the limiting effect of unbelief

I have been floored by the revelation the Holy Spirit has revealed to me within the book of Deuteronomy. I’ve read it before in the past, but upon my return in reading the book of Deuteronomy, I’ve come to the realization there was so much I was not yet ready to learn, until now.

It’s important that you recognize that God will reveal unto you only that which you are prepared and in position to receive, and in His sovereignty, He knows exactly what that is.

While also, He will reveal unto you that which you do not yet understand, that you may grow into understanding as the depth of your relationship with Him is deepened.

Sharing things you do not yet comprehend that you may labor in His Word for further understanding, a laboring that both deepens your relationship with Him, and ultimately brings you to a place of further growth and understanding.

The Word of God is your manna. It is your daily bread that is given to you both freely and daily, but you must go out to gather and eat it.

Manna. Man. Man from mah (מָה), Strong's H4478, what is it, a whatness, the bread God rained from heaven in the wilderness. (Hebrew)

In my study of Deuteronomy,

God has been showing me the wilderness He has intentionally taken me through and the wilderness that my unbelief has prolonged.

God in His divine sovereignty has allowed and constructed my particular wilderness, designed with a start date, and an end date determined by my obedience and faith.

the purpose of the wilderness

It is in your wilderness that God intends to cleanse you of your relationship with your sin, and the narratives and thought patterns constructed in it, hindering you from a natural growth that enables a spiritual fulfillment.

The forgiveness of your sin is immediate and in the spiritual, while the healing of the repercussions of your sin takes place in the natural. It takes place in overcoming old habits, reconstructing new thought patterns, and renewing your mind.

Romans 12:2

² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Many fall short in that they expect forgiveness to fulfill the healing, taking no action or making no effort toward the new life God has in store for them, on the other side of their forgiveness.

More times than not, God has a way of requiring a certain level of action and work from His people.

A level of work and action that, in His sovereignty, meets an individual exactly where they’re at.

It’s important you understand God's requiring of your work and efforts is not for the sake of God needing you to fulfill His will, or that in your work and efforts you are indebting or earning God's blessings or promises.

Rather, God intends that you work so that in the process you grow and develop both naturally and spiritually. A growth and development that positions and brings you into alignment with His perfect will and the promises He has already made for you.

The wilderness is not to pardon you of your sin but to teach you to let go of your sin and begin the process of renewing your mind.

You were pardoned of your sin immediately in your acceptance of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, but that did not mean in the natural you have released the relationship you’ve constructed with that sin, both physically and mentally, consciously or unconsciously.

forgiven, but not yet healed

Here’s an example…

Let’s say for your entire life, you’ve unfortunately lived in poverty. A lifestyle of experiences around poverty that has constructed a particular narrative and understanding of money. Narratives and mindsets that are so deeply rooted into your way of thinking that they have formed your reality and truth.

In this example, you have the opportunity to meet someone whom you decide to marry. Now, without initial awareness, you come to find out the person you’ve married is a wealthy millionaire.

Upon marrying this person, you immediately become a millionaire as well. You immediately no longer have the challenges and difficulties you were so familiar with due to living a life of poverty.

While this is true and an immediate outcome of your marriage, this, unfortunately, does not change the narratives and thought patterns you’ve developed around money over a lifetime of experiences. It does not change the reality of how you perceive money.

In order to change these false narratives and realities, you must take action and make an intentional effort to release your false narratives and thought patterns around money. Taking action and making an effort to renew your mind.

And here’s what’s interesting.

If you do not make a change and take action to change, it will place a strain on your marriage, potentially leading to divorce, all because you could not let go and work through the healing of your relationship with money.

It wasn’t your millionaire spouse's fault, nor was it a matter of you having money. It was solely your inability to take action and make an effort to renew your mind and habits around money.

This is how sin works.

Your forgiveness is immediate, while the healing takes time and is fulfilled in your taking action and making an effort to release and let go of the effects it has had on your life.

Let me be clear,

this process is not based on perfection but rather on consistency and the strength of God.

So the wilderness God has ordained specifically in your life is not happening to you, but happening for you. He will not allow you to enter into the Promised Land He has in store for you with the chains and burdens of the sin you’re carrying.

You are forgiven for the acts of your sins, but you must work through the effects of those sins. The effects that have caused pain, shame, guilt, and hurt. Which, in turn, separates you from God.

Like the marriage example, what has led many to the falling away from God?

It’s you, not God. He has already forgiven you. This is why sin is forbidden.

Sin is forbidden because it’s bad; it is not bad because it’s forbidden.

Like a Father, He wants to protect you by preventing you from experiencing the deteriorating effects of sin.

Now,

I share all this with you before diving into today’s entry, because you must first shift your perspective of the wilderness you are experiencing. It is your perspective of, and rebellion against, God's wilderness for you that is prolonging your wilderness.

I want you to start viewing your wilderness as training grounds, a season of lessons. A refining process. A place where you are being stretched, shaped, and prepared for only that which He knows is to come, and that you’re capable of becoming.

He promised you the Promised Land, so the question isn’t whether you’re capable of entering, but rather when, and that is based upon His qualifying of your readiness and your belief to walk into it.

unbelief in the wilderness

You may carry unbelief while under the illusion you’re walking in faith. Because for most, unbelief is so deeply rooted that it is performed as a part of who you are. A dangerous place that prolongs your wilderness and opens the door for you to die in your wilderness.

Questioning God along the way with…

Father, why am I here?

It is in your confusion of God's manna with His milk and honey that you are unintentionally misled into believing you are walking in faith, while you are actually standing still in unbelief.

Stagnant in your growth and progression, with the complacency of God's intended temporary manna. Guided by the notion that because you took a step forward yesterday, you believe that suffices for the growth of your faith tomorrow.

No!

Faith is an ever-growing process. You will never reach the full capacity of your faith while in your earthly state. This allows room for growth every day.

You unfortunately have been living off of yesterday’s stepping out in faith, which is hindering you from today's leaping in faith. Living in what God did yesterday, limiting what God wants to do today, and beyond yesterday’s victories.

leaving the pool

Think of it like this…

Let’s say you cannot swim. In not being able to swim, you make the big decision to start learning. So you take a big step of faith and begin taking lessons in the pool. In this learning, you grow in your ability to swim. Swimming laps in the pool with faith and confidence.

But that’s where it ends for you.

You never leave the pool. You stay in the pool, living in the victory of your learning how to swim and the comforts of the pool. You know everything about that pool. So you stay in the pool.

While God intended for you to learn to swim, not for the pool but for the ocean.

He met you where you were in your faith, in starting you out in the pool. Using it as training grounds, a season. A stable condition upon which He can teach and grow you. A place of preparation that He may prepare you for the ocean He initially intended.

An ocean in which you can experience and see things you couldn’t imagine or experience in the pool.

But that’s what’s so amazing about God. He saw why He wanted you to learn to swim from the beginning. Only God saw the oceans He was preparing you for, while you could only see swimming and the pool.

This is where many get stuck.

You want God to work mightily in the comfort and confinement of your faith. God wants to do more beyond the faith you developed yesterday. What God has in store for you is beyond the confinements of your pool.

But that’s the thing,

He will not make you leave the pool. It is a choice you have to make. He will continue to provide manna for you, out of His love and mercy.

But that manna is not the milk and honey. And this is where the confusion lies for many. It is in the blessings of His manna that you think you are growing, progressing, and accessing all that God has for you.

It’s not.

It is within the victories of your wilderness that you are under the illusion of walking in faith while operating in fear and unbelief. Limiting the hand of God in your life.

Understand God's hand is not short, but rather you shorten it in your unbelief.most highlighted & shared

Mountains are not being moved because you do not want to leave the valleys God has conquered in your life.

Unbelief. Apistia. Apistia from apistos (ἄπιστος), Strong's G570, faithlessness, distrust, a want of faith, disbelief in God's power and promises. (Greek)

Because I have left the country, seen great things, witnessed the hand of God mightily in my life, been used by God, and have grown exponentially, I too have been under the illusion that I have been continuing in my growth in faith, but rather I have been standing still in unbelief, living in what God has already done.

He intends to stretch me more!

As He comforts me with encouragement, saying son, we are just beginning. I’m going to stretch your faith even more. I am going to show you who I am beyond what you’ve seen.

But son, that means you’re going to have to grow your faith more and begin leaping into even more uncomfortable situations, that as your Father, I know you are ready for. Son, you must choose to leave your pool. I will not make you, but it’s time.

This is where you fall short. You do not want to leave your pool.

It’s when you do not want to leave your pool that you begin to express unbelief. Unbelief is justified by how far you’ve come and all that God has done in your life up until this point. This is the trap, and how many prolong their wilderness without intention.

You see this in the Israelites, as it was in their unbelief that they feared entering into the land of Canaan due to the giants of the land. They found comfort in their pool, fearing the ocean that God wanted them to enter into. A fear and unbelief that prolonged their wilderness.

God wants you to stand up and step out of your pool and take what He has in store for you. You must endeavor for what God has for you. Action that requires faith and usage of what you’ve learned from your pool, your wilderness.

But in His loving care, He will continue to teach you. He will show through others what He has done. The same people you’re questioning God about, asking why are they X, and Lord, I’m still Y.

remember, then move forward

This directs this entry back to the book of Deuteronomy.

It is here, after the Israelites did not believe the LORD their God (Deuteronomy 1:32), that God had them turn around from entering into the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 1:40), taking them through a wandering that showed them exactly why they are where they are (Deuteronomy 2:14).

Believe. Ma'aminim. Ma'aminim from aman (אָמַן), Strong's H539, to be firm, to trust, to support, to be established, to stand on as certain. (Hebrew)

You must remember what God has done and the battles He has overcome in your life as signs of confirmation and encouragement. You are not to live in the past of what He’s done.

It is in living in the past of what He’s done that you get stuck in seeing God only for what He’s done, not what He intends to do. What God has done for you is an encouragement for you to leap into what He is going to do.

There is a level of unbelief you possess that’s hindering what more God has for you.

So ask yourself honestly. Are you still in the wilderness because God has not finished, or because you have not left the pool?