Unbelief & Doubt Is the Problem: NOT Faith!

[Rev. Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks, PsyD]

Scripture: James 1:2-8 NKJV

We don’t have a faith problem; we have an unbelief and a doubt problem! Unbelief is what’s hindering us from receiving what rightfully belongs to us from God; what Jesus has paid the price for with His life so we can have!! We have faith, but we also have unbelief - unbelief is canceling out our faith because it is causing us to be double-minded.

Before I begin, I want to give you all the definitions of doubt and unbelief. In Pastor Greg Laurie’s Devotion teaching titled, “The Difference between Doubt and Unbelief,” he defines doubt as, “…a matter of the mind. We don’t understand what God is doing or why He is doing it.” And defines unbelief as, “…a choice. Unbelief says, ‘I hear what you are saying, and I choose not to believe it. I reject what you are saying altogether.’ Unbelief is a matter of the will. It is refusing to believe God’s Word and obey what He tells us to do.”

Strong’s Greek Concordance, on the biblehub.com website, gives this information about the word doubt:  

distazo: waver, doubt

Original Word: διστάζω
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: distazo
Phonetic Spelling: (dis-tad'-zo)
Definition: twenty thousand
Usage: waver, doubt, hesitate.

On the same website, HELPS Word-studies by Helps Ministries Inc, gives this information about the word doubt:

HELPS Word-studies

1365 distázō (from 1364 /dís, "two, double" and 4714 /stásis, "stance, standing") – properly, going two ways, shifting between positions; choosing "a double-stance" and hence vacillate (waver); (figuratively) uncertain at a crossroad because refusing to choose one way over the other – "wanting to have our cake and eat it too"; to halt between two opinions (views, beliefs).

Strong’s Greek Concordance gives this information about the word unbelief:

apistia: unbelief

Original Word: ἀπιστία, ας, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: apistia
Phonetic Spelling: (ap-is-tee'-ah)
Definition: unbelief
Usage: unbelief, unfaithfulness, distrust.

HELPS-Word-studies by Helps Ministries Inc, says this about the word unbelief:

Cognate: 570 apistía (the negated form of 4103 /pistós, "faithful") – properly, without (divine) persuasion, "no-faithfulness" (unfaithfulness); "want of faith" (betraying a trust)" (J. Thayer).

Now let’s look at the dictionary’s meaning of the words doubt and unbelief. According to dictionary.com, doubt mean:

verb (used with object)

to be uncertain about; consider questionable or unlikely; hesitate to believe.

to distrust.

verb (used without object)

to be uncertain about something; be undecided in opinion or belief.

noun

a feeling of uncertainty about the truth, reality, or nature of something.

distrust.

a state of affairs such as to occasion uncertainty.

Dictionary.com meaning of unbelief:

noun

the state or quality of not believing; incredulity or skepticism, especially in matters of doctrine or religious faith.

As you study this message, take your time and go through it, thinking about the meanings of the words doubt (matter of the mind; causes person to waver and hesitate to believe; choosing a double stance; going two ways; uncertainty; halt between two opinions [1 Kings 18:21])  and unbelief (a choice; unfaithfulness, distrust; without divine persuasion; the state of not believing; skepticism), as you study. Ask Holy Spirit to reveal to you, where are YOU doubting God, and what unbeliefs YOU have, that is keeping you from receiving YOUR healing, or whatever else you need manifested in YOUR life? God HAS GIVEN YOU EVERYTHING YOU need to live in this world ALREADY, because of Jesus’ FINISHED works (“Completion of Redemption” - Ephesians 1:3; 2 Peter 1:3)!!

Now let’s begin!

In James 1:2-6, James tells us to count it all joy when we fall into various trials, because the trying of our faith, worketh patience and if we lack wisdom, we are to ask God who will give it to us. BUT he said in verse 7 to ask God in faith for wisdom (“to guide him through a decision or circumstance” – James 1:2-8 AMPC), and do not doubt, because the doubting man will not receive anything from God if he waver – be double-minded!!. James goes on to say in verse 8 that a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Double-mindedness is when we have faith and unbelief operating at the same time for something – one day you believe, next day you hesitate to believe; you cannot make up in your mind to believe God or not! Being double-minded will cause us to be unstable in ALL our ways!! Remember the definition of doubt? One of the meanings is to choose a double-stance; instead of believing God’s Word that you are healed by Jesus’ stripes, you choose to not believe, because you don’t SEE a change or FEEL there is a change in your body!

Full example of what doubt is: you have been believing for years for your healing to manifest, but it has not happened yet in the natural (but it’s already done in the spirit realm). Sometimes you stand on what you believe (you are healed by Jesus’ stripes) by rebuking the pain, sickness, disease, infirmity in your body, and other times you give in and start talking negative, saying things like, “I thought God would have healed me by now?” or “God why haven’t you healed me?” That is being double-minded; you are going by what you see and feel in the natural, and not by faith in Jesus’ finished works, not by what the Word says in Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24, that by Jesus’ stripes you are healed already! Not only are you being double-minded, but you are also being carnal minded (“mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit]” – Romans 8:6-7 AMPC). This is what Romans 8:6-7 NKJV says, “⁶ For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.”

Andrew Wommack has a teaching article entitled, “Faith for Healing Is Based on Knowledge” that will help you understand that healing is available to every person who is following Christ! Jesus made His healing available to all mankind but it’s up to mankind to accept and receive it! Another teaching article by Andrew about faith that will help you is, “Faith Is Based on Knowledge.”

In Matthew 17:20 (verses 19-21), Jesus told the disciples why they could not cast the demon out of the boy (verses 14-18); it was because of their unbelief. Jesus goes on to let them know how to get rid of unbelief; through fasting and praying! Here is a helpful teaching (click here) from Andrew Wommack, about doubt and unbelief; it is the last teaching in the “You’ve Already Got It” series (click title for teaching article). You can go back and watch the complete series on his website - it started on December 9, 2019 (click here for the first teaching and follow through the weeks after that to the last teaching which is on January 17, 2020).

Although the disciples had been with Jesus and had seen the Power of God working through Him, for a split second, they allowed unbelief to enter their hearts. We need to take one stand, not two; regardless of what we see in the nature, when we CHOOSE to believe God, that will bring the manifestations we need in our lives!! We MUST stand on what the Word says about whatever we need!! If it’s healing, the Word tells us by Jesus’ stripes we WERE healed (Isaiah 53:5 & 1 Peter 2:24). It does not matter what is going on in our bodies in the natural at the moment, or what the Doctor’s report says, what did God say? Whose report are you going to believe? Are you going to accept every diagnosis from a report, or are you going to trust God’s Word (Jesus), that you are already healed? Jesus died over 2000 years ago for our sins, sickness, disease, infirmities, guilt, shame, pain, sorrow, and EVERYTHING else that the devil would EVER try to use, so he can steal, kill, and destroy from us (2 Peter 1:3; Ephesians 1:3; John 19:30)!! The MAIN thing the devil wants to steal from us is the Word; if we are ignorant of what we have through Jesus, the devil can then kill, or destroy us, or do both (destroy and then kill)!

We ALREADY have EVERYTHING we need to go through ANYTHING we face; Holy Spirit LIVES in us, in our spirit man, so all we have to do is draw out from our spirit man, draw out Holy Spirit’s power, and allow His power to saturate our beings, so our healing can manifest in our bodies. But this happens once our soul has been healed and restored!! Our souls (mind, will, emotions), will be healed and restored once we renew our minds (souls) to the Word of God, then once our minds are renewed to God’s ways, we will be able to walk and live by faith in God, because our soul will line up (come into agreement) with our spirit man!! 

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God's Blessings to you all and your Families!

Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks