DON'T BE AN UNBELIEVING BELIEVER!

Luke 10:19 (KJV) Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 

If you are going for a walk in the desert, be warned!  There are scorpions, rattle snakes, and tarantulas.  There is little, to no water and no shade trees.  It is hot as hot can be and there is usually no clouds in the sky or relief from the scorching heat of the sand.  Not a fun place to wander around, yet many do.  Without regard to the warning.  They plan just a little outing, not counting on getting lost.  When we were out in Arizona last winter, there usually was a report of people who went missing after going on a little walk, every day.  Helicopters had to be called out along with police and rescue workers who are trained to search on the desert.  The animals and insects that roam in the desert are nothing to fool with or take lightly because quite frankly, they can, and will kill!  One sting from a scorpion can bring death without treatment.  I bite from a rattler, will bring death without treatment.  The desert can be a beautiful place, but it can easily become one of the most dangerous places also.  As I look at this photo I am reminded of the fact that the Israelites wandered around a desert, much like this one, for 40 years!  The amazing thing is that it was only suppose to be an 11 day journey but their unbelief caused them to wander around in the desert for 40 years.  God's chosen people were sometimes unbelieving believers.  It amazes me yet it doesn't, why?  Well to be honest, most of us act like unbelieving believers.  

Ouch!  That one stung, but it is so true!  Look at this verse above.  In this verse, Jesus tells the disciples, and us that we has given us power to trample on serpents and scorpions.    We have power over the enemy!  Yet what do we do spend our time doing?  I'll tell what we spend our time doing (and I do some of it myself).  We throw pity parties, we argue amongst each other about what grace actually is and what it does.  We bicker about church doctrine and religion.   We yell and scream at non believers and call them names.  We cast judgement on people we know and those we don't know.  We let the lies of Satan defeat us and drag us into a pit of despair.  We suffer depression because we listen to the voice of others and not the voice of God.  We beat up those who we classify as "different" with our words and sometimes even our fists.  We bully others and chastise them for not being as "religious" as we are.  We fear doing the things God asks us to do.  We doubt that God hears us because He hasn't answered our prayers the way we wanted Him to.  We give up spending time with God because our schedule is too hectic.   We let Satan derail God's plan for us all because of something someone else did or said to us.  "Did God really tell you not to eat that apple?"  "Did God really tell you that you had power over me?"  These are just a few of the millions of lies we listen to. Why?  Why do we do this to ourselves?  It's frankly, stupid!

There are many unbelieving believers unfortunately.    Oh yea, we believe in God and many of us have even accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, yet we are still living weak, pathetic lives.  We doubt that God has a better plan for our life than we do.  Seriously?  Listen I fall into this category way too often, but I have learned that when God says go, I go.  If He says stop, I stop.  If He says I have power over the enemy, I believe Him.  Satan cannot stand to hear God's word preached to Him, so speak it!  Tell Him who you are and whose you are.  Stop letting Stan defeat you!  As a believer, I mean a true believer, we need to stand up and stop being afraid and stop doubting and stop arguing.  I do not remember Jesus ever arguing with unbelievers.  Instead He just showed them love and compassion.  He never got in anyone's face, except those "religious" leaders who thought that they knew it all.  Jesus was calm and reserved.  He had a quiet faith and patience that so many of us lack.  He never felt He had to prove His point.  He just walked around doing good and loving everyone.  He knew what He could do and He knew who He was.   Satan had no power over Jesus.  Jesus did what we must do, submit ourselves to God first.

James 4:7 (KJV) Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 

Listen, we cannot resist Satan if we do not first submit ourselves to God.  We cannot acquire the power we need unless we submit ourselves to God first.  But oh!  When we do, when we fully and completely submit to God, then and only then we will ever have the power to trample on scorpions and serpents.  Only then will we be able to resist Satan.  Only then will we ever find the peace that surpasses all understanding through Jesus Christ.  So many of us have lost our belief because of human beings.  We have been hurt and wounded, some of us in the worst way imaginable, so we cast our belief away.  "How could a loving God let that happen to me?"  Honestly I do not believe God causes anything to happen to you.  He may allow it, but Satan causes it.  It's a test done by Satan, to see if your belief is honest and true, like Job's.  I know I have failed those tests before, but I honestly pray that I will never fail another test by Satan, because:  

"I am a child of God.  Washed and redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ. Sanctified and made righteous by this same blood. No human being, no devil in hell can ever take the power away that was given to me through the Holy Spirit of the living God that dwells within me.   I am not perfect, but He that lives in me is perfect and will work all things out for my good, even the evil that Satan means for my harm.  I trust in my God alone and His word!"  

Jeremiah 29:11  For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 

Lord forgive me for the times I have been an unbelieving believer.  Today I run to you and you alone.  I surrender to you today and I  embrace the power you have bestowed upon me.  Fill me with your words, your wisdom and your power so that I can trample on Satan and crush him underneath my feet, in Jesus name I pray, amen!