Renewal of the Mind
ICS Daily Devotions
Mark 4:39-40 (NKJV) Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”
In the above passage, Jesus rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith in Him because He had already told them, “Let us go over to the other side” (Mark 4:35). This should be the anchor and substance of their faith. Similarly, Jesus expects us to have faith in His word of instruction.
We can conclude that Jesus expected the disciples to have some level of faith after He had spoken. He expected them to believe in His Word and not doubt because faith pleases God. Likewise, we must also have faith in God in our walk of faith on earth. God wants us to be in faith whenever we pray for something, stay in faith after we receive a word of promise, and not allow doubt to derail our faith in Him.
2 Thessalonians 1:3 (NKJV) We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other,
Moreover, God doesn’t want our faith to stagnate but to grow from small to great. He wants us to have faith in His ability, faithfulness, goodness, and entirety as God. True faith comes from the heart because we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths, and we will speak forth what we believe and have convictions in our hearts. Therefore, faith must begin in the heart, but after that, we must deal with our doubts and unbelief in the mind.
We are generally uncomfortable when we cannot see, feel, or lack sufficient information about the issues at hand. Anxiety will arise until the evidence is before our eyes. Unfortunately, the Kingdom of God does not work this way. The evidence is not presented before our eyes, and everything must be done by faith in God and His Word. Thus, it can be challenging for us to believe in something unseen.
As such, we need to develop our faith muscle by exercising faith in the little things and believing in God for great things. Faith is found in the heart and not the mind. However, renewing the mind will make faith in God easier. A mind that is not renewed with the Word hinders faith in God as a Christian because it will rationalise away God’s abilities. Reason or rationalism is in the realm of the soul, which is affected by our senses. If reasoning and rationalism are elevated above the Word of God, it will deny our faith in God and His abilities.
Sermon Series: Faith cannot coexist with Doubt
