Many don’t realize that faith works through love. Some believe that because I exercised faith, and it didn’t happen, I guess it isn’t God’s will. That there is one of the biggest unbelief statements I have ever heard. These same people haven’t built up their faith in the Lord to keep the enemy at bay with their shield of faith. Faith is trust. If you can’t trust in the Lord with all your heart, then you really don’t have faith in Him.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Romans 1:17 For in it (in the gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written: “But the righteous one will live by faith.”
Those statements might sound rather harsh, but we are in a struggle of life and death. You can’t have a weak mindset in this. If you do, you will be tossed to and fro like a ship on the sea. Those who are strong in the Lord and the power of His might have a mindset that they are fully convinced to what the Lord has said.
James 1:6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being FULLY CONVINCED that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
If you want to move in God, your faith in Him has to be so strong that nothing can move you. No circumstances are more important than Him. He must take president over all your circumstance. You give Him first place in your heart, then He will work through you. The Lord is looking for those who’s hearts are loyal to Him and can never be moved.
2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.
Mark 12:29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, with ALL your soul, with ALL your mind, and with ALL your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Matthew 7:24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” 28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
What it boils down to is determination. Are you willing to see this through to the end, or will you easily give up? It’s also about compromise. Will you compromise your faith for a comfortable life or are you will to go through persecution?
Hebrews 11:24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.