INTRODUCTION
Matthew 17:20 (AMPC)
“He said to them, Because of the littleness of your faith [that is, your lack of firmly relying trust]. For truly I say to you, if you have faith that is living] like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to yonder place, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you”.
First, we have to understand that when we received Jesus Christ as our personal savior, we were given a measure of faith. It is from this point that we study God’s Word in order to develop that faith. Romans 10:17 says, faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. We can also say “Faith develops by reading the Word of God”.
According to the above Scripture, you just need a mustard seed faith to do great things including receiving answers you need from God. The woman with the issue of blood in the Book of Luke 8:43-48 had faith that if she would touch the helm of Jesus garment, she would receive her healing from Jesus.
Why does many believers in the body of Christ then struggle with their faith walk?
Let us look at the following 8 deadly enemies of faith. If you do not guard against them, they can limit your faith in your Christian life.
- Fear
- Depression
- Unbelief
- Wrong confession
- Ignorance
- Lack of Love
- Wrong association
- Secret Sin
- FEAR: HOW IT AFFECT YOUR FAITH
Fear is focusing on evil amidst reality. It is that unpleasant feeling that comes in your heart that something bad will happen to you, instead of good. When one entertains such thoughts, they speak it out. The more they speak those fearful generated words, the more fear settles in and the more their faith is affected.
When your mind is always focused on evil or danger, it kills the faith in your heart. Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, that’s what your life will achieve. Fear is a faith killer. Fear killed the faith of Peter when he saw the wind boisterous, instead of walking on the water, he began to sink. Matthew 14:30 says, “But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried saying, Lord, save me”.
Fear does not only limit us from getting our prayers answered but also destroys faith in our heart. Fear and faith are two parallel lines that never meet. You can’t be afraid and have faith at the same time. When fear comes, faith goes. God is calling men and women of faith to be fearless and courageous people. That is why through out the Bible, it is repeated “Fear Not”
Fear made that servant that received one talent in the parable of the talents bury his talent in the ground, instead of making the most use of it.
Matthew 25:25 says’, “And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo there thou hast that is thine”.
If we continue to mention those who couldn’t put their faith to work because of fear, the list is endless. Many people don’t want to get married or enter into a relationship because they are afraid of someone breaking their heart. Some people don’t want to invest their money in any business opportunity because of fear of losing their money. Fear will always stop people from maximizing their faith. Until you have overcome your fear, your faith doesn’t have a future. Hear what God says in Hebrews 2:15, “And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage”.
- DEPRESSION: HOW IT AFFECT OUR FAITH?
One of the deadly enemies of faith is depression. When you are unnecessarily sad and unhappy, your faith cannot work. The Spirit of heaviness and depression is a faith killer. When the devil wants to weaken your faith, he will look for something to ruin your happiness. God is not foolish to tell us to rejoice always. That’s because faith works in an atmosphere of joy.
Isaiah 12:3 declares, “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of Salvation”.
Nehemiah 8:10 says’ “…For the joy of the Lord is your strength”
All the virtues of salvation thrive in an atmosphere of joy. The strength of faith is joy. Where your joy ends, that’s where your faith will end. Until you are full of joy, you can’t be full of faith. If you want to make your faith work, you need to deal with depression, bitterness, and sorrow in your heart. There is nothing good in sorrow. Joy is better than sadness. Don’t wait for anyone to make you happy, celebrate your God and yourself. Shout for joy. Learn to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Sometimes, I dance in my room without an instrument. My heart is full of joy every day and I can’t help it. It doesn’t matter what comes your way. You are more than a conqueror through Christ. For greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. All things work together for good to them that love God, who are called according to His good purpose. Don’t let anything ruin your joy. You cannot be disadvantaged. Everything will turn around for your good. Refuse to be depressed and your faith will never cease to work.
3. UNBELIEF
Without controversy, unbelief is one of the enemies of faith you should guard against. What you don’t believe, your faith can’t receive. Don’t be doubting Thomas if you want to become a man or woman of faith. Unbelief says seeing is believing. But faith says, believing is seeing by faith. Doubt is making your judgment based on your human senses. But we walk by faith and not by sight. If you need to see it first before believing it, then it is not faith. Don’t doubt God but believe Him.
In 2 Kings 7:1-17, In a time of severe economic famine and recession, when people were killing their children for food, Elisha the man of God stood up and said, by this time tomorrow, a measure of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria. Take note, it is like saying tomorrow morning one Kenya Shilling will be equal to one dollar. When the king’s commissioner for economic affairs heard the prophecy of Elisha, he doubted him and said, even if God should open the window of heaven, this thing cannot happen. Elisha said to him, you will see it with your eyes but will never eat of it. And so it was according to the word of the man of God. The people trampled on that young man at the gate and he died. He saw the prophecy fulfilled but couldn’t partake of it due to unbelief.
When God speaks, He speaks according to His capacity and ability as God. Your own duty is to believe Him, don’t ask Him how. Because God is not a man that He should lie, He is not the son of man that He should repent, whatever He says; He can bring it to pass. Your department is to believe, and His department is to do.
4. PEOPLE’S OPINION
If you are the kind of person who listens to people’s opinions and your own inner convictions, more than what God says your faith will be dead on arrival.
A good example is the case of blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46-52. People tried to discourage him but instead of listening to other people’s opinions, he cried out the more and got his healing. Human opinion is not a divine verdict. Don’t allow what other people think or feel about you to hinder you from putting your faith to work. People can be wrong, only God is always right. The same place where people said no one can succeed, you can make it in that place.
5. IGNORANCE
In today’s generation, people’s attention seems to be more on worldly news more than Godly / Kingdom news. Believers from everywhere do not want to be told the truth from God ‘s Word Ignorant is a giant faith killer. Hosea 4:6 declares that lack of knowledge of God and His word can destroy your faith.
Your faith will err when you don’t know the scriptures. Faith needs knowledge and information to grow. When you are deficient in knowledge, your faith will be limited in delivery. Your depth in knowledge determines the height your faith will grow. Get more knowledge of God, it will make your faith strong and cause you to do exploits.
Romans 10: 17 declares that “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
6. LACK OF LOVE
Faith works by love (Galatians 5:6). When your love for God decreases, your faith will also decrease. The boundary of your love for God determines the limits of your faith. If you don’t love God, how will you believe Him? If your faith is not working, check if you are still in love with God. When you turn your heart away from God, your faith will deflate like a punctured tire. Lack of love is a lack of faith. What is killing your faith could be that your love for God has waxed cold. Renew your love for God and your faith will never stop producing the result.
Jesus stated, in Mark 12:30-31, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; this is the first commandment… There is none other commandment greater.”
7. WRONG ASSOCIATION
1 Corinthians 15:33 “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.”
Wrong association with faithless people can suffocate your faith and make it unproductive. Because evil company corrupts good manners. Proverbs 13:20 says, “And he that walks with the wise shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed”.
When all your friends are corrupt, smoking, are drunkards and womanizing, it won’t take time, before you will start acting like them. I often say that friendship is not by force, but by choice. Not everyone can be your friend. Eagles don’t fly with vultures. If you want to safeguard your faith, surround yourself with men and women of faith. Faith is contagious, and so is unbelief.
8. SECRET SIN
Another dangerous faith killer is sin, especially those secret sins that people do behind closed doors which they don’t want anyone to know. Sin is a spiritual weight; your faith can’t go far when you are living in sin.
The Bible says in Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”
When sin comes, faith will die. Nothing limits faith like sin. Do not entertain or joke with sin, it is serious. Stay out of sin if you don’t want anything to kill your faith. When sin goes out, faith comes in. When sin goes down, faith grows up. Sin is not your friend. It is one of the enemies of faith. Beware of it.
CONCLUSION: Everything you have learned from this post will only be useful to you if you decide to put it into practice. Now you have known those things killing your faith and making you weak spiritually, it’s time to make a change. Ask God to give you the grace to implement this truth in your life. God bless you.
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