Negative Forces of Unbelief

To be mightily used by God is the desire of most true Christians more than anything else in the world. Most of us want to be a channel of God's power and to be part of the authoritative Army of God that God is raising up to cover this earth with the glory of the Lord - even as the waters cover the sea.

To do that, it is a vital necessity that we know how to deal a death blow to the negaive forces of unbelief. We must realize that as long as we are working the works of God here on earth, Satan will challenge our authority at every turn through every means he can.

This often means he will use other people, often even our loved ones, to bombard us with the negative forces of unbelief and render us powerless to the works of God. Let us consider some incidences of negative forces of unbelief facing people in the Bible.

The healing of Jairus' daughter (Mark 5:22 - 43)

Jesus was going to the house of Jairus to raise Jairus' little girl from the dead. When Jairus and Jesus stepped into Jairus' house, they ran headlong into the same condition you will encounter ofter as you work the works of God: They were met by "professional mourners." These mourners are "Job's comforters." Whenever you begin to believe God for something, they are always around to tell you why it cannot happen, why it should not happen, and why it is not God's will for it to happen.

When Jesus stepped into Jairus' home these mourners were weeping and wailing:

"Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly" (Mark 5:38, NKJV).

Thank God, Jesus was there on the scene with a very positive statement of victory. He declared boldly to them all:

"Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping" (Mark 5:39).

But Jesus' declaration elicited a very negtive reaction from these professional mourners:

"And they ridiculed Him" (Mark 5:40).

We are not dealing only with circumstances that occurred 2000 years ago. We are dealing with issure right down where we live, relating them to crises we meet in our world of reality today.

What are you going to do when you face these kinds of circumstances and problems? How are you going to deal with the negative forces of unbelief?

You will never be able to meet these challenges with logic. You cannot meet them with intellect. The Devil does not listen to logical arguments nor does he respond to theological discourses.

Jesus Himself set the example for us in how to solve this problem effectively. How much better off every one of us would be if we always folloed this example with diligence.

Jesus had the answer. He put all the scoffers completely out of the way:

"But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying" (Mark 5:40).

When the negative forces of unbelief come, the professional mourners who say miracles are not for today, voices which speak contrary to what God has told us in His Word and in our spirits, never give way to them, not for one minute!


A negative committee report (Numbers 13)


The children of Israel would have been 40 years better off if they had listened to the positive statements and promises of God insteand of the negative report of the spies who went to spy out the land of Canaan.


In leading the children of Israel out of Egypt, God had told them:


"But I have said to you, 'You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.' I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples" (Leviticus 20:24).


God had let them out of the bondage of Egypt and right up to the border of the Promised Land, demonstrating many mighty miracles all along the way.


He had fed them, protected them, given them water. Their clothes and shoes did not wear out. There was not an infirm one among them. God Himself led them in a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. Every time they turned around, every time they had a need, God met them and He filled their needs.


Yet when they came to the borders of that land which God had promised them, they sent a committee in, to look the land over and vote on whether they should possess it. The vote came out ten to two with negatives leading.


Here is their negative report: "But the men who had gone up with him (Caleb) said, 'We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.' And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, 'The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight'" (Numbers 13:31 - 33).


Their report was so negative, they felt about as big as grasshoppers. They thought the Devil was ten feet high.


There were two men who did not believe the negatives, Joshua and Caleb. Cabeb delivered the minority report to Moses and the people:


"... Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it" (Numbers 13:30)


However he was outvoted and overruled.


Imagine, ten negative votes cause the entire host of childred of Israel to miss out on their land of blessing and opportunity and to endure countless hardships in the wilderness, wandering for 40 years.


It is time for us to stop wandering in the wilderness of confusion, uncertainty and negativity which is in the Church today and go in to possess everything that God has for us and that He has for others through us!


Rebuilding the Wall of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 4, 5, 6)


In the time of Nehemiah when the Jews begain to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, Satan threw the whole book of negatives at the Jews. Through the enemy leaders named Sanballat and Tobiah, the builders were subjected to all sorts of ploys and redicule:


"And he (Sanballat) spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, 'What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heap of rubbish - stones that are burned?' Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, 'Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall'" (Nehemiah 4:2, 3).


But that did not move the Jews at all. They just called on God (Nehemiah 4:4, 5) and kept working. They buit the wall.


"So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to have its hight, for the people had a mind to work" (Nehemiah 4:6)


Next the enemy tried another tactic:


"... and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion" (Nehemiah 4:8).


The spirit of negativism is very contagious if we allow it to get started. soon it had infected even some of the Jews who began to worry:


"The Judah said, 'The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.' And our daversaries said, 'They will neither know nor see anything, till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease'" (Nehemiah 4:10, 11).


Thank God that He was still on the scene and again the enemy was defeated and the work for God continued:


"And it happened, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work" (Nehemiah 4:15).


The next tactic of the enemy was sowing the negative of division among the Jews themselves - brethren cheating brethren, brethren accusing brethren.


What a great negative that is, even today. That is a tactic of Satan, a negative to stop the work of God. It did not work on the Jews building the wall. They solved their problem and the work went on.


However, the Devil is not one to give up easily and he had other tricks up his sleeve. You will find that when he is defeated in one area, he will crop up up in another area. That is why we must ever be watchful, prayed up and filled with Holy Spirit.


Sanballat and the enemies had another plan ready when the others failed. This time they invited Nehemiah down for a talk. They wanted to "reason with him.


There is no reasoning with the Devil, and Nehemiah knew that. His message back to the enemy was very positive:


"So I sent messengers to them, saying, 'I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you'" (Nehemiah 6:3).


The enemy came with these negative suggestions anot once but four other separte times and even worte a letter to Nehemiah (Nehemiah 6:4 - 7)! Nevertheless, Nehemiah continued to work the works of God and continued to speak with positiveness and authority.


"Then I sen to him saying, 'No such things as you say are being done, but you invent them in your own heart'" (Nehemiah 6:8).


Satan sent a false prophet (a secret informer)


You would think the Devil would quit after all these negatives had failed. But he appeared again and this time in the person of a so-called prophet of God (a secret informer) who warned Nehemiah to stop building and hide for his life:


"Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you; indeed, at night they will come to kill you" (Nehemiah 6:10)


Satan often will use even will-meaning, religious friends, religious leaders to try to discourage us. Nehemiah still held to God's positives:


"And I said, 'Should such a man as I flee? And who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save my life? I will not go in' Then I perceived that God had not sent him at all, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him" (Nehemiah 6:11, 12, emphasis added).


Not every prophet comes from God. Some have been hired by the enemy. We certainly need to know the difference!


In God's power, on God's Word, by God's revelation, Nehemiah stayed true to his task until he had victory. The enemy became discouraged.


The Wall completed


The work got done; the Wall was finished.


"So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations round us saw these things, that they very disheatened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God" (Nehemiah 6:15, 16, emphasis added).


The builders continued their work; they stayed true to the task that had been given them, acting on the authority of their heavenly instructions and not on the negativism of man.


Every true Christian must do the same and stay true to heaven's task no matter whom the enemy uses, or what method. We must turn our backs on the negative forces of unbelief and continue or great work for God.