Webster’s dictionary says that to believe means “to accept as true or real.”6 The same dictionary says that to receive means to “take something (something given, offered, or transmitted).”7
In the spiritual realm, when you and I believe something, we receive it into our heart. If a physical manifestation is needed, it will come after we have believed — not before. In the world, we are taught to believe what we see. In God’s Kingdom, we must learn to believe first and then we will see manifested what we have believed (received, admitted in our heart).
In Mark 11:23,24 Jesus told His disciples, Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea! and does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him. For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it].
When Jesus said that whatever we ask of God, believing, will be granted to us, He was saying that we will receive it free.
One of our biggest challenges is that we do not trust the word “free.” We quickly find out in the world’s system that things really are not free. Even when we are told they are free, there is usually a hidden cost somewhere.
But, in God’s economy, things are different. Everything comes to us as a gift, and the only thing one can do with a gift is receive it graciously with a thankful heart. Salvation and continual forgiveness of our sins are gifts bestowed upon us by God because of our acceptance of His Son Jesus Christ.
When we make a mistake, display a weakness or fail in any way, we can doubt that God loves us, wonder if He is angry at us, try to do all kinds of good works to atone for our failure and give up our joy as a sacrifice for our error. Or, we can simply believe what we read in 1 John 1:9, If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He [God] is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].
I am personally also very partial to the words of John as recorded in 1 John 2:1,2, My little children, I write you these things so that you may not violate God’s law and sin. But if anyone should sin, we have an Advocate (One Who will intercede for us) with the Father — [it is] Jesus Christ [the all] righteous [upright, just, Who conforms to the Father’s will in every purpose, thought, and action]. And He [that same Jesus Himself] is the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins, and not for ours alone but also for [the sins of] the whole world.
Here John was saying, “Do your best not to sin, but when you do make a mistake, Jesus is interceding for you and has already paid for your error.”
In our conferences, I tell people who make a decision to believe in Jesus as their Savior, “Jesus has forgiven every sin — not only the wrong things you have done, but every wrong thing you ever will do. He has already paid for your sins and errors and has determined to cleanse you from them.”
No wonder the Gospel is called “good news.” But remember, all these wonderful blessings, freedoms and gifts are received through believing.
Luke chapter two records that after the birth of Jesus, an angel appeared to shepherds tending their flocks in the field: … the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people. For to you is born this day in the town of David a Savior, Who is Christ (the Messiah) the Lord! (Luke 2:10,11).
We can see from this one Scripture that when properly understood, believed and received, the Gospel is supposed to bring great joy — not condemnation for sin.
I don’t spend my time meditating on my sins. There was a time in my life when, if you had asked me, “What was the last thing you did wrong, Joyce?” I could have told you exactly what I had last done wrong, the precise time I had done it and how long I had been paying for it.
I was sin conscious! Now I am righteousness conscious! I believe I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ. (2 Cor. 5:21.)
If you asked me the same question now, I would really have to stop and think about it. It’s not that I no longer do anything wrong, but I do take care of my sins scripturally, letting go of what lies behind and pressing on to what lies ahead. (Phil. 3:13,14.)
God has delivered me from self-analysis and self-preservation. By that I mean that I no longer worry about every tiny error I make, and I no longer deceive myself into thinking that I can “keep myself from sin.”
Instead, when I fail, as we all do, I remind myself that the Lord is my keeper, and that it is He Who will keep me from all evil, as we read in Psalm 121:3-5,7,8: He will not allow your foot to slip or to be moved; He Who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand [the side not carrying a shield]. … The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.
Also consider Jude 24, Now to Him Who is able to keep you without stumbling or slipping or falling, and to present [you] unblemished (blameless and faultless) before the presence of His glory in triumphant joy and exultation [with unspeakable, ecstatic delight].
If we release God’s keeping power by believing Scriptures like the ones I have just quoted, the fruit of such belief will be triumphant joy and exultation with unspeakable, ecstatic delight. That sounds really good to me, how about you?
I lost my joy many times trying to keep myself from making mistakes, but once I learned to trust the Lord to keep me from falling, I no longer had to major in my failures. My behavior began to improve and is still doing so. The mistakes I make in the process are already forgiven.
All I need to do is admit my failures, confess them and receive/believe in the mercy of God to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.
Once I made that discovery, for the first time in my life I was able to truly begin enjoying the Lord.
Enjoy God
The high call on the life of every believer — the goal each of us should strive for — is to enjoy God. According to John 1:4 and John 14:6, He is Life, and my conclusion was that I could not enjoy God unless I learned to enjoy life.
None of us can enjoy God if we are concerned that He is angry with us most of the time due to our sins.
Jesus came to deliver us from the wrong kind of fear in our relationship with our heavenly Father. We should be relaxed in His presence. We need to have reverential fear, the kind that provokes respect, honor and obedience. But we must cleanse our hearts and minds of any thoughts that the Lord is angry with us. According to His Word, He is full of mercy and compassion, and is slow to anger. (Neh. 9:17.)
A few years ago, the Lord said to me, “Joyce, I am not nearly as hard to get along with as most of you think I am.” We are no surprise to God. He knew what He was getting when He drew us into relationship with Himself.
Psalm 139 states that before He formed us in the womb, God knew us! He already knows the things you and I will do wrong in the future that we have no idea about now. It is not our sin that stops us — it is unbelief!
God has made ample provision for our failures, but our greatest failure, He can do nothing about. Why? Because our greatest failure is the failure to believe what He said. To believe is our part. He does all the rest, but it is our decision to choose life or death, believing or doubting, joy or misery.
The Deeper Life
We live too much on the surface.
In Luke 5:4 Jesus instructed Simon Peter and the other fishermen in the boat with him, … Put out into the deep …, and lower your nets for a haul.
Do you want a haul of blessings in your life? If the answer is yes, and I am sure it is, then you have to leave the shallows of living according to what you think and feel and begin to live the deeper life according to what you know down deep inside.
Faith is deposited in the spirit. Romans 12:3 says that every man is given a measure of faith. Faith is a force that comes out of the spirit, and it will accomplish great things, but faith must have agreement.
I look at it this way. I may have the faith in my heart to step out and do something, but if I begin to counsel with my mind, negative, doubtful and unbelieving thoughts can talk me right out of what I know deep inside.
When I say that faith must have agreement, what I mean is that if I have faith in my heart but my head believes the opposite, I will not see what I believe come to pass.
The Ben Campbell Johnson interpretive paraphrase of Mark 11:22,23 gives some insight on this point: Jesus said, “Trust in God. Truly, anyone who speaks to that mountain yonder saying, ‘Dump yourself in the lake,’ and does not become separated from the statement he makes — that person will actualize his statement. …”
The Amplfied Bible translates Jesus’ words in verse 23 as referring to anyone who believes and does not doubt. Mr. Johnson translates them as referring to anyone who does not become separated from his own statements. I really like that way of stating this principle because we often do just what this verse warns against. We believe one thing if we look deep inside our hearts, and we believe another if we listen to our minds.
We must understand that Satan is the thief. He comes only in order to kill, steal and destroy. Every blessing that Jesus has provided, Satan desires to steal. Righteousness, peace and joy are the top three on the list. According to Romans 14:17 KJV, the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy; be assured that Satan is out to steal the Kingdom. Believe what the Word of God says; exalt it above your own thoughts or feelings.
In 2 Corinthians 10:5 (KJV and AMP) the Apostle Paul wrote of casting down wrong imaginations and every high and lofty thing (or thought) that exalts itself against the true knowledge of God.
Frequently we hear the Word of God, and we believe it when we hear it. In Romans 10:17 KJV we read that … faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. When the Word is heard, faith is imparted to believe it. But the question is, once we have heard the Word and believed it, do we continue to believe it?
Often, we leave the place where we have heard the Word and return to meditating on our circumstances, once again separating ourselves from what was planted in our hearts. The seed that was sown is stolen. You might say, the Word is eaten up by the fowl (Mark 4:4 KJV) — the foul spirits Satan sends out to attack the minds of those who hear. (Mark 4:15.)
Believers Are Supposed To Believe
As I close this chapter, I would like to encourage you to remember something that I think will help you when doubt comes: Believers are called believers because they are supposed to believe! It is just that simple, believe.
As a believer, your part is to believe. Stay positive, keep it simple and believe.
I tell people that they would be better off to believe and never see any results than not to believe and never see any results. (Believing will produce good results, but I am making a point.)
Believing keeps your heart full of joy. So at least, if you believe and never see results, you will be happy. If you do not believe, you will never see positive results in your life, and you will be miserable, in addition to poverty-stricken in every area of living.
If you make the decision that you definitely want to enjoy life more, then you must also decide to do something about the thieves of doubt and unbelief, because without a believing heart it is impossible to enjoy the journey of faith.
5
Simplicity
And Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.
“But one thing is needed. …”
Luke 10:41,42 NKJV
As I said in the previous chapter, I came to a place in life where I knew that God was dealing with me about simplicity. At the time, I was very complicated in most everything I did. I could not even entertain friends without complicating it.
Not only were my actions complicated but also my thought processes. I complicated my relationship with the Lord because I had a legalistic approach to righteousness. To me, life itself was complicated. I felt that I had a lot of complex problems, and I didn’t realize they were that way only because my approach to life was complicated.
When we are complicated inside, then everything else in life seems that way to us.
Is Life Complicated or Simple?
Webster defines the word complicate as “to make or become complex, intricate, or bewildering,” or “to twist or become twisted together.”1 According to this definition, if something is complicated, it is “difficult to understand.”2
On the other hand, Webster defines simple as “having or composed of only one thing or part,” “not complex: EASY,” “without additions or modifications,” “unassuming or unpretentious,” “not deceitful: SINCERE,” “having no divisions,” “without overtones.”3
We can learn a lot just from meditating on these definitions. For example: To complicate is “to twist together.” We can see from that definition that if doubt and unbelief are mixed or twisted together with belief, the result will be complication.
One definition of complicated is “bewildering.” When I mix doubt and unbelief with belief, I feel bewildered, not knowing what to do, but busily trying to figure it out. I hear so much of this same thing from people in the Body of Christ who talk with me or ask me for prayer. They are bewildered. Their problems seem to be too much for them. They wonder why their prayers are not heard or answered.
In James 1:6-8 we read that the double-minded (complicated, bewildered) man is unstable in all his ways and that he should not think that he will receive anything he asks from the Lord — and that includes wisdom and guidance.
Whereas something complicated is “complex, intricate and bewildering” and “difficult to understand,” anything simple is easy to understand because it is “composed of only one thing.”
For years I sought for many things — answers to my situations, prosperity, healing, success in my ministry, changes in my family, etc. Finally, I learned about the “one thing” I was supposed to be seeking.
Centuries ago the psalmist wrote, One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple (Ps. 27:4).
I realized that I should have been seeking the “one thing” instead of the many things.
When we seek the Lord, He takes care of all the other things, as Jesus promised in Matthew 6:33: But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His [God’s] kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things [you desire and seek after] taken together will be given you besides.
The account of Mary and Martha also depicts this truth.
Many Things or One Thing?
Now while they were on their way, it occurred that Jesus entered a certain village, and a woman named Martha received and welcomed Him into her house.
And she had a sister named Mary, who seated herself at the Lord’s feet and was listening to His teaching.
But Martha [overly occupied and too busy] was distracted with much serving; and she came up to Him and said, Lord, is it nothing to You that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me [to lend a hand and do her part along with me]!
But the Lord replied to her by saying, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things;
There is need of only one or but a few things. Mary has chosen the good portion [that which is to her advantage], which shall not be taken away from her.
Luke 10:38-42
Martha was worried and anxious about many things, but Mary was concerned about only one thing.
Martha was doing what I used to do, running aro
und trying to make everything perfect in order to impress God and everyone else. In my former days, I was concerned about my reputation, about what people thought. I felt better about myself when I was working. I felt that I had worth as long as I was accomplishing something. Like Martha, I resented people like Mary who enjoyed themselves; I thought they should be doing what I was doing.
Now, obviously there is a time to work (John 5:17), and accomplishment is good. The Bible teaches us that we are to bear good, abundant fruit, and when we do, our Father in heaven is glorified. (John 15:8.) But, I was out of balance.
Martha certainly has her place, but so does Mary. My problem was that I was all Martha and no Mary. I loved Jesus, but I had not yet learned about the simple life He desired me to live.
Difficult or Easy?
One part of the definition of simple is “easy.”
My life certainly was not easy. Nothing about me was.
It seemed to me that everything was easy for my husband, and nothing was easy for me. He enjoyed life, and I did not. He “cast his care upon the Lord” (1 Pet. 5:7), and I was anxious and troubled about many things. (Luke 10:41). He was calm, cool and collected, and I fretted and fumed all the time, living in a constant state of upset and worry.
There were times when I resented Dave because things seemed so easy for him and so difficult for me. He was free, and I was caught in a trap. I did not know how I got there, or how to get out.
I really did not realize at the time God began dealing with me about simplicity just how complicated I made things, nor was I able to just rebuke “the demon of complication” and go free. I had a lot to learn. I had a lot of bad habits to break, and there were a lot of new ones that needed to be formed in me. Most of them involved the way I approached situations.