The Deaf & Dumb Spirit

Four Ways To Overcome The Spirit Of Unbelief

There are four important ingredients to overcome the Spirit of Unbelief. We will cover the first two in this lesson and look at the other two in remaining lessons.

1 - FASTING

One key to overcoming the spirit of unbelief is fasting.

And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast him out?" So, He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting" (Mark 9:28-29).

This deaf and dumb spirit (unbelief) does not come out by anything but prayer and fasting. Jesus gave the disciples the key. You could not overcome that spirit of infirmity (epilepsy, moonstruck, insanity, madness, learning disability, dumb condition (Mt. 17:15) in the boy because of unbelief.

And this kind, the deaf and dumb spirit which is connected to unbelief, cannot come out except by prayer and fasting. There is something that begins to happen when we fast and pray and choose to say I will not digest anything except the truth of what the Bible says about healing. He sent His Word and delivered them from destruction. That means healing is in the Word. When you fast and pray and digest the Word, it gives you faith and power and you overcome personal unbelief and doubt. Fast for an extended time and study nothing but what the Bible says about healing, and you will see the results.

Do not read anything else but what the Bible says about healing. There was a time in my life before I entered into the ministry in the area of miracles when I fasted and read only what the Bible said about healing. For months I fed on and read nothing but what the bible said about healing. I began to be full of faith and power. I overcame the personal spirit of unbelief in my own life because this kind, overcoming the deaf and dumb spirit, only comes out by prayer and fasting. That is level one.

2 - UNDERSTAND HEALINGS VS MIRACLES

The second key to overcoming this spirit of unbelief in your life is understanding the difference between the gifts of healing and miracles. Understanding what it means to war and contend for the miraculous by understanding the difference between the gifts of healing and of miracles. It is okay not to be instantly healed.

"For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles" (1 Cor 12:8-10).

The Bible makes a distinction between the gifts of healing and the gifts of miracles. The definition of miracle is "the instantaneous operation of God's power". When you look at the word in the Bible for healing, many times it is translated to "therapy" in the Greek. Therapy is the gradual cure, the remedy, the process, and the gradual recovery.

"And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover" (Mark 16:17-18).

The word for recover suggests a recovery by remedy, therapy, gradually, by a process, and in amount of time. Even in the ministry of Jesus, many times the word for healing in the Greek is "therapy". But because we have not understood the differences between the gifts of healings and miracles, we have left church many times thinking we did not have enough faith to be healed because others were instantly healed and we were not. In reality we may be having a healing rather then a miracle. We think we did not have as much faith as they did, and if we had more faith then what happened to them would have happened to us. We leave the service with rejection; feeling like God does not love us as much as He loves them. In truth, if we understood the difference between a healing and miracle, we would hold on to the seed of our healing.

Where do we see the seed of healing?

Prov 4:20-22: "My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to My sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh."

This suggests a seed. Something happens as you meditate day and night. Remind yourself of the promise of what the Bible says about healing. Keep that word in the midst of your heart and over time it will begin to be strength in your body. It will begin to be life, health and strength in your bones. "Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. "And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it" (Mark 4:3-4).

The devil comes to take away the seed of truth. When you do not understand the difference between the gifts of healing and miracles, and realize that it is ok not to be instantly healed, you do not see that you can hold on to your seed and be healed tomorrow, the next three days, the next ten days or a month. Do not dig up the seed every day to see how it is doing. Be convinced that though you do not have the immediate and full harvest of a miracle, there is a process that gives you the responsibility to water the seed by remaining in (Prov 4:20) and keeping the word in the midst of your heart.

Mark 16:18 does not say that you will see them all instantly recover. When it is an instant healing, it is not actually a healing. It is a miracle. When it takes place over an amount of time, it is a healing. That is why the Bible distinguishes between gifts of healing and gifts of miracles. Did you know there are also other levels of healing?

Mark 16:18 is not the anointing or gift we see in 1 Cor 12. The anointing in 1 Cor 12 is the gift of healing and the gift of miracles, which come through the Holy Ghost. The gifts are different from the general commission of healing in Mark 16:17. The gift in 1 Cor 12, the Holy Spirit distributes individually, as He wills. It is not a general commission. However, you can have the gift, and I can have the gift. How can we get it? Earnestly desire it. Earnestly hunger for the healing anointing.

"Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy" (1 Cor 14:1).

You cannot overcome the spirit of unbelief until you understand how the devil operates to bring you to the place where you do not believe God. He does that because the Westernized church is ignorant of how miracles operate and does not understand healings. We do not understand the operation of the anointing, the levels of the healing anointing or the difference between healings and miracles. We do not realize that it is ok not to be instantly healed.

"Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!' So, when He saw them, He said to them, 'Go, show yourselves to the priests.' And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed" (Luke 17:12-14).

They were not immediately healed. They were going to Jerusalem, and from where they were it was a three day journey. They went three days. As they went , they were healed. They were not instantly healed because had they ' been, all ten would have come back to praise the Lord. Only two came back because as they went they were healed.

Naaman the leper dipped himself in the pool seven times. There was a process. And the word "recovery" in Mark 16:18, the Greek word for healing at times, even when you see it in the ministry of Jesus is "therapy", and suggests at times the "remedy" or the "cure" or the "process" of healing.

I was in Roseville, California when I prayed for a lady who had multiple sclerosis. She was not immediately healed. The power of God touched her, though she was not physically changed. She left on her cane with weakness in her body. Two weeks later she phoned the church saying that she had been healed of multiple sclerosis and all of her strength had returned. She threw her cane away. She had been to the doctor to confirm the healing. How do we know that when the Bible says "and He healed them" that the actual healing did not manifest until two days later? The writer could have used that sort of language because he found out after the healing took place. We can never be sure.

It looks like every time in the bible there is a miracle it is instant, because we have an instant mindset. We are prayed for and we walk away with discouragement and disappointment. If the miracle is not instant but it may be a healing, then hold onto the seed. That is how the devil takes away the seed, which might have been a miracle in one week. The birds of the air have a door through disappointment and discouragement to rob your seed of healing. Understanding the difference between healing and miracles will help you overcome the spirit of unbelief in your own life. Be released to war and contend for your healing until you have the full manifestation.