I woke early Saturday morning in Bangkok hearing the Lord saying to me, “Faith unites, doubt divides.” He went on to say, “Faith first unites us with God, then ourselves, and then each other. Doubt first divides us from God, then ourselves, and then each other.” Immediately, I thought of the scriptures “Till we all come to the unity of the faith…and he who doubts a wave of the sea…a double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
Faith unites because there is one faith. Doubt divides because doubt literally means “To separate throughly.” Doubt gives many thoughts, each breaking off from the other. It makes a simple truth into complicated mush. Faith unites us to Jesus, though the faith in His name, the faith given to us by Him. Doubt divides because its taking apart a truth, or thought, or word being given and separates it throughly. When faith comes, it brings unity to God, ourselves, and each other. When doubt takes hold, it separates us from God (Jesus cannot deny Himself) and from ourselves (a double minded man – literally two souls – is unstable in all his ways) and from each other.
That’s why we come into His presence believing what the Father has said He has accomplished in His Son. We recalibrate ourselves into truth (where we believe) and come back into unity. We come into unity with God, ourselves, and each other. When I am away from active time with God, in the Spirit and in His word, doubts rises, questions form. Soon, I am being divided from God, myself, and each other.
- Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
- Faith leaves by not hearing and not hearing the word of God.
- Faith comes in His presence, hearing His voice and receiving as true what the Father says of His Son.
When faith comes unity follows. Take time and enter into His presence and receive His word as truth and let the faith that comes unite you to God, yourself, and those around of like precious faith.
