Actively Choose to Believe God

Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Ephesians 6:16

The most powerful aspect of your life is an aspect too few Christians regularly employ. Jesus gives us a picture of it when he says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). Some of us are driven by our animal instincts and physical needs (strength) while others of us are controlled by our emotions (heart). Many of us think that our minds are the most powerful part of our bodies. We believe what our minds tell us. We are what our minds tell us we are. The danger in that is that our minds are fallen and open to deception from the enemy. The most powerful part of our bodies, stronger than our bodies, stronger than our emotions, even stronger than our minds, is our soul. It’s where our will dwells.

Actively choosing to believe God, exercising true faith, is exercising your will and making a choice, a choice to believe in God despite what your animal instincts, what your emotions or even what your mind tells you. Your will, your soul, is the most powerful part of your body. You can choose, and once you make a choice, the rest of your life (body, mind, emotions) fall into line. Taking up the shield of faith is simply employing that most powerful part of your body, your will, and submitting it to God. It’s making a conscious, willful choice to trust in God, to believe in Him, to reject what your body screams that it needs, to reject what your emotions are trying to dictate at the moment, and even to reject the lies your mind is spinning around you. The shield of faith is making a willful, a soulful choice to actively believe in the goodness of your Heavenly Father. When you do that, everything else will fall into line.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. Of the four aspects of our lives mentioned in Mark 12:30, which would you say drives and dominates you the most? Your body, emotions, mind or soul/will?

2. How does the shield of faith, of actively choosing to believe God, apply to your family and those you’re wanting to fight on behalf of? What difference would it make in your family or circle of influence if you (personally) were driven not by your body, emotions or even mind, but by your soul? What’s driving the lives of those you love?

NEXT STEP

The next step in actively choosing to believe God is to define your fear and declare your faith. What doubt is the enemy trying to get you to believe? Name it in the space below (warfare prayer to God). What will you choose to believe instead? Name it as well.