Hello my friends

The title of today’s episode is: “Unbelief can delay your answer.”

We are starting today with the prophecy of the birth of John the Baptist.   

Luke 1:13-20 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.  14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.  15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.  16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.  17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

 What an amazing prophecy for a future father to receive. Think how many men down through time would have been excited to receive such a word. What a great thing to be said about your future child. He will be great in the sight of the Lord.  We don’t really know what went through Zacharia’s mind. Maybe it seemed too good to be true.

Verse  18 And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. 19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. 20 And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.

Why did Gabriel cause him to not be able to speak?  Gabriel knew how powerful our words can be and stopped him from delaying the prophecy with his negativity. Everything had to be timed perfectly with the birth of Christ. God would not let anything stand in the way of his plans. Our words can affect the future.  We can delay the blessings of God with our words of doubt and negativity. I cannot say enough about the power of our words.

We are limited within our human capacity. But God has no limits. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Sometimes, we ask what would appear to us to be impossible from the human perspective.  But nothing is impossible with our God. We cannot ask him for the impossible, however, and then doubt that he will come through for us.

Have you ever prayed for something then allowed unbelief to get in the way of that prayer? I have. It is easy to allow our human perspective to dictate our faith. When we take our eyes off of God and his ability and start seeing our situation with human eyes, our faith wavers.

Mark 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Why should we waste our time if we are not going to believe God for what we ask? Having faith means to simply believing in God.

Look at the children of Israel. Because of their words of unbelief, they were made to wander 40 years in the desert. When it was originally less than a two-week journey.  But because they didn’t believe in God when the situation looked impossible, he made them wander until they all died in the wilderness. They never received what God had for them because of their unbelief.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my promises to die in the wilderness. I am going to try to guard my unbelief.  This is why I try to live by 2Cor 5:7- For we walk by faith and not by sight. It doesn’t matter how big the giants are in your way. It doesn’t matter what the doctors say. What matters is what God says, and he says he will save, heal and deliver his people. Don’t let unbelief cause you to speak negative words out of your mouth.  Instead, look at the situation through the eyes of faith and say, I know it doesn’t look the way I want, but God answers prayer.

Take a few moments to reflect on your words. Are you talking unbelief, or are you talking Faith?

Until next time, BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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