Steve Pressfield said this:

“A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. It’s only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate.”

Isn’t that so true. A child will believe anything we tell them. As we approach Christmas, we are reminded that children actually believe that an overweight man, dressed in red, will come from the North Pole, squeeze through the chimney and leave presents for them on Christmas eve. A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable. Neither does a madman.

A psychiatrist was having a conversation with a patient in a mental health ward. The patient was convinced that he was Superman and was able to fly. “How do you know you have super powers?” The psychiatrist enquired. “God told me”, was the quick come back from the patient. Suddenly a loud voice came from the bed next door, “I did not!”

Apparently children, geniuses and madmen have one thing in common. They all have the ability to believe in the unbelievable. Most of us however dwell in the realm of logic. If it doesn’t make sense to us, it is not something we tend to entertain. We take pride in making logical and sensible decisions.

The Christian faith however is not based on human logic. In fact the Bible is very clear that our wisdom and intellect is far superior to God’s and the only way we can ever fathom the plans and purposes of God is to engage with Him by faith. The word for believe found in the New Testament, is the word pisteuō (believe) and pistis (faith) which occurs nearly 500 times in the New Testament. It means to “think to be true”, “to be persuaded”, “to place confidence in”, “to give oneself up to”. Look at some of the ways these words are used in the NT:

John 20:31 (NKJV) but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

John is letting the reader know that his intentions for writing his gospel was to help us believe. Why? – “that you may believe”. What? – “that Jesus is the Christ”. What happens when you do believe Jesus is the Christ? – “you may have life in his name”.

So believing is a choice you make. It is a deliberate choosing to think of the things you read in Scriptures and accept it to be true. To place your confidence in Jesus, to give yourself up to Him, to believe – not just intellectually but to believe and to live it – to put our faith into action. The whole tenor of New Testament carries this intimate link between believing and faith, an inner conviction that influences the way we live our lives and the choices that we make.

Here are other examples of the use of the words pisteuō (believe) and pistis (faith) in the New Testament.

Matthew 21:22 (NKJV) And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

James 1:6-7 (NKJV) But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord

In Luke chapter 1, we see three individuals who were faced with the opportunity to believe (to put faith into action). We want to focus on the lessons we can learn from their responses to the Word from the Lord. We will begin with the first two characters that are mentioned in this chapter.

The Unbelieving Believer – Zacharias

Before we look at our first character, it is important to understand the circumstances in which Zacharias found himself in.

There were physical limitations that influenced his ability to believe

Luke 1:6-7 (NKJV) And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.

As a couple, both Zacharias and Elizabeth were in a right relationship with God even though they didn’t find themselves particularly favourable in the area of child bearing. Note words used by Luke to describe their lifestyle – “righteous”, “walking in all the commandments”, “blameless”. Imagine doing everything right but “they had no child”. And imagine when everyone looks at Elizabeth as the one who was “barren”. Not only was Elizabeth barren but the both of them were now “well advanced in years. In other words, all hope for a child was long gone now.

There were emotional and societal aspects that challenged their faith

Being childless carried with it a stigma. Having children was always a blessing and the more children one had the more blessed and fruitful they were seen to be. Barrenness however was always seen as a punishment from God. Elizabeth’s prayer of thanksgiving once she was with child gives us that sense of what she was going through.

Luke 1:25 (NLT) “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. “He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.”

Barrenness positioned Elizabeth as one who was not favoured by God. While the couple was seen as righteous and blameless in God’s eyes, but to those around them there was a cloud of shame and disgrace.

Knowing the circumstances surrounding Zacharias we can understand why reacted the way he did when he encountered the angel of the Lord.

Luke 1:13 (NLT) But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer.

Inspite of the impossible situation they were both in, Zacharias continued to pray for a miracle. We are not told if this was intentional or even a conscious prayer but we do know he continued to pray. His response of course gives us an idea that Zacharias never really expected an answer to this prayer.

Luke 1:18 (NKJV) And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”

Even though Zacharias kept praying for the miracle, he didn’t really believe God was able to or maybe even willing to answer his prayer. He was praying a prayer based on his circumstances rather than God’s ability to do the miraculous. He prayed for a miracle but believed it was impossible. There was a gap between his praying and his believing. It would seem that he may have been going through the motion of praying for the miracle but what he believed was that it could never happen. “I am old” and “my wife is well advanced in years” was what he chose to believe. He prayed for a miracle but cancelled out his prayer by believing it was impossible.

The miraculous requires faith to believe God can

The Bible teaches us that the prayer for the impossible requires a belief that God can do the impossible.

Matthew 21:22 (NKJV) And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

Not only is it important to believe that we will receive what we pray for, we also are required not to waver in that belief.

James 1:6-7 (NKJV) But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

Zacharias was praying, but he was praying the prayer of unbelief. He cancelled out his own prayer by confessing that it was impossible for the miracle to happen. The angel’s response to the unbelieving words that were coming out of Zacharias mouth was to silence it. The angel pressed the mute button.

Luke 1:19-20 (NKJV) And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.”

Praying unbelieving prayers can cause us to become desensitised to God happenings. Here was Zacharias face to face with angel Gabriel. Gabriel is traditionally known as God’s messenger angel. When Gabriel is dispatched, you got God’s attention. God favoured Zacharias to the point that he gave clear indication that his prayer was answered. But the effect of praying unbelieving prayers was Zacharias could not accept that the miraculous was happening.

If you are cancelling out your own prayers by the negative stuff you think and say, the best thing to do is to mute it. In order to pray believing prayers, you must first stop the unbelieving words that come out of your mouth.

We speak ourselves into being

The Bible is very clear about the power of our words. A lack of understanding of the atmosphere we create around us by our words can effect the effectiveness of our prayer life.

Romans 10:10-11 (NKJV) For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

Paul clearly shows us the connection between what we believe and what we speak.

Our convictions influence our conversations. Our conversations reinforce our convictions.

If you want to know what you truly believe, look at what you confess with your mouth. In the same way, if you want to influence what you believe, start changing the way you talk. Take note of the words you say when you pray. Are they confessions of faith or are they confessions of human limitations. Zacharias may have believed God could perform miracles but he didn’t believe God would do a miracle for him. Yes, he prayed but he did not believe his own prayers. He was an unbelieving believer.

Are you an unbelieving believer? Check your speech life. Observe the words you pray. Listen to the words you speak to others about God.

Do you focus on the impossible or do you focus on the God of the impossible?

2. The believing believer– Mary

The second character in our study is a young virgin. She too was in very similar circumstances. Again the impossible message was made clear to the reader.

Luke 1:26-27 (NKJV) Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

Same messenger in both circumstances, the Angel Gabriel. In some ways Mary’s situation was even more impossible. She was a virgin, she had not been with a man. It was not just physically improbable, pregnancy was physically impossible in this situation. Although she too was faced with the call to believe the impossible like Zacharias, Mary’s response was quite the opposite.

She received a Word

Luke 1:31 (NKJV) And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.

Like Zacharias, she too received an impossible promise. The word spoken by the angel was not just beyond human comprehension, it contradicted human intellect. But the fact was an angel stood before her and brought a word from the Lord. She was faced with a choice, reject it in favour of what makes sense or accept it as a word from the Lord.

She enquired of the Word

Luke 1:34 (NKJV) Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

I see a big difference between Mary’s enquiry and Zacharias’ one. Zacharias prayed for the impossible but did not believe he would receive it. Mary however was presented with the impossible and prayed for wisdom to receive it. Mary’s “how can this be” was the cry to bridge the gap of the desire to believe and the perplexity of facing realities before her. I see Mary’s response as similar to the father whose son was tormented by evil spirits, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief”.

God is not offended by our struggles to arrive at a place where we are in the same page with Him. The problem of unbelief is not that we are struggling to believe. The tragedy of unbelief is that we arrive at a conclusion before we give a chance for God to strengthen the place where unbelief has taken root. Mary chose to let God speak into her struggles to believe.

Luke 1:35 (NKJV) And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

The response from the angel bridged the gap for Mary. Her foundational belief was that God can do all things. When one’s foundational beliefs in God are right, all of God’s words makes sense. Of course when the Holy Spirit comes upon someone, anything is possible. The Scriptures testify to that. Mary was now ready to embrace the impossible promise.

She believed and confessed the Word

Luke 1:38 (NKJV) Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.”

Mary, like Zacharias, had a choice to respond to God’s invitation to believe in the impossible. She chose to believe. Not only did she believe the word of the Lord, she acts on that belief by confessing it – “let it be to me”. Your faith is revealed by what you confess. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. It is upon the confession of our faith that we see our prayers being effective. “Let it be to me, as you have spoken”. Mary was a believer of the unbelievable. She chose to hold on to one assumption – Nothing is impossible with God. If he says it will happen, it will happen.

Reflection and action for the week:

1. Ponder on the 2 characters in this passage. Put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself “How would I respond if I were in their position?”

2. Is there something you need to act on from this message:

• Do you need to change your prayers into believing prayers? What would that look like?

• Have you experienced miracles but never acknowledged them? How can you start doing that?

• Do you need to change your speaking to remain in the environment of believing the unbelievable?