In this extract from my book God's Heart Cry for Revival I discuss diseases of the faith that most Christians encounter. We would do well to look closely at our Christian lives and find ways of dealing with these diseases.
Doubt and Unforgiveness
“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in Heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11:22-25) This Scripture reveals two negative qualities that affect our faith in prayer. The first is doubt and the second is un-forgiveness.
Doubt Cancels it Out
Doubt is a deadly disease of faith. “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:6) A doubtful person is considered to be an unstable person, one who is not on the Rock. He is tossed to and thro by satan. If we doubt we cancel it out. If we doubt when we pray we may as well not even pray. I have found that we believe in those things that we focus most of our attention upon. If we look through our natural eyes all day at the seen world, and spend little or no time looking through our spiritual eyes at the unseen world, it is little wonder that the visible world is more real to us than the invisible world. As we spend our days focusing on that which requires faith to believe in, our doubt will slowly dissipate into oblivion. This new faith without doubt pleases God.
Forgive to be Forgiven
Un-forgiveness also affects our walk in God. “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in Heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11:25) The Father can’t forgive us our sins unless we forgive those who sin against us. Therefore if we hold un-forgiveness in our hearts our prayers will be ineffectual. In the eyes of the Lord un-forgiveness makes us likened to an unsaved person, because until we forgive others the Father can’t forgive us, and to be saved you must be forgiven. Therefore we must forgive to be forgiven, and then we are saved and can live as a citizen of the kingdom of God, with the same rights and authority that Jesus Himself has.
Robert Cartledge
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