A True Story: Doubt and Unbelief Kills
In Numbers 14:9, The Children of Israel had been sent out to spy out the land of Canaan that The Lord was giving them. They had specific instructions to go and spy out the land and come back with a report of what they saw in terms of the people, the land, and the cities. That was all they had to do. And yet, they came back with all this extra rigmarole about the people, the cities, and the land and why they could not take and possess the land — even though The Lord had already told them through Moses that He was giving them the land. They had decided they couldn’t take the land, even to the point of lying. [Numbers 13:32-33 So they began to spread lies among the Israelites about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored is one that devours those who live there. All the people we saw there are very tall. 33 We saw Nephilim there. (The descendants of Anak are Nephilim.) We felt as small as grasshoppers, and that’s how we must have looked to them.”]
So we pick up verse 8: “ 8 If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.” Was Joshua and Caleb’s response to their doubts and unbelief.
First of all, I want you to understand something. The 12 spies that were sent out were leaders. They were not novice “regular joes”; these were highly appointed officials from each of the twelve tribes:
Numbers 13:3-15
3 So at the Lord’s command, Moses sent these men from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.
4 These are their names:
Shammua, son of Zaccur, from the tribe of Reuben;
5 Shaphat, son of Hori, from the tribe of Simeon;
6 Caleb, son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah;
7 Igal, son of Joseph, from the tribe of Issachar;
8 Hoshea, son of Nun, from the tribe of Ephraim;
9 Palti, son of Raphu, from the tribe of Benjamin;
10 Gaddiel, son of Sodi, from the tribe of Zebulun;
11 Gaddi, son of Susi, from the tribe of Joseph (that is, the tribe of Manasseh);
12 Ammiel, son of Gemalli, from the tribe of Dan;
13 Sethur, son of Michael, from the tribe of Asher;
14 Nahbi, son of Vophsi, from the tribe of Naphtali;
15 Geuel, son of Machi, from the tribe of Gad.
And yet, they still did not have faith in God. The God who delivered them from Pharaoh, the God who split the Red Sea so that they could pass through and escape Pharaoh and the Egyptians.
Did this anger God, of course it did!
Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
In Numbers 14, beginning at verse 9, we see that it is only because Moses pleaded with the Lord to forgive the Children of Israel of their doubt and unbelief did The Lord allow them to live, but they were punished for their rebellion —yes, lack of faith is rebellion against The Lord, and therefore is sin :
9 Don’t rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. We will devour them like bread. They have no protection, and the Lord is with us. So don’t be afraid of them.”
10 But when the whole community of Israel talked about stoning Moses and Aaron to death, they all saw the glory of the Lord shining at the tent of meeting. 11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to trust me in spite of all the miraculous signs I have done among them? 12 I’ll strike them with a plague, I’ll destroy them, and I’ll make you into a nation larger and stronger than they are.”
13 But Moses said to the Lord, “What if the Egyptians hear about it? (You used your power to take these people away from them.) 14 What if the Egyptians tell the people who live in this land? Lord, they have already heard that you are with these people, that they have seen you with their own eyes, that your column of smoke stays over them, and that you go ahead of them in a column of smoke by day and in a column of fire by night. 15 But if you kill all these people at the same time, then the nations who have heard these reports about you will say, 16 ‘The Lord wasn’t able to bring these people into the land he promised them, so he slaughtered them in the desert.’
17 “Lord, let your power be as great as when you said, 18 ‘The Lord … patient, forever loving…. He forgives wrongdoing and disobedience…. He never lets the guilty go unpunished, punishing children … for their parents’ sins to the third and fourth generation….’ 19 By your great love, please forgive these people’s sins, as you have been forgiving them from the time they left Egypt until now.”
20 The Lord said, “I forgive them, as you have asked. 21 But as I live and as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, I solemnly swear that 22 none of the people who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I did in Egypt and in the desert will see the land which I promised their ancestors. They have tested me now ten times and refused to obey me. 23 None of those who treat me with contempt will see it! 24 But because my servant Caleb has a different attitude and has wholeheartedly followed me, I’ll bring him to the land he already explored. His descendants will possess it. 25 (The Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys.) Tomorrow you must turn around, go back into the desert, and follow the road that goes to the Red Sea.”
26 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 27 “How long must I put up with this wicked community that keeps complaining about me? I’ve heard the complaints the Israelites are making about me. 28 So tell them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, I solemnly swear I will do everything to you that you said I would do. 29 Your bodies will drop dead in this desert. All of you who are at least 20 years old, who were registered and listed, and who complained about me will die. 30 I raised my hand and swore an oath to give you this land to live in. But none of you will enter it except Caleb (son of Jephunneh) and Joshua (son of Nun). 31 You said your children would be taken as prisoners of war. Instead, I will bring them into the land you rejected, and they will enjoy it. 32 However, your bodies will drop dead in this desert. 33 Your children will be shepherds in the desert for 40 years. They will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies dead in the desert. 34 For 40 days you explored the land. So for 40 years—one year for each day—you will suffer for your sins and know what it means for me to be against you.’ 35 I, the Lord, have spoken. I swear I will do these things to all the people in this whole wicked community who have joined forces against me. They will meet their end in this desert. Here they will die!”
Look at another biblical example of doubt and unbelief in the Scriptures:
Matthew 9:1 9 So He (Jesus) got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city. 2 Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”
The Lord sees our faith. He knows what’s in our hearts if we believe or we don’t believe.
Recently, I was sent by the Lord to pray for one that was on hospice because the doctors had done all they could do. I first received a call about this individual and the person that made the call pretty much had the individual dead and buried, saying they believed the person was not calling for prayer, but was calling to say goodbye. Thank God for His gifting upon me as His Prophetess and His Apostle, for I knew that was NOT why the person had asked for me. You see the person had faith, and cried out to The Lord to heal them, but needed someone who moved in faith, spiritual power, and spiritual authority. How can they fight their good fight of faith when everyone else is looking at what they see and doubting and believing the sickness and disease is greater and more powerful than Almighty and Sovereign God! Talk about blasphemy – denying the power of The Lord by His Holy Spirit.
As I went to pray over the phone for this individual, I began to “see” doctors, nurses, friends, and some family speaking that this individual is going to die. But with Apostolic authority and Prophetic utterances, I was instructed to pray for their healing as Father, by His Holy Spirit, wanted to do a miracle and let it be known that He and He alone was still in the Healing and Supernatural miracle business. And with that, I was asked to come and pray in person. I was NOT to pray a prayer of committal and commit them unto The Lord to die off this Earth. He was going to supernaturally heal the person. I knew to perform such a prayer that the room would need to be cleared of those who did not know The Lord on this level and those that could not believe The Lord could heal this person. Unfortunately, I gave the person that made the call specific instructions to clear the room. Ironically, the Lord had already identified that person as not believing in their heart in His healing power. Not only were they disobedient and invited everyone to come into the room, but they themselves stayed. Despite this, Holy Spirit did show up in a mighty way and most everyone in the room including the terminally ill person, experience His supernatural presence and power. The ill person awakened and pulled off the oxygen, sat themselves up without help and asked for food, saying they were hungry!
When it was time to leave, The Lord gave specific instructions to those in the room to not be like Peter walking on the water and lose faith and begin to sink. As I left, hearing Father say “they will lose faith and that is going to cause my Healing power just performed to dissipate because that same room that is filled with My Glory will return to being filled with fear, doubt, and unbelief because of the words being spoken.
Mark 6:5
5 Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.
Let me show you something in Scripture:
Jesus Walks on the Sea
22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”
28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
Let me be emphatically clear according to the scriptures. You can say all day long with your mouth that you trust and believe God and that you have faith. But your words and your actions will say otherwise, and it is a sin. Doubt and unbelief in God is NOT pleasing to God.
Peter looked and immediately, his faith began to rapidly disappear.
How many of you have looked at a situation and the “but” and the “what if” came in? That is what happened to Peter: he looked at the wind and immediately had a “but” the wind is so strong and boisterous. That is an automatic faith killer. So many that call themselves Christians don’t believe God can answer a prayer, so when He does, everyone is surprised because “God did it”. If that is where your faith is, so be it. My faith, however, is on the level of “I know my Heavenly Father. I am spiritually mature enough to have an intimate relationship with Him and regular conversation (prayer) with Him, to know His will, and therefore, to know what to pray for and what not to pray for. Thus, I am not surprised when He is true to His nature and His sovereignty”.
There is so much depth to lack of faith in the scriptures that this blog does not even skim the surface. I can’t count how many times I have been asked to pray for someone because they are desperate and need a move a God quickly. And I do pray, but remember, you can’t expect me to teach and explain the scriptures in a short period of time because you are desperate. Don’t wait until you are desperate and in trouble to try and get God to move, because chances are, you lack the faith and the understanding to get a move of God so quickly - not that He won’t because He can and often does, but He instructed us in Matthew:
Matthew 4:4
4 Jesus answered, “Scripture says, ‘A person cannot live on bread alone but on every word that God speaks.’ ”
Learn to have relationship with Him on a very regular basis and not just Sunday, Mother’s Day, Easter, and Christmas religion. Pray often.
Stay Blessed My Friends,
Apostle & Prophetess Wendy Connor
©Copyright 2021 Wendy Connor
