Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt (6 page)

5
The
Lack of Faith Doubt

Doubt over faith is the fourth of the most common doubts that we have observed in God’s people. This seems, on the surface, to be a somewhat reasonable doubt because the teaching of Christ does strongly emphasize faith in healing. However, when the nature of faith is truly understood, this doubt is unreasonable as well. It is our experience that the vast majority of people have enough faith to be healed if they deal with their doubts properly. Understanding and destroying this shadow of doubt is a key to being healed and helping others to healing.

Moving A Mountain by Faith in Christ,
One morning when hungry, Christ did a very unusual thing. He found a fig tree without any fruit and He cursed it.

And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it, and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you." And at once the fig tree withered. And seeing this, the disciples marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?" And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it shall happen. And everything you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive. Matthew 21:19-21

This passage has some elements in it that ought to help us with our faith and help remove doubts about it. The disciples react in a very normal fashion to the fig tree withering and ask Christ an important question.

…And seeing this, the disciples marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?"

They want to know how Christ accomplished this miraculous event that they have just observed. Christ gives them a very direct and clear answer.

…And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith…

Christ attributes His capacity to do this miracle and all miracles to faith and tells them explicitly that they can do the very same thing if they have faith. Additionally, Christ tells them the one thing that will prevent them from accomplishing these things. They must believe and not doubt.

…
and
do not doubt…

Today, doubts of various kinds could plague anyone attempting to do what Christ did in this situation. For instance, someone might suggest that this is a frivolous miracle having no real value since no one was helped. Someone might suggest that the will and purpose of God are so unknown in situations like this to constitute a foolish presumptive test of God. However, Christ tells us otherwise. He says the disciples can do things just like causing the fig tree to wither and more if they have faith and do not doubt. Obviously, God’s will is not limited to just helping people. Obviously, doing things like this is not presumptive for anyone if Christ did them. Therefore, the way not to doubt in matters like this is to understand what Christ taught, demonstrated and revealed in His ministry since He reveals the will of the Father perfectly.

…you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it shall happen.

Christ tells the disciples that they will be able to do miracles just like causing the fig tree to wither and then adds another, even greater, miracle to the discussion. They, through faith, will be able to move mountains into the sea. Since there is not much need for
supernatural mountain
moving, here is another example of a miracle that does not help anyone.

Obviously, the will of God is much wider, more diverse, and much more flexible than many modern teachers suggest. The fig tree withering and Christ’s statements here strongly tell us that God is much more willing to do the miraculous than many authorities in the Church would believe. Perhaps unbelieving mental and unscriptural doctrinal limitations to the will of God is the reason that many Christians do not do the miraculous on a regular basis. They doubt God’s willingness. They are waiting for God to reveal His will, His purpose and His timing. Conversely, God is waiting for them to reveal their faith in Christ for something of their determination. He is much more willing than they believe. Christ’s next statement seems to validate these thoughts.

…and all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.

It does seem from Christ’s statement here that we are to determine what it is that we wish to happen and to believe for those things. We can receive all things if we believe. It does seem that the thing that will prevent God answering is not His will, His purpose or His timing but rather our doubt. If we use Christ as our example of someone who perfectly revealed the will of the Father, then the shadows of our doubts about God’s will should be vanquished. We should be able to rise up and appropriate many blessings, including healing, with our faith in Christ. Our testimony of healing will bring glory to God in Christ.

Mustard
Seed
Mountain
Moving.
In another situation, Christ spoke of moving mountains. It is appropriate to look at this passage since it reveals some additional things about faith that should be helpful. The disciples had failed at curing a demonized boy’s serious condition and asked Christ about it.

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you. Matthew 17:19-20

This short passage deals with several important subjects to our quest to remove doubt and obtain greater faith for healing. Christ answered their question in a direct fashion much like their question about the fig tree.

…Because of the littleness of your faith…

Christ explains to the disciples that they were unable to help the boy because of the littleness of their faith. Again, the issue was not God’s will. Clearly, it was God’s will to heal the boy since Christ did deliver him from the demon causing the condition a short time after the disciples had failed. The issue was not God’s purpose. The boy’s character was not improved by being demonized. God was not allowing this condition for some greater purpose. Rather, it was the devil’s purpose at work to destroy the boy. The issue was not God’s timing. Christ brought healing through delivering the boy immediately upon encountering him. A lack of faith was the sole reason that the disciples had failed. The problem was not with God but with the disciples. While this may impact many people’s pride and interpretation of past events of failure, this is actually good news. It is good news since the disciples could do something about the littleness of their faith but could not do anything about God’s will, purpose or timing. They could humbly admit to needing to understand more and to grow in their faith in Christ.

…if you have faith as a mustard seed
,…

Christ used a visual illustration that the disciples would have understood. He used a near-microscopically small object, the mustard seed, to illustrate the amount of faith that they needed. The mustard seed would have been the smallest object that the disciples would have known about. By using the mustard seed, Christ was not emphasizing that someone had to have great faith. Actually, Christ was telling them the exact opposite. He was telling His hearers that a very small amount of faith was all that is necessary to do miraculous works such as delivering the boy from his dangerous condition or even to move a mountain.

…you shall say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it shall move…

Since there is not much need for mountain moving in a literal sense, Christ is again telling us that the problem is not with God’s willingness, God’s purpose or His timing but with our faith. God is willing to do many wonderful things for those who believe that would not be necessary to meet serious needs of people. How much more is God willing to meet the desperate needs of those who believe! Christ regularly demonstrated the Father’s willingness to do miracles that did not meet important needs. Cursing the fig tree, changing the water into wine at a wedding, supernaturally walking on the
Sea of Galilee
, feeding the four thousand and the five thousand are examples of such ultra-gracious miracles.

What possible difference would the fig tree dying or remaining create? No one would have remembered a year later that the wedding had run out of wine. Christ could have taken a boat across the
Sea of Galilee
. Peter could have remained in the boat and not walked on the water. The four thousand and five thousand could have gone home to eat. No really desperate needs were being met and yet God was willing to demonstrate His power to those who believed.

…and nothing shall be impossible to you.

This is quite a statement. Considering what Christ demonstrated to be the Father’s
will
, the possibilities are staggering. Faith the size of a mustard seed in a great, gracious and willing God will release the impossible. While some might want to modify this statement of Christ in some matters on the basis of other passages of Scripture, Christ’s example and teaching show us that the Father is always willing to deliver and heal the sick, the injured and the demonized. After all, this is the context of this passage. A boy was just given deliverance and healing when Christ said this. Christ also said everything that you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive in the earlier passage that we explored.
This sounds
much like nothing shall be impossible to you.

Here is the crux of the matter. Christ began by telling the disciples that they could not heal and deliver the boy because of the littleness of their faith. Moments later Christ explains that a mustard seed of faith is all that is needed to move a mountain and accomplish impossible things. What was the problem with the disciples’ smallness of faith? Why wasn’t this small amount of faith equivalent to a mustard seed of faith?
Simply this.
They doubted as they tried to minister to this boy. The shadow of doubts caused their faith in Christ to be ineffective. In fact, when Christ first healed the boy, He said to the disciples: O unbelieving and perverted
generation
^[ix]
. Some have wanted this statement to be about the multitude but since Christ tells the disciples later that they failed because of the littleness of their faith, it is clear that Christ was addressing the disciples with this statement. Again, when doubt or unbelief mixes with faith, it seems to overshadow and neutralize the faith. Sorting out our doubts and dealing with them is essential to having a consistent flow of power in healing and miracles.

Faith Already Present, Growing and Available.
The New Testament reveals that faith is not a difficult thing to come by. In fact, the apostle Paul tells us the good news in Romans that God has allotted faith to each of us.

…God has allotted to each a measure of faith. Romans 12:3b

All of us use faith regularly in many ways. Faith is influencing us many times without us being aware. For instance, every time that we sit in a chair without checking to see beforehand that the chair will support us demonstrates that we have faith in that particular chair. Because, we have found chairs to be reliable and predictable, we no longer think about chairs and demonstrate regularly that we have faith in chairs by sitting in them without forethought. We have found particular people or organizations worthy of faith as well. If our pastor announced a meeting at a particular time and place and we arrived there at that time, we have demonstrated that we have faith in our pastor and believe his words. We have found the pastor reliable to the point that if he says something like this, we could not even consider the possibility of deception or uncorrected error. How much more should we believe in the reliability, predictability and faithfulness of God to His Word!

Often the doubts contained in popular but false doctrine confuse the issue and make it difficult to place our faith in what Christ has revealed of the Father. Since, God has given us a measure of
faith,
we must cast down our doubts by seeing what Christ has revealed of the Father’s will. The shadows of doubt will disappear in the Light. We must then use this measure of faith to glorify Christ as we believe and receive naturally impossible things from the Father.