God's Word is truth.  It stands whether a person believes it or not.   When a person's actions are lined up with the information in God's Word then that person sees the results of believing rightly.  When a person believes information that is contrary to the truth of God's Word then that person sees the results of believing wrongly.  You are today what you are because of your believing.  You will be tomorrow where your believing takes you.

   A man can believe in himself or the information he receives from another man.  The information that he has received in life from man leads him to trust in his own strength and ability or the strength of man.  God's Word has something to say about that:

Jeremiah 17:5-6
   Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh [the five senses] his arm [strength], and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
   For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

   Now, the man who trusts in man believes the information that he has received from man and he does not believe that he is cursed as the verse above indicates.  His believing does not change the truth of God's Word.   A person can believe that a red stop light is green and act accordingly by driving through the intersection without stopping.  That does not change the reality of the situation or the color of the light.  The person who does not stop, believing that the red light is green, puts his life in danger by his wrong believing.  In the same way, a person who does not believe the truth of God's Word and acts contrary to that Word is cursed and puts his life in danger by his wrong believing.  WHAT you believe is demonstrated by how you act.

   A man can also believe in other gods and act according to information received from a spiritual source other than the one true God.  The Word of God has something to say about that too:

Deuteronomy 6:14
   Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;

Deuteronomy 8:19
   And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

Deuteronomy 11:26-28
   Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
   A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day:
   And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

   The man who follows after man or other gods and believes the information received from a source other than the true God is cursed according to God's Word.  To receive the blessings of God you must seek God as your source of information and believe His Word.

Hebrews 11:6
   But without faith [believing] it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

   You cannot please God without believing His Word.  When you go to God you must first believe that God exists and that He rewards them that diligently seek Him.  You must accept the information that comes from God's Word and act accordingly.  The man who trusts God is blessed.

Jeremiah 17:7-8
   Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.
   For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

   God's Word says that the man who trusts God is blessed and the man who trusts man or trusts other gods is cursed.  That is the information that comes from the Word of God.  If you trust in yourself, in another man, or some other god then you do not believe the true God.  You still believe.  You believe man.  You believe other gods.  You believe the horoscope or some other source of information.  Your believing does not change the truth or the results indicated by the Word of God.  Trust man or other gods = cursed.  Trust God = blessed.  Lets look at an example from the Word of God.

   In these three passages it is clear that believing God's Word results in a rain in due season and a fruitful land, whereas not believing God results in no rain, no fruit, and ultimately death:

Deuteronomy 28:1-2; 11-12
   And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
   And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. . . .
   And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
   The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

Leviticus 26:3-4
   If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;
   Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

Deuteronomy 11:13-17
   And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
   That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
   And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.
   Take heed to yourselves that your heart be not deceived and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
   And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly form off the good land which the lord giveth you.

   It is clear that God's Word promised the children of Israel rain in due season and a fruitful land when they believed His Word.  Ahab was a king of Israel who did not believe God.  He received his information from other gods, specifically the god Baal who was the god of his unbelieving wife Jezebel.  His action, contrary to God's Word, did not change the Word of God.  He received the results promised by the Word of God.  He and Israel were cursed.

I Kings 16:30-33
   And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.
   And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.
   And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.
   And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.

   Ahab believed.  He believed Baal.  He believed Jezebel.  He acted according to his believing and worshiped other gods.  His believing did not change God's Word.

I Kings 17:1
   And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

   The results of believing God's Word as stated in Deuteronomy 28:12 were that God would open His good treasure and provide rain in proper season to make the land a fruit filled land.  As a result of Ahab's wrong believing the land was cursed and there was not dew or rain for three years and six months (James 5:17).  Did he believe?  Yes.  Did he believe God?  No.  Everyone believes.  It is not a matter of do you believe; it is a matter of who and what do you believe.

Romans 10:8-10
   But what saith it?  The word [the information] is nigh [near] thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is the word of faith [the information to believe] that we preach:
   That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
   For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

   First you need that information.  Then you must have confidence and trust in that information to the end that you act upon it and get saved.  You act by confessing Jesus as Lord and believing that God raised him from the dead.  That is the believing action demanded by the Word of God.  When you act on the Word you receive the results - you get born again: saved.  If you do not act according to this word then you do not get saved.  You still believe.  You just don't believe God.

   Some say that there are many right ways to believe and that as long as you are sincere God will bless you.  The truth is that there are many sources of information in the world.  Some are the words of men and some are the words of other gods.  But there is only one source of truth and that is God.  When you act according to the many ways of man or the many spiritual sources in the world you are not believing God and you will not receive the results promised by God.  If you want to live the blessed life that the Word of God talks about then you must believe God.