Nr. 206: HINDRANCES TO FAITH

Nr. 206:

HINDRANCES TO FAITH

Faith is taking God at His Word.

It is easy to see that sin would prevent one from having faith to accept healing since God's Word does not promise healing to the sinner. We know that God heareth not sinners (John 9:31). God's promise to sinners is that He will forgive their sins when they repent and will judge their sins if they do not repent.

God's promises to answer prayer and bring healing are for His obedient children. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you (John 15:7). Abiding in Christ guarantees that your prayers will be answered.

Failure to abide in Christ should be first on any list of hindrances to faith, for it nullifies God's guarantee.

Abiding in Christ is not accomplished through church membership or being kind to your neighbors. It is not accomplished through singing in the choir, teaching a Sunday school class, preaching, or praying. To abide in Christ, you must live in and by the Word of God and be in joyful fellowship with God. There is…no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8: 1).

Many ask amiss

Some people ask of God and receive. Others ask in the same words and receive nothing. This is not a matter of chance or respect of persons, but of faith. Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts (James 4:3). This kind of asking can never be done in faith. There may be a desire to be well and even a hope that "it may work," but there cannot be faith, for in this type of asking there is no promise upon which faith can be based. Some desire healing in order to better carry on their sinful pursuits. A society lady wanted healing for her drawn and crippled hands so she could deal the playing cards more gracefully. Simon the sorcerer desired to be able to impart the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands so that he might turn this gift to his own financial profit (see Acts 8). God does not give faith to such people. Used indiscriminately, by those who are governed by their own lust, it can even be dangerous. For this reason, it is given only to those who abide in Christ and in whom His words abide. Only these can be trusted to use such a mighty power.

Condemnation

Those who abide in Christ are not condemned. If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight (1 John 3:21,22). This is God's formula for faith. Until you have met this condition, you cannot have faith. You may be persuaded that God is able to heal you, but you can only hope that He will, for He has not promised to do it while you live in sin, under condemnation.

I may know a millionaire who could easily give me a thousand dollars. I know he could do it. He may have given one of my friends a thousand dollars. I may have even seen the check. I may need it very badly and hope fervently that he will somehow decide to give me a thousand dollars. But I have no real reason to believe that he will unless he says that he will.

God's power is sufficient to heal everybody, as well as to save them. But His promise is to heal those who keep His commandments and walk in His statutes, those who believe that all of His words are truth.

Condemnation is, no doubt, the greatest hindrance to faith. Let's consider a few of the things that bring condemnation to Christians and hinder their faith. Anything that is of a disobedient, ungodly, unholy nature is a hindrance to faith.

Peter exhorts husbands and wives regarding their relationship: Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered (1 Peter 3:1,7).

The faith of many is hindered because of unscriptural relationships in the home. But unscriptural attitudes toward our fellowman outside the home can also be a great hindrance to faith. What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any (Mark 11:24,25). An unforgiving spirit hinders faith.

The tithe ... is the LORD'S (Leviticus 27:30).

Many professed Christians live under constant condemnation because they refuse to give God His tithe. They know that the Bible teaches consistent tithing and that a tenth of their increase should be given to God for the support of the ministry. Yet great numbers of church people refuse to walk in the light of God's Word. Many of these so-called "saints" help to make up our healing lines. God calls them thieves (see Malachi 3:8). If you have been robbing God, do not expect Him to heal you until you have first asked His pardon and become a tither. True, the law required tithing, but the tithe is older than the law. And God's promises are still true. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it (Malachi 3: 1 0).

Another hindrance to faith is found in James 5:16. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. Many people are quick to see the faults of others, but are seemingly blind to faults of their own. With this spirit, one can hardly expect to have faith to trust God for healing.

Few people claim to be perfect, yet when confronted with the necessity of confessing faults in order to receive healing, they are still not willing to confess. While many receive immediate healing in healing lines, others pass through many healing lines and yet they are not healed. According to James 5:14, these people need to call in the elders of the church for help. With much heart-searching and prayer, they need to search their lives to find the reason why healing has been withheld. Then, when the light of God has revealed the problem, they should confess that fault to those who are praying with them and pray together that the fault may be overcome. Then, in answer to the united prayers of the afflicted person and the elders who have been called in to help, Satan can be driven from the field, and a double victory can be won. The bondage of both sin and sickness will be broken.

Those who hear such confession must remember that, in the cause of Christian brotherhood, they are under obligation to speak of the faults to no one except God.

Any unwillingness to confess faults usually indicates an unwillingness to forsake them, or a lack of confidence in the power of God to bring deliverance. This is one of the greatest hindrances to faith.

A form of godliness

We are warned in God's Word that in the last days there shall be those in the world having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof (2 Timothy 3:5). Surely this does not apply to those who make no profession of godliness, but to churches and ministers who make loud professions of godliness, but deny that there is any supernatural power in operation in the work today. Instead of conversion by means of a new birth, they advise good resolutions, church membership, or baptism. None of these things can change the heart.

One such religious man came to recognize the futility of his own doctrine and sincerely sought God's way. To him, Jesus said, Ye must be born again (John 3:7). Some who call themselves "Fundamentalists" accept this much of the miracle-working power of God, but no more. They agree with Mark 16:16, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but they deny the power of verses 17 and 18, These signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

They gather together in churches and sing hymns, preach sermons, pray beautiful prayers, and some even baptize with water and take the Lord's Supper. They have all the outward forms of godliness and are recognized by the world and government as "the Church." But they absolutely deny the power Jesus promised to leave with the godly. In the same verse with the warning quoted at the beginning of this thought, God tells us clearly what to do if we are associated with such a group of people - from such turn away (2 Timothy 3:5).

Many fail to receive healing because they have not heeded this warning. The spark of faith has begun to glow in their hearts, but instead of assembling themselves together with others of like precious faith who will encourage and guide them into an ever greater faith, they insist on remaining in the company of those who not only do not believe in the miracle-working power of God, but who openly deny that there is any such power.

Your personal faith has as good a chance of surviving in such circumstances as a coal of fire in a tub of ice water. God has not called you to remain in such an environment. It is very well to tell them of what you have found in God's Word. If they also believe, you have won a friend in Christ. But if they will not believe, then the Word of God clearly says to turn away from them. They have turned away their ears from the truth and will turn you away from the truth also, if you continue in their company.

Search the scriptures. Build your faith upon the Word of God and then get into a church, which has done the same. Many, many people are hindered from receiving healing faith because they have failed to heed this important instruction from God's Word.

God has guaranteed to heal those who ask in faith, without wavering. The only way that Satan can prevent you from receiving the healing God has promised you is to keep you from asking in faith. This he accomplishes by tricking you into allowing hindrances to remain in your life. Examine your heart and life today. Get rid of the hindrances. Then you can come to God with no condemnation. If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him (1 John 3:21,22).

One of the most prevalent hindrances to faith is found in the common misconceptions regarding the teachings of God's Word, which will be discussed in the next chapter. These are largely due to erroneous teaching by those who do not have the power of God in their own lives. They make excuses for themselves by adjusting the teaching of Scripture to their own thinking. Although they may be very learned in the things of this world, from God's standpoint they are unlearned and unstable and wrest the Scriptures...to their own destruction.