Bible Reading: Jeremiah 37,38, 39: Hebrews 3
“So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” Hebrews 3:19(KJV)
Our fathers who left Egypt with so much glorious testimony of God’s mighty deliverance could not enter into the land of promise due to unbelief. What a contradiction! Unbelief has very terrible evil consequences. They witnessed divine visitation as God led them out of Egypt with a bang causing their fear to come upon the Egyptians. The scriptures even testified that they spoilt the Egyptians. God made the Egyptians to pay heavily to them for their labour of enslavement. They witnessed the power of God’s deliverance by the great wonders at the Red Sea, yet the bible recorded that they perished in the wilderness due to unbelief. The bible called it an evil heart of unbelief. “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God” Hebrews 3:12(KJV).
The evil heart of unbelief separates man from God because it is vexation unto God. The example of the children of Israel have shown that we can be in the midst of the congregation and end up without Christ due to the evil heart of unbelief. Unbelief kills and ruptures our future and destiny. Love cannot work where there is unbelief and we know that God is Love for the bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:7 (KJV) that love “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things” Further, in 1 John 4:8(KJV) the bible says, “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” These were the qualities of love that were lacking in the life of our fathers that left Egypt to journey through the wilderness to the promised land. Hence, they all perished without entering the promised land in the wilderness.
Unbelief is worse than carnal mindedness; it hardens the heart of men and stiffens our disposition of love towards our fellowman. The evil heart of unbelief produces excessive murmuring and complain. The unbelieving heart cannot tarry in God’s presence; in other words it is clouded with impatience. The unbelieving heart wants it done his own way and not God’s way. Unbelief hinders the move of God. Unbelief is faithlessness. “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief” Matthew 13:58(KJV). God’s power is limited by unbelief. Unbelief removes faith and confidence on God’s word and creates false reliance on human ability. A major remedy to unbelief is consistent and continuous study and meditation of God’s word. The antidote of unbelief is faith, and the bible says in Romans 10:17(KJV), “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Except the unbelieving mind is renewed by the word of God, he cannot access the things of God.
When Christ comes into the life of a man He opens the floodgate of truth and righteousness which in effect begin to soften the hardened heart of unbelief. My dear reader, the first step to having in you the heart of flesh is by accepting Jesus Christ into your life. God has promised to remove the stony heart which is the evil heart of unbelief from man. “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh” Ezekiel 36:26(KJV). This will be done through accepting Jesus Christ into your life as your Lord and Saviour. ACCEPT HIM NOW!!!
Prayer: My Father, my God, deliver me from unbelief in any department of my life.
Bro. Joel Ezeugo