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DAY FOUR: When Unbelief Is Present “SELF” Will Always Reign

In essence, the father said, “I did my part, Jesus. I brought my son to Your so-called disciples, and they could do nothing for my son.”

How many times have we heard this said by friends, family, or coworkers? If God doesn’t answer their prayers immediately or in the way they think He should, they declare that Christianity doesn’t work!

The real problem was not the disciples’ powerlessness (though Jesus would address this issue with the disciples as well) but the father’s own lack of faith in God for deliverance.

This father could have dedicated himself over the years to the Word of God and to building up his faith, but he focused on his son’s condition rather than on God’s covenant promise to be a father to His people. He was so focused on the problem instead of looking to God that it’s easy to see how his heart became duller and harder to the things of God.

Jesus said, “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 16:25).

When we come to the place where we die—die to our rights, our plans, our desires, and our way of thinking—we are then propelled by the life of Jesus living in us! The reason we lack abundant life, the reason we lack victory in our walk, the reason our prayers are stale and ineffective, the reason we have no joy is because we have not died to self—self is still on the throne instead of Christ.

How do we die to self? How do we stop propelling our faith through our flesh? We realize that the gospel is about grace—it’s about what God has done and not about what we can do!