Can unbelief stop the manifestation of my healing from coming forth? 

That is a question we hear quite often when one is thinking that they have believed and still do not see the outward change in their physical body.  In the article below we will connect the dots in God’s word to see how belief and unbelief affect receiving our healing and the manifestation.

When we only believe, our faith (steadfastness) in what we are believing for allows the Spirit to release what we are drawing upon the Spirit to do. If we have any doubt to what we have believed for, then we are what the Bible refers to in James as being double-minded and therefore, unstable (not steadfast, wavering), which is a manifestation of unbelief and we are not able to receive (God is not withholding from us, it is already in the Spirit dwelling in us, Romans 8:11):

James 1:6-8
But let him ask in faith, without wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.  For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.  A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Jesus made this same point;

Mark 11:22-24
Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.  For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

  The woman with the issue of blood believed that if she touched Jesus’ garment she would be made whole. So, her belief produced action that empowered her to press through the crowd to reach Jesus. After she touched the hem of his garment,  notice what Jesus said about it;  “…Daughter, thy faith has made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague”. 

Mark 5:25-34
And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? 
…. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

It was her faith or steadfastness on what she believed that released the virtue in Jesus to her, no wavering or unbelief. (Note: the indwelling Spirit was not given until after the resurrection. John 7:39. Today, every born-again person has received the indwelling Spirit which is where the ‘virtue’ flows from.)

  Consider the centurion, in Matthew 8, who had the sick servant and came to Jesus believing for a ‘word’. Jesus said he had not found so great faith in Israel; Why? Because the centurion believed he didn’t need Jesus to come to his house to have the servant made whole (seeing to believe), he believed in the authority that Jesus had to just speak the ‘word’.

Matthew 8:6-13
… and when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lies at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.  And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.  For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it.
Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel….
And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

Then Jesus told the centurion to , “Go thy way and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee”. The servant was healed because his owner, the centurion, believed.  In his heart once he had the ‘word’ it was done. That is unwavering steadfast belief; no doubt or unbelief present in his heart when he heard the ‘word’!

Let’s look at Jairus’ belief:

Luke 8:41-55
And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus’ feet, and besought him that he would come into his house: (Mark 5:23 And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lies at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.)
For he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went the people thronged him….  While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master.  But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.
And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden.  And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but is asleep.  And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead.  And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise.  And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat.

  Notice, when Jairus came to Jesus and besought him to come to his house and heal his daughter, he believed that if Jesus came then she would be made well and live. Jesus was moved to follow Jairus because he recognized belief (Jairus’ belief produced Jesus’ action to come). When one came from Jairus’ house saying the daughter was dead, Jesus told Jairus, “…fear not, believe only and she shall be made whole…”. If Jairus had feared he would have been giving place for unbelief to rule and his daughter would not have been made whole. But we see that Jairus did believe because his daughter was made whole. This shows that Jairus rejected the fear which would have been the manifestation of unbelief. Fear would have opposed the belief that he had come to Jesus in and would have divided his heart to where he could not receive (Mark 11:23-24, James 1:8,7). When they got to Jairus house, Jesus gave the mourners opportunity to believe and when they would not, he cast them out of Jairus’ house so that their unbelief wouldn’t affect Jairus.

This is why in Mark 16:17-20, it says the signs and wonders followed the preaching of the word because the word has the potential to produce faith in someone who will believe it. “..these signs shall follow them that believe… and …confirming the word with signs following.”  It is also true that wrong words can produce unbelief and doubt, if a person will allow it, that is why Jesus removed the mourners.

In Mark 6, it says Jesus was able to heal only a few sick folks, and the majority rejected the ‘mighty works’ because of their unbelief (Matthew 13:52). Jesus’ belief to release the Spirit of power was limited by their unbelief. The people heard him teach the word and heard of the ‘mighty works’ but they did not mix it with their choice to believe and therefore did not experience the manifestation in their life.  That is exactly what Hebrews chapter 3 and 4 records concerning the children of Israel when leaving Egypt:

3:12  So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

3:19  Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God (not believing his word).

4:2  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

So, we may believe Jesus is the Christ and accept Him as Savior but limit the manifestation of the Spirit of power in our life (including in our mortal bodies) because of our unbelief.

Belief and unbelief are the manifestation of the will of our heart. The Spirit of God will never violate our will. As it is written:

Deuteronomy 30:19
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

It is our choice to reject doubt and unbelief and be single-minded in belief.

In conclusion, the Word of God is very clear that unbelief limits the release of what the Spirit is capable of releasing, Romans 8:11.

Romans 8:11.
But if the Spirit of of our Father that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead will also give or preserve life to your mortal (dying) bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you.

It’s important to mention that this question arises in many because of a misunderstanding that the ‘manifestation’ equals the absence of all symptoms. Looking to the flesh for evidence that you have believed to receive is actually a manifestation of unbelief. Jesus said the flesh profits nothing – it is the Spirit that gives life, John 6:63. At the moment one believes, they receive, Matthew 21:22, not when they see it in their flesh. As Jesus said to Thomas, “…blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed”, John 20:29, because believing is seeing/receiving, 2 Corinthians 4:18.

When we believe, it releases the Spirit to manifest outwardly what we have received through belief inwardly. It cannot give what we haven’t believed for, Matthew 21:22.

Matthew 21:22
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.

Remember, that the healing begins inwardly and can take some time before it shows outwardly as in the case of the fig tree in Mark 11. Don’t let the outward appearance cause you to doubt, just keep steadfastly believing in what Jesus has accomplished for you and belongs to you, right now!

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