Battlefield of the Mind (9 page)

Vine's An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words partially defines doubt in the verb form as "...to stand in two ways...implying uncertainty which way to take,...said of believers whose faith is small....being anxious, through a distracted state of mind, of wavering between hope and fear...."1

The same dictionary notes that one of the two Greek words translated as unbelief "is always rendered 'disobedience' in the R.V." (the Revised Version of the King James translation).2

As we look then at these two powerful tools of the enemy, we see that doubt causes a person to waver between two opinions, whereas unbelief leads to disobedience.

I think it is going to be helpful to be able to recognize exactly what the devil is trying to attack us with. Are we dealing with doubt or with unbelief?

DOUBT

...How long will you halt and limp between two opinions?.... 1 Kings 18:21

I heard a story that will shed light on doubt.

There was a man who was sick and who was confessing the Word over his body, quoting healing Scriptures and believing for his healing to manifest. While doing so, he was intermittently attacked with thoughts of doubt.

After he had gone through a hard time and was beginning to get discouraged, God opened his eyes to the spirit world. This is what he saw: a demon speaking lies to him, telling him that he was not going to get healed and that confessing the Word was not going to work. But he also saw that each time he confessed the Word, light would come out of his mouth like a sword, and the demon would cower and fall backward.

As God showed him this vision, the man then understood why it was so important to keep speaking the Word. He saw that he did have faith, which is why the demon was attacking him with doubt.

Doubt is not something God puts in us. The Bible says that God gives every man a .. measure of faith (Romans 12:3
KJV
). God has placed faith in our heart, but the devil tries to negate our faith by attacking us with doubt.

Doubt comes in the form of thoughts that are in opposition to the Word of God. This is why it is so important for us to know the Word of God. If we know the Word, then we can recognize when the devil is lying to us. Be assured that he lies to us in order to steal what Jesus purchased for us through His death and resurrection.

DOUBT AND UNBELIEF

[For Abraham, human reason for] hope being gone, hoped in faith
that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been
promised, So [numberless] shall your descendants be.

He did not weaken in faith when he considered the [utter] impotence of his own body, which was as good as dead because he
was about a hundred years old, or [when he considered] the
barrenness of Sarah's [deadened] womb.

No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question)
concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was
empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God,
Fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep
His word and to do what He had promised. Romans 4:18-21

When I am in a battle, knowing what God has promised and yet being attacked with doubt and unbelief, I like to read or meditate on this passage.

Abraham had been given a promise by God that He would cause him to have an heir from his own body. Many years had come and gone and still there was no child as a result of Abraham and Sarah's relationship.

Abraham was still standing in faith, believing what God had said would come to pass. As he stood, he was being attacked with thoughts of doubt, and the spirit of unbelief was pressing him to disobey God.

Disobedience in a situation like this can simply be to give up when God is prompting us to press on. Disobedience is disregarding the voice of the Lord, or whatever God is speaking to us personally, not just transgressing the Ten Commandments.

Abraham continued to be steadfast. He kept praising and giving glory to God. The Bible states that as he did so, he grew strong in faith.

You see, when God tells us something or asks us to do something, the faith to believe it or to do it comes with the word from God. It would be ridiculous for God to expect us to do something and not give us the ability to believe that we can do it. Satan knows how dangerous we will be with a heart full of faith, so he attacks us with doubt and unbelief.

It is not that we don't have faith, it is just that Satan is trying to destroy our
faith with lies.

Let me give you an example. It concerns the time when I received my call to the ministry. It was an ordinary morning like any other, except that I had been filled with the Holy Spirit three weeks earlier. I had just finished listening to my first teaching tape. It was a message by minister Ray Mossholder titled "Cross Over to the Other Side." I was stirred in my heart and amazed that anyone could teach for one whole hour from one Scripture and that all of his teaching would be interesting.

As I was making my bed, I suddenly felt an intense desire well up in me to teach God's Word. Then the voice of the Lord came to me saying,

"You will go all over the place and teach My Word, and you will have a large teaching tape ministry."

There would have been no natural reason at all for me to believe that God had actually spoken to me, or that I could or ever would do what I thought I had just heard. I had many problems within myself. I would not have appeared to be "ministry material," but God chooses the weak and foolish things of the world to confound the wise. (1 Corinthians 1:27 KJV.) 

He looks on the heart of man and not the flesh. (1 Samuel 16:7.) If the heart is right, God can change the flesh.

Although there was nothing in the natural to indicate that I should believe, when the desire came over me, I was filled with faith that I could do what the Lord wanted me to do. When God calls, He gives desire, faith and ability to do the job. But, I also want to tell you that during the years I spent in training and waiting, the devil regularly attacked me with doubt and unbelief.

God places dreams and visions in the hearts of His people; they begin as little "seeds." Just as a woman has a seed planted into her womb when she becomes pregnant, so we become "pregnant," so to speak, with the things God speaks and promises. During the "pregnancy," Satan works hard to try and get us to "abort" our dreams. One of the tools he uses is doubt; another is unbelief. Both of these work against the mind.

Faith is a product of the spirit; it is a spiritual force. The enemy doesn't want you and me to get our mind in agreement with our spirit.

He knows that if God places faith in us to do a thing, and we get positive and start consistently believing that we can actually do it, then we will do considerable damage to his kingdom.

KEEP WALKING ON THE WATER!

But the boat was by this time out on the sea, many furlongs [a
furlong is one-eighth of a mile] distant from the land, beaten and
tossed by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth
watch [between 3:00-6:00 a.m.] of the night, Jesus came to them,
walking on the sea.

And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were
terrified and said, It is a ghost! And they screamed out with fright.

But instantly He spoke to them, saying, Take courage! I AM! Stop
being afraid!

And Peter answered Him, Lord, if it is You, command me to come
to You on the water.

He said, Come! So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the
water, and he came toward Jesus.

But when he perceived and felt the strong wind, he was
frightened, and as he began to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me [from
death]!

Instantly Jesus reached out His hand and caught and held him,
saying to him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt?

And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 
Matthew 14:24-32

I emphasized the last verse because I want to call your attention to the program the enemy lined out in this passage. Peter stepped out at the command of Jesus to do something he had never done before. As a matter of fact, no one had ever done it except Jesus.

It required faith!

Peter made a mistake; he spent too much time looking at the storm.

He became frightened. Doubt and unbelief pressed in on him, and he began to sink. He cried out to Jesus to save him, and He did. But notice that the storm ceased as soon as
Peter got back into the boat!

Remember in Romans 4:18-21 where Abraham did not waver when he considered his impossible situation? Abraham knew the conditions, but unlike Peter, I don't think he thought about them or talked about them all the time. You and I can be aware of our circumstances and yet, purposely, keep our mind on something that will build us up and edify our faith.

That is why Abraham stayed busy giving praise and glory to God. We glorify God when we continue to do what we know is right even in adverse circumstances. Ephesians 6:14 teaches us that in times of spiritual warfare, we are to tighten the belt of truth around us.

When the storm comes in your life, dig in both heels, set your face like flint and be determined in the Holy Spirit to stay out of the boat! Very often the storm ceases as soon as you quit and crawl back into a place of safety and security.

The devil brings storms into your life to intimidate you. During a storm, remember that the mind is the battlefield. Don't make your decisions based on your thoughts or feelings, but check with your spirit.

When you do, you will find the same vision that was there in the beginning.

NO WAVERING ALLOWED!

If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God
 
[Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without
reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him.

Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no
hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is
like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and
tossed by the wind.

For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive
anything [he asks for] from the Lord. James 1:5-7

My pastor, Rick Shelton, tells a story about how confused he became trying to decide what to do when he graduated from Bible college. God had placed it strongly in his heart to return to St. Louis, Missouri, and start a local church after graduation, which he intended to do. However, when it was time to go, he had approximately fifty dollars in his pocket, a wife, one child and another on the way. Obviously, his circumstances were not very good.

In the midst of trying to make his decision, he received two very good offers to join the staff of other large, well-established ministries. His salary would have been good. The ministry opportunities were attractive and, if nothing else, just the honor of working for either of these ministries would have bolstered his ego. The longer he deliberated, the more confused he became. (It sounds like Mr. Doubt was visiting him, doesn't it?)

At one time he had known exactly what he wanted to do, and now he was
wavering
between options. Since his circumstances did not favor going back to St. Louis, it was tempting to accept one of the other offers, but he could not get peaceful about either course of action. He finally asked the advice of one of the pastors who had offered him a job, and the man wisely said, "Go somewhere, get quiet and still, then turn your head off. Look into your heart, see what is there, and do it!"

When he followed the pastor's advice, he quickly found that in his heart was the church in St. Louis. He did not know how he could do it with what he had in hand, but he went forth obediently, and the results were wonderful.

Today, Rick Shelton is the founder and senior pastor of Life Christian Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Currently, Life Christian Center is a church of approximately three thousand people with a worldwide outreach.

Thousands of lives have been blessed and transformed over the years through its ministry. I was an associate pastor there for five years, and my ministry, Life In The Word, was birthed during that time. Just think how much the devil would have stolen through doubt and unbelief if Pastor Shelton had been led by his head instead of his heart.

DOUBT IS A CHOICE

In the early dawn the next morning, as He was coming back to the
city, He was hungry.

And as He saw one single leafy fig tree above the roadside, He
went to it but He found nothing but leaves on it [seeing that in the fig
tree the fruit appears at the same time as the leaves]. And He said to it,
Never again shall fruit grow on you! And the fig tree withered up at
once.

When the disciples saw it, they marveled greatly and asked, How
is it that the fig tree has withered away all at once?

And Jesus answered them, Truly I say to you, if you have faith (a
firm relying trust) and do not doubt, you will not only do what has
been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be
taken up and cast into the sea, it will be done.

And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and [really] believing, you will receive. Matthew 21:18-22

When His disciples marveled and asked Jesus how He was able to destroy the fig tree with just a word, He said to them in essence,
"If you
have faith and do not doubt,
you can do the same thing that I have done to the fig tree—and even greater things than this." (John 14:12.) We have already established that faith is the gift of God, so we know that we have faith. (Romans 12:3.) But doubt is a choice. It is the devil's warfare tactic against our minds.