Friday, November 30, 2018

Doubt

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn on the Texas Gulf Coast! It's gonna be a great day...I feel it!

This morning I am going to give us some tools for our tool box, the tool box of life. Perhaps more accurately, I am going to provide you with some information. You, and I, must then decide what we are going to do with the information we have. 

You ever have doubt? Question if you are good enough? Question if it is all really going to be o.k.? Question if you really have a purpose? Question God? Yeah, me too. For years I would get caught in the vicious cycle of faith->doubt->beating myself up over having doubted
->faith->doubt->beating myself up over having doubted, and on and on. And there was also a good measure of fear thrown in amongst the doubt! :) So before diving into this Happy Friday let's get one thing perfectly clear; doubt does not mean you lack faith, don't believe in God, are not a "good" Christian - what is that anyways?!?! - or any of the other lies that Satan would have you believe. It took me hearing many pastors talk about this to truly understand it. Doubt, when acted upon properly...that is the key, will actually purify our faith, strengthen our faith, reaffirm our belief in God, and actually help us become all we were created to become. So, if you have doubt know that you are not alone and that it doesn't mean you lack faith. Let's not beat ourselves up. Let's not cower down in the corner. Let's fight with our faith! You and I are more than conquerors! Let's do some learning and get ready for the battles that are surely to come! :)

I am reading a book by Mark Batterson titled, Play The Man: Becoming The Man God Created You To Be. I want to share several excerpts from Chapter 4 which is titled, The Three-Headed Dragon.

"The Dragon of Doubt breathes fire, but we have the shield of faith. We don't live by logic; we operate by faith. We don't play the victim; we are more than conquerors. We defeat this dragon by not listening to his lies. How do we tune him out? By making sure the Holy Spirit is the loudest voice in our lives."

"The enemy disguises his packages and uses different formations, but if we study the film carefully, we will discover that his first trick play is planting seeds of doubt."

"The Dragon of Doubt plants seeds of doubt, getting us to second-guess what God has said. He's a liar, but most of those lies aren't bold-faced lies. He's too crafty, to cowardly. Most of his lies are half-truths. And Adam is exhibit A. The enemy exaggerated the restrictions God had placed on Adam. The enemy fooled Adam into thinking his playground was actually a prison. And he'll do the same thing with our marriages, our jobs, and our churches too!"

"Doubt is buying into the enemy's lies, believing them to be truth. And if we choose to believe the lie, we're not just buying a bill of goods; we're also calling God a liar!"

"When we reverse engineer the first temptation, it's rather obvious that the enemy is trying to get Adam to doubt the goodness of God. That's the chink in the armor. If we doubt His goodness, then we doubt His love, His power, and His grace."

"Jesus encountered the Dragon of Doubt during His forty-day fast in the wilderness. He defended Himself by dropping truth bombs on the devil. Scripture is a double-edged sword. If you want to win the duel with doubt, you have to wield your sword every single day."

"Now, let me zoom in on this seed of doubt the enemy planted in Adam. 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden.' That isn't what God said, is it? It was only one tree that was off-limits! So what the enemy tries to do is make obedience seem harder than it really is. He tries to make it seem impossible, unreasonable."

"Resisting temptation isn't easy, that's for sure. And I'll be the first to admit I've lost many battles with pride, lust, greed, and anger. But it's a winnable war. The problem is that most of us feel defeated before the battle even begins. Why? Because we can't imagine winning every battle, ever day. After all, who bats a thousand?"

"All you have to do is focus on winning the day! Quit worrying about tomorrow. Don't focus on next week, next month, or next year. Win the day. Leverage today's victory tomorrow. Minimized the losing streaks by not letting bad days turn into bad weeks, bad months, or bad years. Then string some wins together. Before you know it, the momentum will shift and you'll be playing offense again."

Subtle little lies. The first play in the playbook of the devil. But the thing is Sweet Friend, we now know. When doubt creeps in we can wield the sword of truth. We can search scripture to see if the doubt lines up with what God says. We fight doubt with faith, bolstered by the Word of God. And by the way, the day I read the above I was filled with doubt that night. It hit me like a tsunami. It almost made me laugh...the attack. It was predictable. Standing on the truth of God's word I prayed in faith and got a great night of sleep! :)

I also want to share several scriptures about doubt.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones." - Proverbs 3: 5 - 8

"But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind." - James 1: 6

"And Jesus answered them, "Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen." - Matthew 21: 21

"Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?'" - Matthew 14: 31

"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." - Isaiah 41: 10

"For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." - 2 Timothy 1: 7

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." - Hebrews 11: 1

"I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!" - Psalm 27: 13 - 14

Do you see it Friends? Trust, faith, fear, hope...these are all choices! Will the feelings of doubt, of fear come? Absolutely! We will feel these things. This does not, however make them truth. It is in these moments, the moments of doubt and fear, that we must choose, we will choose. We can feed the doubt and fear and sure enough it will grow. Or, we can choose to trust, to have faith and to hope! And which ever we choose will determine the life we live.

I also want to share a few quotes I found this week as I studied doubt.

"Faith is a choice, not a feeling. It means choosing to trust God even when life doesn't seem to make sense." - Dave Willis

"Faith and fear both demand you believe in something you cannot see. You choose!" - Bob Proctor

"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt." - William Shakespeare

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith." - Franklin D. Roosevelt

"If you doubt you can accomplish something, then you can't accomplish it. You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through." - Rosalynn Carter

"Doubts in your mind are a much greater roadblock to success than obstacles on the journey." - Orrin Woodward

"Many were the steps taken in doubt, that saw their shapeless ends in no time. Those who travail in faith today will triumph in joy tomorrow. Let faith lead the way." - Israelmore Ayivor

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.

Kev

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