Unbelief is what negatively impacts our faith!
Jesus revealed what we focus on will impact the fruitfulness of our walk in Christ. The productiveness of a Word that GOD spoke does not validate whether or not it was from GOD. In the Parable of the Sower, there are four different types of soil and only one was productive. All four received The Word of GOD.
The issue is the type of soil (the heart of man), not The Word of GOD. In each case, the Word was authentic, It just didn’t bear fruit. GOD’S Word is not validated by what we do with It. HE is not on trial by what we do with HIS Word, we are.
Jesus spoke in Matthew chapter 13:
22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the Word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word, and he becomes unfruitful.
In other Words, “The one sown among thorns represents one who receives the message, but all of life’s busy distractions, his divided heart, and his ambition for wealth result in suffocating the Kingdom message and It becomes fruitless.”
This person did not tend his garden and keep the other seeds (cares of this world and deceitfulness of riches) from being planted and allowed to grow as well. Weeds will compete for the nutrients and moisture, choking out the good seeds, keeping them from growing to maturity.
Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Romans chapter 10:
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
This passage does not say “faith comes by hearing the Word of God”, else we could simply play an audio recording of The Word while we sleep and wake up the next day with the faith of Peter or Paul. Faith comes by hearing, it’s your connection to the Voice of GOD. The Voice of GOD is activated by your exposure to the Word of GOD.
The Word enhances and trains our hearing. This is why I include so much Scripture in these writings. They are to train us to hear HIM better… I include myself.
The challenge is that FATHER speaks a Word, but I have another idea, a disappointment, a criticism, or I’ve got a complaint… I have all these seeds that are vying for my attention. The cares of this world, the other interests, the other burdens or concerns, are attempting to take all the nutrients from my soil.
Busyness is artificial significance. The enemy works to expand our busyness (our activity) to increase our cares. In he can increase our cares, he plants seeds that compete with the Word of GOD.
Mark recorded by The Holy Spirit in Mark chapter 9:
17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit.
18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”
19 He answered him and said, “O you unbelieving (G571) generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.”
This passage is often translated as faithless generation but in this context, it must be translated as unbelieving generation.
G571 is translated as: unfaithful, faithless, (not to be trusted, perfidious); incredible
of things, unbelieving, incredulous, without trust (in God).
20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.
21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.
22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
If the man didn’t have some level of faith, he would not have approached Jesus. It was not an issue of no faith; it was an issue of unbelief.