Overcoming Doubt!

It is okay to be in doubt, but it is not okay to remain in doubt. What doubt challenges your faith in God right now? Is it His provision, His promises, His presence, His character, or His care? When these questions assault your confidence in Christ, let me encourage you to take a step back and review His track record. 

“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

Furthermore, use this temporary time of distrust to go deeper with Jesus. The pressure you feel on all sides is your Savior’s way of soliciting your attention. When in doubt, seek out the Lord, learn to love Him completely, and discern more fully His profound promises. Use doubt to dig deeper into the truth of Scripture; marinate your mind. 

When in doubt, stay steadfast in seeking out your Savior. Wait on Him, especially when you wonder what is next. Where there is true faith there may be a mixture of unbelief; so remain faithful, even when questions manipulate your faith. Perseverance will one day free you as a stronger and more-committed follower of Christ. See Jesus for who He is. Doubt dissolves in His reassuring presence. Doubt starves to death when it is not fed.

If you are struggling with doubt, and you’re in need of a touch from God, then begin looking at anything that may be adversely influencing you to believe something that goes against God’s Word as being truth. Once the Holy Spirit reveals the doubt, begin separating yourself from the cause of it…through prayer. Now, you can stand on God’s Word as your final authority and see the salvation of the Lord. The One who called you is faithful to His Word.

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God will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go!

Have you been wandering aimlessly alone. Today, I encourage you to know the truth that God desires to guide and counsel you. Because He cares about the details of your life, seek His Word and follow the path He has set before you. Set aside a time each day to read a portion of God’s Word and journal about what you read. Journaling will help you map out God’s course for your life. 

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.” Psalm 32:8 

Life is full of dead ends and confusing directions that can lead us off course. From time to time we can get lost spiritually if we don’t look to God as our source for answers and guidance. When it happens to us, there are certain signs. Life seems dull, scary, uneventful and without purpose or clear direction.

 

Sadness sets in and our days look lonely, cold and dark. We lose the confidence in decision-making, too. Without seeking clear directions from God, it’s so easy to become confused about which way to turn. Eventually we can start to feel like we are lost.

 

It doesn’t have to be this way. We can turn to God for help. In today’s verse, God makes this promise to each and everyone of us. We don’t have to go it alone as if we’re feeling our way through the darkness. God is there to light our path.

 

No matter how determined we are about staying the course, without God’s direction we’ll end up in a place we never intended to go. Whenever we need direction — whether it’s raising a strong-willed child, changing jobs or dealing with a difficult relationship — God will faithfully provide the counsel we need. And we can find God’s counsel in His Word, through prayer and by relying on the Holy Spirit to pave the way before us. Practicing these principles is the only way we can be sure of reaching our destination.

 

It’s true. There will be obstacles along life’s way and, at times, the path we take will feel unknown, but God wants to guide, equip and lead us each day as we learn to depend more and more on Him.

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Have a wonderful day as you allow God to instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. Love to you all. 

Comfort in times of Despair

When we go through difficult times we need to rely on the love of God to sustain us. Only His love could reach the deepest part of us that was hurting. We will feel His gentle arms carry us and cradle us in our difficult times. During these difficult times in our lives, we receive a deeper understanding of God as the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles. When we need comfort most, God is faithful to be there. I want to encourage you that whatever you’re pain and disappointment you’re going through, He just wants to be with you and to weep with you as His heart is breaking with your heart. 

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
There are seasons of devastation that we all go through where we are in desperate need of our Heavenly Father’s love and comfort. Let Him carry you through these seasons in your life. You were never meant to shoulder these burdens on your own. God wants to comfort you with His tender love, so that you might be able to pass on the comfort that you have received to others when they need the His love.
Are you troubled today? Come next to God, let Him comfort you. Are you weary and don’t know what to do? Move toward God, lean upon Him, let Him wrap you in His arms. He will comfort you. Are you at the end of yourself, too frozen to move? Turn your head in His direction, whisper with your thoughts, He will hear you. He is the merciful Father and the source of all comfort. Today, come next to Him and be comforted.
Our God of all Comfort!

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Have a wonderful day as you remain in His presence. Love you all.

Are You Really Enjoying Life?

Seriously, take a moment right now, think, and honestly answer this question, are you enjoying your life? I am not asking you if everything is perfect in your life, since that will never be the case. We will always have things that we are facing, battles to fight, challenges to overcome, that is simply part of living in this sin-filled and fallen world we are passing through. But today I want you to take some time and reflect and tell me whether you are enjoying your life or not. 

“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” – (John 10:10)

You see, the Lord wants us to enjoy our life. After all, the Bible tells us that He came to give us life and LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY! This is a Biblical truth that we often forget and I am afraid a promise from the Lord we don’t embrace enough. What happens is we get so caught up in our day-to-day trials and tribulations we forget that we are supposed to be enjoying our life along the way.

Here is the key and the message I want you to hear today. No matter what your trials may be, no matter what your challenges may be, no matter what your battles may be, you can still enjoy your life and embrace the promise that Jesus came to not just give us life, but life more abundantly! That means despite the hurts and pains you may be experiencing today, you can still enjoy your life and the abundance Christ promised you.

I know you’re probably asking me how you can enjoy your life when you are going through a relationship problem, or dealing with a major health crisis, or in bondage to some addiction, or have serious financial problems, or children who are living in rebellion to God, or need a job, or any myriad of things that may be going on in your life today. The answer is your relationship with Christ! Because of HIM, you can face all of the problems that are out there and still enjoy your life.

Life is too short to not enjoy it. The greatest enjoyment of all is when we are fulfilling our purpose which is to serve and glorify Him with our lives. I can guarantee you that if you are allowing the Lord to use your life you will not only find that perfect peace and great joy, but each day ENJOY YOUR LIFE!!!

When God Seems Far Away!

Why me? Why this? Do you ever wonder why? Do you feel guilty for even daring to ask? You probably have had times when the loss was so great in your life that you cried, not upon your pillow in a quiet voice in the silence of your darkened bedroom. No. you screamed it with all the anger and heartache and brokenness your voice could muster in the public streets for all the world to see. At times, your why was resolved with the still small voice of God and a touch of warmth from the Comforter pouring Himself out upon you. Other times, you felt alone, abandoned. You’re not alone the psalmist did the same in these passages and prophets have cried out. Kings. Our Lord cried out on the cross. 

 “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent. BUT You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.” Psalm 22:1-3. [caps and emphasis mine]

It’s odd that we, who think our God does not hear us in the darkness of our nights and the bright light of our grief and pain, continue to cry out. If it were so futile, if God was so deaf, if God was so far away, why would we bother? Because deep in the recesses of our tribulation, emptiness and agony, we know that God is God and God is steadfast and sure. We may question our circumstances, our losses, our trials–but we know that ultimately our answers are in God. And we cry out in search of them. We may not feel our God hears, but all scripture denounces that lie of Satan. We may not think God is present, but Jesus, our King, says differently. “Lo, I am with you always, even to the ends of the world.”

With every “why” you ever voiced, our God’s assurance has answered. With every darkness you ever encountered, God pierces with Light and gives us faith to dispel the doubts of our human fragility. So when you wonder why, remember we may never know all the answers. We have the Answer–Jesus is Lord of all and has overcome the world.

Dealing with Adversity!

Either we are in adversity, just getting over it or about to go into it, or perhaps, all three at once. Living in this world is not easy and trouble comes with it. The issue is not whether we will experience it, but how we will respond to it. There are a number of reasons why you or I will experience adversity during our lifetimes. Some segments of the church today have been wrongly taught that adversity is a sign that God has removed His blessing. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Scriptures clearly teach us that trials are a part of a walk with God. 

“If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength.” – Proverbs 24:10

No man or woman who has achieved much in the kingdom has been spared some form of trial or adversity. God gives specific reasons for some of our trials. Other times the purpose is to identify with the cross of Christ. We must view adversity as God does–as a means to conform us to the image of His Son. Making us more Christ like is the ultimate goal of all of our experiences with God.

Adversity is God’s workbench where He conforms us to His image.  No matter what God does in our lives as believers, we know that nothing happens without His foreknowledge and His planning. Sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking that God is not aware of our circumstances. Suffering and adversity are parts of our heritage as sons and daughters of God. They come with the territory as parts of God’s refining process for every believer. Consider every major character in the Bible, and you will see that their lives had adversity. God never said we would not suffer as Christians.

Throughout Scripture God encourages us not to put too much emphasis on the here-and-now life, but to emphasize our future life in heaven. Whatever trials we will encounter here will not compare to the glory He will reveal when we get to heaven. Earth is a mere watering hole on the way to eternity. Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him (James 1:12).