God, Help Me Overcome Doubt!

Steven Furtick
Oct 8, 2022
8 min read

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msiT2RYMLpo

"I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief". I'm not asking God to just take it away. I'm asking

God "Help me overcome it". My faith is not gone. I just have to learn where to look. Sometimes the

greatest faith…I need you to get this…is right underneath that biggest doubt. Sometimes the

greatest thing God wants to show you, if you will start lifting and looking and lifting and looking…

Do you see what I'm saying? We can't just cover over it. We can't just come to church for a fresh

coat of paint over our problems. We can't just come to church for a three-hour scriptural sugar

boost to get us feeling good for a moment. It won't work, and we'll end up like the disciples, saying,

"Why did I shout and sing and listen and take notes in church"? Because you didn't invite Jesus into

the real place of your pain. You didn't lose your faith; you just stopped looking at the surface. "It's

gone. It's gone". One boy broke up with you. "I guess I'll never be loved". You're 14 years old! "I

guess it's gone. I guess you can't trust anybody". See how we do it? "It's gone". You have to know

where to look.

Can I preach something else? Sometimes you are so intimidated by it you forget about him. "When

Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit". He didn't argue with

the disciples. He didn't argue with the teachers. He didn't have to. He was bigger than it. So, the

disciples said, "Why couldn't we drive it out"? He said, "Because you lost your focus. This kind can

only come out through prayer". When we think about prayer, we think about maybe a list of things we

say to God, but God is showing me lately that prayer is more about a lens than a list, and it's more

about what I see than what I say. So, if my prayer is always just "Let me just say my prayers…" When

Jesus said, "This kind can only come out by prayer…" The King James says "…and fasting," but the

original manuscripts don't say "by fasting". Even the fact that he said, "This kind can only come out

by prayer…" He's letting you know you can't do it alone.

I looked on my message last week, and somebody said on a comment… I don't usually read the

comments. Pray for me. I read them more than I should. They said, "You left out fasting. It said 'By

prayer and fasting.' They didn't get the demon out because they didn't fast". Isn't that just like us to

think if we'll just do one more thing, if we'll just do one more step… It was their inability to rely on

God's power in them that got them in the predicament to begin with. He said, "It's only by prayer". It's

intimidating. How dare we judge the disciples that they couldn't cast out a demon? That's like all of

the out of shape people watching these Olympic athletes, talking about "That was pretty good. I

mean, second place. It was all right". I want to judge the disciples. "Why couldn't you drive out the

demon? You should have confessed the name of Jesus and prayed and fasted". I can't even get my

kids to clean their room, y'all, and I'm going to judge the disciples for not casting out a demon? This

is a demon that has been with this boy since childhood. How dare we judge them for that?

It was intimidating. He said, "This kind can only come out by prayer". This isn't going to be like one of

your other problems you can fix in your own strength. I wonder, have you been losing it because

you've been fighting on the wrong level? One of my friends went into a business situation a few

weeks ago, and he said when he pulled up to the person's house for the meeting, the house was so

big and so beautiful he lost his confidence. He said, "I went in there, and I thought, 'I can't do this. I

can't do this.'" When he went in to meet with the people… After he left, they sent him a text and said,

"You are amazing. We have not stopped talking about your spirit". He's a great Christian. This guy

changes the atmosphere of every room he walks into. He said, "Afterward, they were texting me how

amazing the meeting was and how they were so impressed with me". He said, "I couldn't believe it,

because I went in so scared". And do you know what I told him? I said, "Yeah, because you got so

caught up in what you were walking into you forgot what you were walking in with".

Who is this for? You were so focused on what you were walking into, but God says if you will get a

focus on what you are walking in with… Not just your abilities, not just your education, not just your

knowledge, not just your wisdom. At some point, that will fail you, but if you remember you are

walking in with the Spirit of God… This is a guarantee of your inheritance. This is not corruptible. It

cannot perish. It cannot spoil. It cannot fade. Whatever it I'm walking into, I'm walking in with

something that is greater. Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. When Jesus

confronted it, it had to back down, because greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world! I've

got it, Devil! I have the Spirit of God. I have the calling of God. I have the purpose of God. I have the

Word of God. I have the assurance of God. I have the anointing of God. I have a sling and a stone and

a promise and a Savior. And I still have faith. After all I've been through and all it cost me and all they

took… It robbed my speech, but it didn't take my faith. I do believe! I still believe!

So, let me give you a Scripture. Lift before you look. Stop looking at stuff on the surface and

saying, "Oh, there's nothing there". Lift before you look. This is what Holly taught me. "It's not gone;

you just haven't looked yet". You haven't looked, so you haven't seen the opportunity that's in this

hardship. You haven't seen the blessing that's in this rejection yet because you haven't looked. "I

will lift my eyes to the hills". What did the psalmist do? He said, "I have to lift before I look". They

looked at the boy, and he looked dead, but Jesus reached down and lifted him up. Why? Lift before

you look. Before you look at your schedule for the day, lift your eyes to the hills. You're going to

need help today, and you have it on the inside. Don't look so much at what you're walking into that

you forget what you're walking in with. "Oh, no! I'm a nobody with a somebody on the inside of me. I

have to decrease so he can increase. I lift my eyes to the hills".

I might be preaching for three people, but you haven't really looked yet. You've been saying, "There's

nothing special about me. I don't really have a gift. I'm not anointed like those other people. I'm not

called. I don't really see any benefit in this situation". You haven't really looked until you've lifted.

When you lift your eyes to the hills… The turning point for the father is when he stopped looking at

the crowd, stopped looking at the disciples, stopped looking at the symptoms, and finally saw Jesus.

I see Jesus coming toward your unbelief, coming toward your struggle, coming toward your issue.

Will you lift your eyes? Lift before you look. He said, "I lift my eyes to the hills, from whence cometh

my help". It's not going to come from the disciples. It's not going to come from my own flesh. It's not

going to come from my own solutions. "My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and

earth. He will not suffer your foot to be moved. The Lord keepeth thee. He will not slumber nor sleep.

For the Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite you by

day, nor the moon by night. He that keepeth Israel shall preserve your soul, even forevermore".