[00:00:03] Bless the Lord, I am back. Welcome back to the prayer is breathing podcast. My name is Latoya and listen, I know it's been several weeks and I took a little pause and the
[00:00:18] Lord just confirmed to me to keep going so here I am and I want to say a special thank you to those of you that have continued to listen even to older episodes praise the Lord,
[00:00:31] it is such a blessing and an honor to share the Word of God. And so all as well over here, God is good, He's on His throne and I am excited about what He is doing in this hour and in
[00:00:44] this season. So we are going to jump right into the Word of God and this series that I'm starting is called The Shift because God is shifting things and I want to make sure that we are in alignment
[00:00:58] with what He is doing. And so this episode today is going to talk about the shift which first has to start in your mind. It is so important to have faith even in your mindset and everything that you do.
[00:01:14] And so we're going to jump right into the Word of God and take a look at the dangers of unbelief and the power of faith. So we're going to start with Luke chapter 24 and this is after the
[00:01:27] resurrection and so we're going to jump right into Luke chapter 24 verse 9. Says then they return from the tomb and told all these things to the 11 and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene,
[00:01:42] Joanna, Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles and their words seemed to them like idle tales and they did not believe them. Now once you
[00:01:56] the focus on verse 11 it says in their words, seem to them like idle tales and they did not believe them. This is the danger of unbelief that even when God speaks a word it will seem like an
[00:02:12] idle tale or like a fairy tale or like somebody's just telling you a made up story. And so here these women are coming back and they're telling the apostles that Jesus is alive
[00:02:24] and they refuse to believe and because they did not believe they did not receive the word of the Lord in faith. And so it's important that you understand if you are hearing the word of the Lord
[00:02:37] and you've received prophecies and it seems like an idle tale to you or a fairy tale that somewhere you have unbelief and unbelief is very very very dangerous. And so we have to pray
[00:02:53] for God to shift us from unbelief into a place of faith and I just want to reiterate verse 11 because this verse was so powerful to me and there were seen to them like idle tales and they did
[00:03:10] not believe them. Now we're going to jump into Mark chapter 16 which also is a passage after the resurrection and I want you to take a look at Jesus' attitude towards unbelief okay and the apostles
[00:03:28] they had been with God they knew God they walked with Jesus for three years and still they wrestled with unbelief and so if you're wrestling today I want to pray that God will shift your
[00:03:42] mindset and so let's look at Mark chapter 16 and we'll start right here with verse 9. It says now when he arose early on the first day of the week he appeared first to Mary Magdalene out of whom he had
[00:04:00] cast seven demons she went and told those who had been with him as they mourned and wept and when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her they did not believe verse 12 after that he appeared
[00:04:17] in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country and they went and told it to the rest but they did not believe them either so this is so important to me and so interesting
[00:04:31] and so I also want to just put a plug in here to say that you should really walk and be with people that are filled with faith right and so so many people were gathered together in mourning
[00:04:44] and they did not believe that Jesus would return like he said he would and so we have to take a look at unbelief verse 14 later he appeared to the 11 as he sat at the table listen this is so powerful
[00:04:59] so now Jesus shows up he seated at the table with the 11 disciples and the first thing that we see here the first thing that we noticed here it says what in verse 14 and we're in Mark chapter 16
[00:05:16] verse 14 it says later he appeared to the 11 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
[00:05:33] how powerful is this that Jesus rose he finally gets in front of the disciples and he doesn't say hey guys I missed you how things been the first thing that he does is he addresses their unbelief
[00:05:48] and he rebukes their unbelief there was no hey how are you doing he rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart because they did not believe those who had seen him after he had risen
[00:06:03] and then he gets to business and he said to them go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature he who believes and his baptized will be saved but he who does not believe
[00:06:15] will be condemned and these signs glory hallelujah and these signs will follow those who believe in my name they will cast out demons they will speak with new tongues they will take up
[00:06:26] serpents and if they drink anything deadly it will buy no means hurt them and they will let hands on the sick and they shall recover and I wanted us to focus on this part here in verse 14 where again
[00:06:41] he rebukes their unbelief because unbelief is so dangerous to every believer why because we walk by faith and not by sight and unbelief causes the word of God to become like a fairy tale to you
[00:07:00] and this is why you have to take unbelief so serious and rebuk it because you understand the effects of it and these were the disciples who had been with Jesus and so they knew better than to walk
[00:07:14] in unbelief and they understood the power of faith because Jesus constantly talked about faith now I want us to also look at John 12 verse 37 so John chapter 12 verse 37 when I read this
[00:07:32] verse it hit me like a ton of bricks because it is so powerful and John chapter 12 verse 37 it says but although he had done so many signs before them they did not believe in him
[00:07:49] and again but although he had done so many signs before them they did not believe in him and this is interesting because unbelief and hardness of heart really go hand in hand but when there's an element of unbelief even if you've seen God moving do all these things
[00:08:10] unbelief will still cause you to have doubt and so what you have to make sure of especially if you've seen God do anything in your life before you have to remember who God is you
[00:08:24] have to remember what he's done you have to remember the fact that he has all power in his hands and so in this passage we understand that even though they had this testimony of God even though
[00:08:40] they knew the character of God even though they saw God do signs right before them they still did not believe in him and so we have to be aware that as we are shifting into what God is doing
[00:08:56] that we do not have this unbelief rooted in the depths of our heart and hidden in the depths of our heart because the disciples there were still doing everything that you know outwardly would look like
[00:09:09] they really believed in Jesus but in their heart they had unbelief all right and so we see this warning against unbelief so many times in the Word of God and it's so important that we take heed
[00:09:25] and so we see in Hebrews chapter 3 one of my favorite verses but it also is a reminder against unbelief and it says so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief and so it's powerful for us to
[00:09:41] understand that the promises of God the things that God is doing we have to have eyes of faith we have to have ears of faith we have to have faith living and dwelling in our hearts because the Bible
[00:09:58] tells us to be aware of an evil heart of unbelief and so that's what the Word of the Lord says and we have to be aware and that is in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 12 it says beware brethren
[00:10:12] less there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God and so God thinks that unbelief is so important and so dangerous really that he rebukes unbelief in his disciples
[00:10:30] and I want to tell you today that if you are wrestling with unbelief that you have to aggressively get rid of the unbelief so that you are able to perceive what God is doing
[00:10:44] and I want to give you just a few practical steps that may help you to combat unbelief and so the first thing is worship when you begin to worship God when you begin to magnify God
[00:10:57] you begin to make God bigger than whatever you are facing you begin to put your eyes on Jesus and as you behold him your faith will begin to arise in your heart because you understand that
[00:11:13] He is great and He has all power in His hands the second thing is to remember there is so much power when you remember the Word of the Lord and that's why our testimonies are so powerful
[00:11:28] because the Word of God tells us that we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the Word of our testimony and so as we remember the testimonies of the Lord as we remember what God has done
[00:11:40] that helps to bring faith because faith comes by hearing and when you have faith that faith will begin to drive out doubt and unbelief and so again first thing you want to do is worship really
[00:11:55] posture your heart and worship the second thing is to remember what God has done and the third thing is to fill yourself with faith make sure that you do not have a deficiency when it comes to faith
[00:12:13] and how you do that is you ask the Lord to search your heart you ask the Lord to remove any form of unbelief from the depths of your heart we even also see this in the Word of God
[00:12:26] where there was a father and the father wanted his son to be healed and the Lord asked him he asked them do you believe that I can do this and so then the father was so transparent
[00:12:41] and he began to pray Lord helped my unbelief and so let's look at Mark chapter nine and we're going to start with verse 23 let's take a look here Mark chapter nine verse 23 Jesus said to him if you can believe all things are possible to him who believes
[00:13:04] verse 24 immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears Lord I believe help my unbelief and let me tell you with tears in your eyes that's how desperately we have to
[00:13:22] pray and wage war with unbelief because what I believe this father understood in this moment is that unbelief was literally hindering him from his breakthrough and from his miracle and this is confirmed in the verse we read in Hebrews that they could not enter in because of unbelief
[00:13:43] and so when you understand how much unbelief can hold you back from miracle signs and wonders breakthroughs healing even the promises of God you will wage war with unbelief the same way
[00:13:58] that this father did okay and then you will be able to walk by faith in order to receive your breakthrough because it is according to your faith so I want to just say a prayer with you as you are
[00:14:13] listening to this episode and God I just thank you right now for the shift that has taken place in the kingdom of God I pray Lord that you would drive out every evil heart of unbelief
[00:14:26] and that Lord you would come and rest in our heart we understand that without faith it is impossible to please you that He who comes to God must first believe that He is and that He is a
[00:14:38] rewarder of those that diligently seek Him and so God we disassociate ourselves from unbelief Lord let it not be named among us and so God even that verse said that you done so many different
[00:14:53] signs before them and they still did not believe and God we remember your word we remember what you have done and oh God I pray today that Lord you would drive out every evil heart of unbelief
[00:15:09] and Lord let faith arise give us eyes to see what you're doing give us eyes to perceive what you are doing and Lord our hearts desire is to please you and without faith it is impossible
[00:15:24] to please you and so God make us aware of any hidden areas of unbelief and Lord drive them out from the depths of our heart so that we can please you and walk by faith and not by sight
[00:15:38] Lord we love you we give you glory we give you honor we give you praise in Jesus name amen amen and I would like to say before prepare the clothes that if you have not given your life to Jesus
[00:15:52] Christ today is a great day to give your heart to Him to confess all your sins to ask the Lord to forgive you to invite Jesus Christ into your heart to be the Lord and save your of your life
[00:16:06] to believe that He died on the cross for your sins and that He is risen from the dead and He's coming back again and so I pray that you will welcome Jesus into your heart and truly surrender
[00:16:21] and repent of your sins and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. So God bless you I want to thank you so much for listening to this episode and I'll continue with part two of the shift next Monday
[00:16:35] God bless you and have a victorious faith filled Jesus loving week amen