Enemies of Faith By Dan Spitz
I recently shared from Pastor Dave Williams’ books about the steps in developing faith, and now I want to continue with what Dave considers to be enemies of faith. He presents eight “enemies” to achieving and maintaining the faith God gives each of us.
Faith’s first enemy is the failure to understand that faith is a process. And the process begins with finding the specific promise in God’s Word that covers our need and then speaking the promise to activate supernatural forces to work on our behalf. He suggests that we then continue the process by visualizing a faith movie in our minds and seeing our promises realized. And then we praise God in advance for what He is doing in answer to our need or problem. And finally, we take action to receive our miracle and endure with patience while believing and receiving the promise from God. So there are definite steps to releasing our faith.
Romans 4:16 (NIV): Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
The second enemy is failure to have a specific promise from God. For faith to function, it must have a specific Word, a concrete promise from the Bible. So when trying to exercise faith, we must not stand just on the general Word of God; we need to learn to focus our faith for miraculous results. And that focus begins with a firm promise from God. When Jesus faced the devil in the wilderness, He drove him out with simple and specific words from the Father. So ALWAYS obtain an unconditional promise from God’s Word before trying to muster up enough faith for miraculous results.
Thirdly, failure to understand the power of God hinders our faith. With God, NOTHING is impossible. But we limit God’s power by our unbelief. We can rely on our own resources, find out what we can do, and then plan accordingly; or we can step out in faith and make our plans based upon what God said He will do for us and through us, as clearly stated in His Word.
The fourth enemy Pastor Williams discusses is unbelief and disbelief. And he spends a great deal of time discussing each of them. He describes unbelief as the absence of faith, even though it doesn’t necessarily deny the truth. Disbelief on the other hand, blatantly denies the truth. Disbelief expresses itself in disobedience, whereas unbelief expresses itself in lack of obedient action. Unbelief may understand the promise, but will do nothing about it. But both unbelief and disbelief limit God. Unbelief is responsible for the seeming inactivity of God and it operates in fear. And fear can be removed only by unwavering confidence in the love and power of God. So when unbelief is at work in our lives, all spiritual power is paralyzed, because unbelief blocks the path through which God works in human lives. And that path is faith. So Pastor Williams warns us not to let disbelief or unbelief rob us of God’s best for our lives. Faith enables us to treat the future as the present, and the unseen as seen. So faith is the power that turns promises into realities. But faith grows through exercise and if neglected, it stagnates.
Mark 6:5-6 (NIV): He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith.
Matthew 13:58 (NIV): And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
Matthew 17:19-20 (NIV): Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
The fifth enemy of faith is not understanding the role of hope, because faith cannot function without hope. Hope is the image of what faith sets out to achieve; hope is the “faith forecast.” It is the future, seen by faith in the present. And with Hope, faith has a framework on which to build, because hope anchors our minds on the promise of God and causes us to see ourselves with the promise. The devil wants us to keep our minds on the problems, challenges, struggles, or anything negative that will keep our minds off the promise; but hope allows us to focus on what is possible with faith in God. So hope is vital to genuine faith.
Hebrews 11:1 (NIV): Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see
Considering the situation is enemy number six. Pondering, observing, considering or focusing on the situation instead of the promise of God is another enemy that robs us of faith. Meditating upon the problem will always cause the problem to grow. Likewise, meditating on God’s promise will always cause faith to grow. So we must believe what God’s Word says regardless of how we feel or what we see.
Romans 4:19 (NIV): Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead
The seventh enemy of faith is staggering when it comes to the promises of God, which is the opposite of patient endurance. Faith has steps, and if we stagger up the steps, we will fall. Staggering is double-mindedness. We start out believing God for a specific promise, and then we focus on the situation and begin to waver. Focusing on the situation just drives out hope and destroys faith. Pastor Williams states that faith is a fight, but that it’s the best fight because faith always wins.
Romans 4:20 (NIV): Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
Hebrews 10:23 (NIV): Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Finally, the eighth enemy is not being fully persuaded. Faith is the assurance of things hoped or. And Pastor Williams says that the only way to be “fully persuaded” of this fact, is to meditate on God’s Word and talk with God in prayer until a sense of peace and confidence that we understand God’s will floods our hearts. And when we are fully persuaded, faith will carry us over any obstacle.
Romans 4:20-21 (NIV): Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
*