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Faith Vs Mental Assent


It is often said that the enemy of better is good, in like manner, one may conclude that the enemy of faith is mental assent. This is so because while those who are in complete unbelief know where exactly they stand and why they are unable to receive from God, the one who is mentally assenting supposes that he/she in faith, yet is still unable to receive his/her desires from God. Mental assent is so close to faith that it is often times easy to be mentally assenting to the word of God while assuming that you are in faith.

Faith is a product of the revealed word of God (Rhema) to the human spirit. Faith comes when we receive light from God’s word, signifying that the word of God is crucial to building faith. As you hear and meditate or reflect on God’s word, light will come to you and faith will be there. Faith development is therefore a process of a lifetime because as long as that cycle of hearing and meditating is sustained, your faith will continue to develop.

On the other hand, mental assent is a product of mere head knowledge and not a revelation of the word of God. So while faith is quick to believe the word of God and act on it, mental assent also believes but never really acts. While faith says I believe and I know that healing is mine now regardless of the pain or symptoms; mental assent says I believe that God can heal me and it stops right there, it never takes a stand that healing is mine right now.

To mentally assent to the word is to believe in the ability of God to do what He says, but to be in doubt of His willingness to do it for you, while faith not only believes in God’s ability but also trust in His willingness to do what He says.

The line between mental assent and faith is so thin at certain points that you may get it mixed up but there is a story in the bible that best illustrates our point. In John’s gospel chapter 11, we read of a certain family who was close to Jesus. Lazarus, a member of the family was sick and his sisters Martha and Mary sent for Jesus to come so that He could make their brother well. Jesus didn’t show up when they expected Him and eventually Lazarus died. The situation looked hopeless and the sisters must have been greatly disappointed in Jesus for not showing up when He got the message that His friend Lazarus was sick. Eventually, Jesus showed up four days after, and the sick man was already dead and had been buried. While Jesus was still on the way, just before He entered their town, they got wind that Jesus was coming and Martha ran to meet Him where He was to express her disappointment (Jn 11:21-27). They had a brief conversation, and the most striking part of that conversation was when Jesus categorically told Martha that her brother would rise again, then He asked if she believed. Notice that she answered with a serious deviation from the question that Jesus asked, and her answer demonstrates most clearly what mental assent is – she answered that she believed He was Christ. But that wasn’t the subject of discussion, the real subject was whether or not she believed that her brother will rise now that Jesus had come on the scene. She had just finished saying she knew that whatever He asked God, He will get, but when Jesus put the real question to her, she missed it. Why did she answer the way she did? She was only mentally assenting to the word of God but real faith was absent. She believed that He was God, she believed in His ability to do everything, but she did not believe in His love and His willingness to what He was saying at that moment - this is the key weakness of mental assent.

The secret of moving from mental assent to real faith is believing in the love that God has for you, (1 Jn. 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us), and believing in His willingness to do whatever you desire of Him according to His word. The leper in Mark 1:40-41 said to Jesus, if you will, you can make me clean and Jesus answered in the affirmative “I will”. I can tell you one thing for sure, He is always willing. Take practical steps to consciously work on your faith, move from mentally assenting to God’s word to having real faith by which you can lead a victorious Christian life.



N.B
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