Him (through Christ) for salvation. This is the struggle the Jews faced which Paul discusses:

Romans 11:23

And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.

Why is it that the Jews Paul talks about are having difficulty in believing God? Is it that they need to be "believing Him more" for them to believe in Jesus. No. It's that they are blinded by their own belief:

2 Corinthians 3:14-17

But their minds were blinded: for until this day remains the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.  Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is , there is liberty.

John 5:39-40

You search the scriptures; for in them you think you have everlasting life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have Life.

Their self belief in scriptures becomes unbelief to the Truth. They are so focused in the scriptures for salvation, that they can't see how the scriptures points to Jesus or that Jesus is the way. This too is how some church-goers get trapped in unbelief: they think that because they know scripture, or go to church, or live a “good” life, that they are Christians. They become trapped in a “Christian culture”, instead of giving their hearts to Christ in believing. They are trapped in an unbelief.

This is something Paul again discusses regarding the Jews:

Romans 3:3

For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?

Here he clearly talks about "not believing" in relation to "unbelief". And in the context that this verse pertains to (Romans 2), their unbelief lies in the fact that they are trapped in the Law, circumcised outwardly, not of the heart and the spirit (Romans 2:28-29).

It's not that they don't not want to believe, it's that they believe something that can pit ourselves against believing in God / Jesus if not dealt with properly—in this case, the scriptures (Law). For the strength of sin is the Law (1 Corinthians 15:56). And because of that, we can get caught up in trying not to sin instead of focusing on His Love and Christ who is the already-taken-care-of solution to sin. Sin can cause a person’s heart to close off to God and Christ when we do not understand that we have already been set free from sin! This freedom is meant to allow us to come to Christ without hindrance; however, they (as others) are trapped in the Law.

This applies to Christians now too. They believe God and Jesus, but their belief in Him and His Word is hindered because of belief in other things (or the Law / works of self-righteousness). The works of the Law negates belief in Jesus and all He accomplished at the Cross. And sadly, some may not truly believe in their heart to become Born-Again. Their belief is unfortunately not in Christ, but deceptively trapped through the unbelief of church, traditions, or right-morality.

Colossians 2:8

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

The same could be said for an atheist. It's not that they don't believe. No. They just believe in something other than God (evolution / self / chance / fate / etc). One cannot not believe in everything—we either believe God's Truth or we believe something that goes against His Truth. Or both in confusion. But not neither—we cannot not believe.

As a Christian, many times this double-belief is because of the flesh (even though we are Spirit beings). Our Spirit always and constantly believes in the Truth that is of God and His Word; but the remnants of our flesh (trained behaviours and connections to this world) get in the way and hinder the Spirit in us and the Word of God in our lives. The flesh contrary to the Spirit. We "feel" torn in that we believe two opposing things at the same time. Our flesh (body) believes one thing and our Spirit believes another. So how do we reconcile these differences? Denying the flesh...deny the belief of the flesh.

Romans 8:5-9

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

When we come to understand that we really are no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit, we eliminate much of the flesh fight. But this takes renewing of the mind.

God's miracles and works in us will sometimes deny the flesh for us—in that something happens that totally and completely goes against what our flesh believes (either of ourselves or a situation). The flesh / body then painfully reacts to this Truth because it, in an instance, violated our flesh belief. And even though our flesh / body witnessed God’s supernatural (His Natural) move in our life, it cannot give reason or explanation to it out of its own capacity.

This is what happened to the Disciples so often: hearing God's voice in the cloud (Mathew 17:6) and Jesus walking on water then calming the storm (Mark 6:51). And too the shepherds in the field witnessed an angel (Luke 2:9). They were all “sore afraid”. These were miracles that their flesh could not comprehend. Their bodies reacted in pure astonishment that shook their believing to the core. It gave them an experience to a new reality. God’s True Reality!

When I give up the flesh to follow the Spirit (His Kingdom Ways), sometimes my flesh reacts in a pain. It is as though my whole body aches from the inside-out as the flesh dies. Sometimes, it is just my mind that tries to refuse the heart-desire to change and believe God’s Way over its learned world-ways. My flesh testing who I am in Christ and His Truth. In that moment of conflict, there is a double-belief. This was my double-belief of GMO food vs "nothing formed against me". I have to free-will chose Him. I have to ask myself, do I believe Him and His Word? Yes. Do I trust that He will back up His Word for me and my life? Doubt here. And this is the scenario that can play out in the imagination of my mind:

“But Chris, why doubt? It's God and He always holds true to His Word. You see that in the Bible all the time (ALL the time). So why would you not believe that He would do so for you here?” “Ah, but you just questioned my belief—I told you I do believe, yet you just asked me "why would you not believe". So now, the default is, well, I just have to "believe more". Since I already do believe and am not trusting Him completely, "I need to believe more to have more trust". And the circle just escalates into a frustrated lack of hope & seeing His Truth manifest in my life. Stop it all!”

No. I DO believe. That I do believe is all the belief I need. But what my problem is, is that I also do believe that I can't eat that GMO food without it affecting my body or health. How do I then help resolve the conflict? CONFIDENCE.

1 John 5:14-15

And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He hears us:  And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.

And this confidence is what the Lord has patience with us through. This world has a tendency to harden our heart to trust. We get broken down often as a child when our parents let us down, or as adults when friends, work, or church hurts us. We then tend to shy away from instances that may produce the same hurt. We then shut down, become less open (vulnerable), and remove ourselves from the chance of hurt again.

Yet we too apply this to the Lord, thinking that He is the one that is causing the trouble in my life when it comes. This I often see more of when I am walking more with the Lord and demonstrating His Kingdom in my life. But what I can tend to think is Him doing to me, it is actually the world doing again me in Christ. So now I must view my walk with the Lord through this perspective. He does not test me (James1).

And when I come to understand that it is not Him doing to me, I can then develop that trust towards and in Him. And as that trust develops, the more confident I am that He is only a Good Good Father and will do all He is able for my betterment and my life.

When I become confident in Him, all that He has for me I can believe for and no longer believe against Him; removing that unbelief! And that unbelief resides in the flesh.

One of the best ways to deny the flesh is fasting and prayer. This is what Jesus told His Disciples regarding the boy and dad. He told them the reason they could not cast out the demon was because of their unbelief (not that they didn’t have belief). And to remove that unbelief was through prayer and fasting.

Matthew 17:19-21

Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goes not out but by prayer and fasting.

“This kind” is not referring to the kind of spirit that was in the boy, but their unbelief that kept them from doing as Jesus did—the unbelief the dad needed help with a dual unbelief the Disciples had.

Fasting is a wonderful way to prove to one’s self that our flesh did die with Christ. It reveals the unbelief in our body—the same feeling we have that resists fasting is the same feeling we experience when we “fast” our mind from the things of unbelief—a renewing of our mind.

Ephesians 4:22-24

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Galatians 5:24-25

And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

The more we hold onto who we have been created into, the more we break away from who we were; acknowledging that our flesh is already crucified. It thus has no authority in our life or belief (even though we still feel that fight). But it cannot win that fight because it is dead, and the Spirit is Life . And the more we break away from our dead flesh, the more we break away from unbelief. And the more we break away from unbelief, the more we see the fruit of faith develop from believing in the things of the Lord.

So before we then question “our faith”, let’s focus first on the belief and unbelief in our lives. When our belief in the things of the Kingdom of God become free from un-belief, we start seeing the Fruit of Faith in our walk, living out from the Spirit (our inward man).

2 Corinthians 4:13-16

We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.