Saturday, February 17, 2018

The power of belief

One of the most important ingredients to being able to live a healthy life is what you believe in. So much of our lives are based on what we believe in, as our beliefs shape our choices and our choices shape our character and the lives that we lead.

Throughout my life I have struggled with a lack of confidence. It has been difficult for me to believe in nearly anything, including myself. Sometimes there have been things laid right out in front of me that were clearly true yet I have written them off in my own mind as being lies. This belief system (or lack thereof) has contributed to a very negative, depressive and unhappy outlook on life and a very passive mentality which would often come across as being weak.

Recently in my prayer and meditating times the Holy Spirit revealed to me that I have struggled with a deeply rooted mentality of unbelief. This mentality has said to me that God isn't real (even though I know He is - I've still had this lie buried deep in my subconscious mind), that the spiritual realm isn't real, that everything that came into my life and proved itself to be fact was in fact just an elaborate deception to try to get me to fall for it so that I could be harmed as a result. This mentality has told me to believe in nothing because nothing was real, nothing was dependable and nothing was as it appeared to be. Most of all it told me that I couldn't believe in myself and my own perceptions of the world because the moment I believed in something, it would undoubtedly be proved wrong.

I had a vision of myself and another person standing on a flat piece of land. The person next to me began walking around on the land, running and even jumping. They knew that they could do this as they had the belief that the ground would support their weight and were so certain of this belief that they were willing to put it into practice - and their belief was justified because what they were believing was indeed true. This other person said to me "Come on Graham, aren't you going to run around and explore with me?" To which I replied - "No, because I don't believe the ground is going to hold me up. I believe that the moment I set foot outside of this spot, the earth will collapse under me and I will fall". The other person then replied "But look at me - I'm running around on the same area and nothing is happening to me - therefore it's safe for you too!" But I still could not be convinced and therefore refused to move - therefore robbing myself of the ability to move forwards and ensuring I remained stuck and stagnant in the same spot in life.

I realized when I had this vision just how powerful this mentality of unbelief really was in my life. I also realized that simply "going and doing the thing I didn't believe I could do" wasn't going to change anything as if I had followed that other person and gone running and jumping on the ground without changing my thinking first I would be overwhelmed with stress and anxiety. The change needed to come from within first - then and only then could I change my actions.

I began to realize how much of life I had been robbed of and the amount of times I had let gross injustice happen without standing up to do something about it because I simply didn't believe that I could. I have always had a strong desire for revenge that I had never been able to understand until I had this revelation as I realized that this mentality of unbelief told me that people would not be held accountable for their sins and that God would not bring about justice and restoration and consequences for the sins of others - because God didn't exist and neither did the spiritual realm.

I have realized that unbelief is an enormous tool of the kingdom of darkness as it tries to convince people that it does not exist and that there is no such thing as a spiritual realm - all so that people will not believe and fall into sin and harm without even realizing it. It is also a good way of holding Christians prisoner and keeping them from becoming effective - not to mention happy in life - because if they don't believe they can do anything or bring about any sort of change, then they are not even going to bother trying and won't end up doing the things that they are called to do.

Confessing this unbelieving mentality has already begun to make change in my life. The constant sense of uncertainty and self doubt is beginning to be replaced by a sense of confidence, courage and boldness which comes from learning to believe in the right things - including myself. I will keep working at this as I refuse to be held captive by a prison of unbelief any longer. I refuse to remain rooted to one spot, unable to move on because of fear - and I refuse to doubt every single thing that comes into my life. I want to start really believing in what is true and living my life accordingly - to learn to move on from that one safe spot and believe that I can walk forwards in freedom and that the ground underneath me will be able to support me.

I am reminded of the movie The Matrix - where the character Neo is believed to be the One who can stand up to the agents and save humankind, and can manipulate the Matrix as he wishes. At the beginning of the movie he tries to jump between two buildings and fails miserably. Yet by the end of the movie he is able to stand and fight against the Agents that had caused the human race to run in fear - plus he is able to manipulate the Matrix in any way that he desires - such as by flying. He was always able to do these things from the beginning - it was only his unbelief that stopped him. Once he began to believe the truth about himself - that he was the One - he was able to throw off his limitations and walk in the truth of who he really was.

Obviously wisdom is still called for when it comes to changing your thinking to a mentality of believing - there's no point in going and jumping off a building because you believe that you are going to be able to fly, and that therefore just because you believe it, you will be safe - as we don't live in the Matrix and gravity would tend to disagree with you if you think that you can fly. So there is still a balance that is required. But if obvious truth about something is staring you in the face and the only thing that is holding you back from believing it is your own doubt and self belief - you will need to change your thinking in order to be able to bring about change in your circumstances.

My challenge to you is this - does any of what I have said today resonate with you? Do you struggle with unbelief and doubt? Do you look at every thing that happens with suspicion and need a long list of facts about something before you can be convinced that it is true? Do you remain stuck in the same spot because you are afraid of moving on? Perhaps you struggle with unbelief like I have. I would encourage you to be honest about it. Tell others about your struggles and if they don't get it, find someone who does. Bring the dark places in your heart to the light by talking about them as this is what breaks their power and their hold over you. Don't allow unbelief to rob you any longer of what is rightfully yours.

Take care.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Graham,
    My stumbling block to belief in God was evolution. I studied science at Sydney University where evolution was taught as fact. It wasn't until I was shown by PhD scientists at a Creation Ministries Conference that evolution is a failed theory - no mechanism to go from Goo to You. Natural selection nor mutations won't do it. This was the breakthrough I needed to believe the Bible was God's inerrant Word. He is trustworthy and His promises true. Blessings, Ron

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  2. Hi Ron, thanks for your comment and I am glad your stumbling block has been removed. Blessings to you.

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