One of the most common hindrances to receiving what we need from God that I have found is just plain old fashion doubt and unbelief. In fact it was the same doubt and unbelief that hindered Jesus from being able to minister effectively to the people of His day.

Mark 6:5,6 - Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.

Notice verse five once again, ". . . He could do no mighty work there . . .". It does not say, He wouldn't do no mighty works. It does say that He couldn't do no mighty works. You see there is a difference between couldn't do and wouldn't do. Couldn't do tells us that He not only had the ability to do mighty works, but He also was willing to do them there in His own home town.

What were the mighty works that He wanted to do there? It was more than what He was able to do for those few sick people with minor symptoms of sickness. He wanted to raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, open blind eyes etc. However, He was not able to do so. Why? What was it that hindered Him from being able to do those mighty works of healing and deliverance? The answer is found in the next verse, " . . . because of their unbelief . . . ". Unbelief hinders us from receiving what it is that we need from God.

Take a look at what happened to the Children of Israel as a result of unbelief (See Numbers 14:21-38; Hebrews 3:12-19). It wasn't the giants that kept them from receiving, it wasn't the fortified cities that kept them out. The Word of God says that they could not enter in because of their unbelief. The same old doubt and unbelief that hindered Jesus from doing the mighty works there in His home town in Nazareth, and it's the same old doubt and unbelief that is keeping a lot of the church world from being able to receive their promised land of healing and victory.

I liked what I heard Brother Kenneth Copeland say once in defining unbelief. He said, "Unbelief is not non belief, it is belief in something else other than the Word of God." That is true. You see God created man (this would include all of mankind) with a believer. You and I cannot not believe. Even those who don't believe in the existence of God are believing in something. They believe that He doesn't exist. We have been given by our creator the ability to believe. The question is, "what is it that we believe"? Is it what the doctors report says? Is it what our bank statement reads? Is it what the lawyer suggests, or what the media is preaching? Or, will our belief rest on what God has already declared to us in His Word?

Believe You Receive When You Pray

Jesus promised to grant the things you ask for in prayer believing.

Mark 11:23,24 -  “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Notice again these two verses, and remember who's doing the speaking here. It's Jesus! Jesus said, " I say to you, . . .".  To who? To you!

There have been those who have said that these two verses here in Mark won't work for everyone. That's just simply doubt and unbelief talking. Look again at what Jesus says here about who this will work for. ". . . I say to you, whoever . . . does not doubt in his heart, but believes . . . he will have whatever . . .".

Allow me to ask you another question here. Who does whoever qualify here? Could it be anyone who will believe when they pray? Could that be you that Jesus is talking to here? Yes it could. If you can believe when you pray, you can and will receive those things that you are believing for based upon God's Word.

What are the things and the them that Jesus said we will have when we believe? It's the things you ask for in prayer. For right now let's consider the them and the things that you ask for to be the healing of your body, and insert it into verse twenty four. When you pray, believe that you receive your healing, and you will have healing. You can insert whatever God the Father has promised to you in His written Word. His promises are yours. Second Corinthians 1:20 tells us, For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. He says yes and so be it to us concerning His promises. Notice the next statement in this verse,  ". . . to the glory of God through us." God the Father gets the glory when our prayers are answered (Also see John 15:7, 8). He gets the glory when His promises are fulfilled in our lives.

So remember, when you pray you must believe first, then you will receive what it is you have need of. When are you going to have your answer? After you believe you receive it. When do you believe your receive it? When you pray, which comes first before you have it in the physical realm.

We Are Not To Be Moved By Our Physical Senses, But By What We Believe

2 Corinthians 4:18 - while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 5:7 - For we walk by faith, not by sight.

We are to live by faith in God's Word, not by our five physical senses. There is a place for our five physical senses, and they are important. God created us with these senses. They have their place, and are needed in this physical world in which we live. However, they are not to rule us. They are not to determine if God's Word is true or not. We are not to put how we feel physically above God's Word, especially when it comes to the healing of our bodies. CLC