EIF - ENewsletter

Unbelief causes us to miss God’s best
By Apostle Frederick K.C. Price

The following is an excerpt from Apostle Price's book: Living in Hostile Territory

Traditionally, the church has conditioned believers to think that being a Christian is hard work, with nothing but trials, tribulations, heavy loads, and burdens. It has geared people to believe, "This life ain’t worth living, this world is no good, and thank God, hallelujah, one of these days, we’re going to heaven and we will be at rest."

If you are a believer, you ought to be at rest now. If God’s plan were for Christians to enter into His rest when they physically died and went to heaven, then the most logical thing would be that once a person got saved, he or she would drop dead. You do not enter God’s rest by dying, however. You enter His rest by living.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30:

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

"For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

The reason the Christian life has traditionally been hard is that people have insisted on doing things their way instead of God’s way. A believer can do things his or her own way, and God will let that believer labor in his own strength. But as the farmer commented, "It is a hard row to hoe."

Jesus said that if we take His yoke upon us and learn from Him, we would find rest for our souls. That is interesting. If we would think about the biggest challenges that we have had over the years, we would realize that those challenges have been soulish in nature. There are really very few spiritual problems. Most of the things we would call spiritual problems happen for one of two reasons. They manifest either from our not doing what God tells us to do in His Word, or from our taking some action He warns us against taking. However, when it comes to the soul – the area of the personality, the area of the psyche of man – that is where we have all sorts of aberrations and hang-ups.

How We Enter Rest

So how do we enter into God’s rest? In the third and fourth chapters of Hebrews, Paul gives us a graphic example of what to avoid.

Hebrews 3:11:

"So I swore in My wrath,

‘They shall not enter My rest.’"

This verse is referring to the children of Israel. Israel missed out on the blessings of God for a 40-year period because of their unwillingness to obey the Word of God and to take the land that God had given them.

Hebrews 3:12:

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.

Unbelief is evil in the sight of God.

Hebrews 3:13-14:

but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast to the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.

Our staying in and partaking of the things of Christ are predicated on our staying in Christ and staying steadfast to the end.

Hebrews 3:15-19:

while it is said:

"Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."

For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?

Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?

And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest [notice again the word rest], but to those who did not obey?

So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Missing some of the advantages

The point is, nothing can keep us out of the blessings of God but unbelief. Maybe some of us did not have the advantage of going to college and obtaining a degree. Maybe some of us had to go to work at an early age. Maybe there was a separation in a person’s family, and the person was left with a single parent. Maybe some of us are not what the world calls beautiful or handsome, or maybe the color of the person’s skin is not right, as some would tell us in certain quarters. Thank God that none of that makes any difference when it comes to God.

Unbelief is all that kept the children of Israel out of the Promised Land. It was not the devil, nor the circumstances, nor the giants in the land – only their unbelief. We are in control of what we believe. We cannot cop out by saying we were born on the wrong side of the tracks. It does not matter, even if there were no tracks in the town. We can make it if we will believe God!



*Unbelief causes us to miss God’s best* By Apostle Frederick K.C. Price The following is an excerpt from Apostle Price's book: Living in Hostile Territory Traditionally, the church has conditioned believers to think that being a Christian is hard work, with nothing but trials, tribulations, heavy loads, and burdens. It has geared people to believe, "This life ain’t worth living, this world is no good, and thank God, hallelujah, one of these days, we’re going to heaven and we will be at rest." If you are a believer, you ought to be at rest now. If God’s plan were for Christians to enter into His rest when they physically died and went to heaven, then the most logical thing would be that once a person got saved, he or she would drop dead. You do not enter God’s rest by dying, however. You enter His rest by living. Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30: "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." The reason the Christian life has traditionally been hard is that people have insisted on doing things their way instead of God’s way. A believer can do things his or her own way, and God will let that believer labor in his own strength. But as the farmer commented, "It is a hard row to hoe." Jesus said that if we take His yoke upon us and learn from Him, we would find rest for our souls. That is interesting. If we would think about the biggest challenges that we have had over the years, we would realize that those challenges have been soulish in nature. There are really very few spiritual problems. Most of the things we would call spiritual problems happen for one of two reasons. They manifest either from our not doing what God tells us to do in His Word, or from our taking some action He warns us against taking. However, when it comes to the soul – the area of the personality, the area of the psyche of man – that is where we have all sorts of aberrations and hang-ups. How We Enter Rest So how do we enter into God’s rest? In the third and fourth chapters of Hebrews, Paul gives us a graphic example of what to avoid. Hebrews 3:11: "So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’" This verse is referring to the children of Israel. Israel missed out on the blessings of God for a 40-year period because of their unwillingness to obey the Word of God and to take the land that God had given them. Hebrews 3:12: Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Unbelief is evil in the sight of God. Hebrews 3:13-14: but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast to the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. Our staying in and partaking of the things of Christ are predicated on our staying in Christ and staying steadfast to the end. Hebrews 3:15-19: while it is said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest [notice again the word rest], but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Missing some of the advantages The point is, nothing can keep us out of the blessings of God but unbelief. Maybe some of us did not have the advantage of going to college and obtaining a degree. Maybe some of us had to go to work at an early age. Maybe there was a separation in a person’s family, and the person was left with a single parent. Maybe some of us are not what the world calls beautiful or handsome, or maybe the color of the person’s skin is not right, as some would tell us in certain quarters. Thank God that none of that makes any difference when it comes to God. Unbelief is all that kept the children of Israel out of the Promised Land. It was not the devil, nor the circumstances, nor the giants in the land – only their unbelief. We are in control of what we believe. We cannot cop out by saying we were born on the wrong side of the tracks. It does not matter, even if there were no tracks in the town. We can make it if we will believe God!

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