THEME:           STANDING IN FAITH

LESSON:          Six

TOPIC:            HINDRANCES TO FAITH

TEXT:              Hebrews 11:1-4, Mark 11:23-25

MEMORY TRACK:

In our last study, we learnt that our faith is built on the name of Jesus Christ and our understanding of the potency of this name depends on how effective the communication of our faith is. We also learnt that the name of Jesus is the summation of the provision of God for the new creation man. The name of Jesus is the means through which we access all the resources of God which God through Jesus has provided for us at the new birth.

From Faith to Faith (Rom1:16-17; Eph 1:15; Col1:4; Phil 1:5; Gal 2:16,20; Jud:20, Rom8:30; 1Cor 6:9-11)

Before new birth, we were all dead in trespasses and sins, we did not know what it meant to stand in faith or how to stand in faith (Eph 2:1-2,12; Rom 14:23; 2Cor 5:7). The reason for man’s inability to live, walk and move by faith is sin and death, it incapacitated man to look up to God (Ecc 7:29). To solve this problem of sin and death (which is the law (or life) in a fallen angel from the highest heaven – Heb 2:14, 1 John3:8, Rev6:8 Rom6:14) God gave us Faith as a cure to sin, from the least to the greatest.

We would look at faith at 3 stages of growth of a believer’s life:

  1. Milk faith (Eph 1:15, Heb 5:12-14, Heb 6:1-3, 1Cor 3:1-3 Is 28:9): This is the beginning faith, that trains a newborn babe to become a child that can be given meat (Christ) to chew and feed on. It trains us to have faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all saints.
  2. Meat Faith: This is designed to mature a child to become a man (Christ) (1Cor 10:3-4, Gal 2:20, Rom 8:1-2, Rom 6:18). It is a faith designed to overcome this world (1John 5:4. 1Cor 13:11, Eph 4:13-15, 1Cor 14:20).
  • Strong Meat Faith: This is the faith in everlasting life (Rom 6:22, Heb 5:14, 1Pet 1:9, 2Pet 1:1-4). It is a faith that helps to walk in life Everlasting.

The Major theme of all these levels of faith is salvation. It begins from getting us saved in our spirit, to our soul, then ultimately our body (1Thess 5:23-24; Heb 7:25)

Hindrances to Faith

We are saved by grace and not of works. This salvation brought to us a right to stand in the finished work of Christ. But for our faith to be effective, certain law must be obeyed. Else, our faith will be crippled. The following should be considered when we are exercising faith in the Lord Jesus Christ:

  1. The law of love (Gal 5:6): All the promises of God (which are in Christ yea and amen) has conditions attached to them. These conditions are the commandment of God, which is summed up in love. For love is the fulfilment of the law (Rom 13:8-10; 1 Tim 1:5). Our faith is crippled when the law of love is violated. This, because the essence of God, to whom we are praying, is love. Love is like the wheel that keeps the voyage of faith going and faith becomes ineffective when the law of love is disobeyed.
  2. Lack of forgiveness (Mark 11:20-25, Matthew 18:21-35): Forgiveness is vomiting the poisons of offence and hurt while unforgiveness is the weapon of the enemy that gives us pseudo stand to justify ourselves and point accusing fingers to the other party.

As children of God, we do not have any right to stand in unforgiveness because God did not hold our trespasses against us. Rather, He forgave us our sins and still forgives us even when we do not deserve it (2 Cor 5:19, 1 John 1:9). So, as children of God who has experienced the mercy of the Lord, we also owe God and every man the debt of love which is mostly expressed through forgiveness (Eph 4:32, Col 2:13). The greatest hindrance to receiving answers to our prayers is unforgiveness.

We do ourselves more evil (and no good) when we don’t forgive. It is good to know that when forgiving, we ought not to forgive according to human terms but according to God’s term. Like God, God’s people are to forgive and forget (Isa. 43:25).

  1. Disobedience to God’s commandment: All of God’s promises has conditions attached to them and when we are in disobedience towards any of these conditions, regardless of how much faith we have in us and how much confession we make, we will not get results. Exo 15:26, Deut. 28:1 gave condition for healing of our bodies which is the obedience to the commandments of the Lord.

Some believers in Corinth fell sick and some died because they could not discern the Lord’s body, which is

an off shoot of their indulgence in the works of the flesh (1 Cor 3:1-3 compare with 1 Cor 11:30).

  1. The law of sowing and reaping still counts (2 Cor. 9:6-10, Luke 6:38): In exercising faith for prosperity, it is good that we understand that the law of sowing and reaping still Although prosperity is ours, but we will not tap into the blessing of prosperity if we do not sow. For whatsoever a man sows he will reap (Gal 6:7).
  2. Believing God according to the measure of grace (Rom 5:2, 12:3): It is also important to state that we grow in Many believers do not know that they are supposed to believe God according to the measure of faith available Especially in the area of finance. This is either due to lack of knowledge of God’s word, lack of sensitivity to the holy Ghost, covetousness or pride. We are to believe God according to the grace provided at every point in time.
  3. Having a sense of guilt and condemnation (1 John 1:9): A lot of believers do not know that their sins have been forgiven. Even when they know, pride and arrogance out of ignorance makes it hard for them to forgive themselves. They often come to God’s presence with sense of unworthiness and unholy fear that often place the heart in a state of unbelief. When a believer sins, he feels guilty, and he has a sense of unrighteousness. He feels embarrassed and spiritually inferior to come into God’s presence. But God does two things for the believer who may have First, when the believer confesses his sins, the Lord forgives him. And second, the Bible says that God also cleanses us from all unrighteousness: he is made righteous again because the blood of Jesus actually cleanses us from all sin!
  4. Lack of knowledge (Ps 49:20; Hosea 4:6; John 8:32): Lack of the knowledge of what God’s word says, lack of the knowledge of our redemption, and lack of the knowledge of our redemptive rights in Christ Jesus are often the reasons for We cannot believe beyond our knowledge of God’s word. Lack of knowledge will hinder us and hold us in bondage because we cannot act upon God’s word beyond our actual knowledge of God’s word. Faith will grow with an understanding of the word. If your faith is not growing, then your understanding of the Word is not growing. We must understand we are a new creation whom God has forgiven his sins and we have a new stand with God. We must know that our stand in Christ affords us healing, deliverances, prosperity etc. We must also know that we have right to use the name of Jesus and everything Christ owns belongs us because we are joint heirs with Him.
  5. Doubt and unbelief (Mark 11:23; Matt 17:14-20; 2Kings 7:1-18; James 1:5-8): The greatest enemy of faith is doubt. Doubt will always hinder the believer from receiving God’s best. Jesus had much to say about doubt and unbelief and how it ravages one’s faith. Jesus could not heal many who are sick in His hometown because of unbelief (Matt 13:57-58). We must ensure we create an atmosphere of faith around us so that faith can Unbelief or doubt often cast restrain on how far God can go in our lives. Jesus will often isolate the sick from the crowd to heal them because of the crowd’s unbelief (Mark 7:32-33). We often create a wrong atmosphere when we accommodate wrong thoughts, which results in wrong belief and the end is wrong confession. This is the more reason why we should endeavour to stay on the word of God so that we can create the atmosphere of faith around us (Mark 5:22-23, 35-41).
  6. Evil report, a source of Doubt and unbelief (Num 13:25-33; Luke 8:43-48): Evil reports are generated when we take our eyes off of God’s word and consider the mountain, listen to our senses or draw conclusion from this The senses are the gateway through which evil report filters into our heart. The spies that were sent to check the promise land saw the land but paralyzed the faith of the Israelites in the wilderness with their evil report and that overthrew the faith of many which perished in the wilderness. The woman with the issue of blood had enough medical report concerning her health status, she has been told that her disease is incurable having been to different physicians. She refused to believe those reports but relied on Jesus’ report and she received her healing. The best we can get from evil report is doubt and unbelief.