Devotional for March 20th
Why Do You Doubt?
"Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. -Matthew 8:25-26
It is by faith that God's mighty power is released into the life of a Christian (Heb. 11:33-35). The fact that you have doubts indicates that you do not know God as you should. If your prayer life is infiltrated with doubts, you have denied yourself the greatest single avenue of power that God has made available to you. Without faith it is impossible to please God ( Heb. 11:6). God never comforts you in your doubt. Jesus consistently rebuked those who would not believe Him. He had revealed enough of Himself for His disciples to have believed Him in their time of need.
God wants to build your understanding of Him until your faith is sufficient to trust and obey Him in each situation (Mark 9:23-25). The moment you turn to Him with a genuine commitment to rid yourself of doubt, God will match your doubt with a revelation of Himself that can convince you of His faithfulness. When Thomas doubted, Jesus revealed Himself to him in such a way that every doubt vanished (John 20:27). You can only resolve your lack of faith in God's presence. He must reveal Himself in such a way that any doubt you might have is removed. Jesus did this with His disciples. He involved them in a consistent, growing relationship with Himself. Jesus took them through teaching, to small miracles, to large miracles, and to the resurrection. Jesus knew that the redemption of the world rested on His disciples' believing Him. What does God want to do in the lives of those around you that waits upon your trust in Him and the removal of your doubts?
************************************************
How fitting that this should be the devotional I read just days after God has put an amazing brother into my life who has essentially been telling me this same thing. There should be no doubts, and when doubt is present nothing will change, one can not grow. God will not comfort you in your doubt, why should He? If you don't have enough faith to trust in Him, why should he have to try harder to make you believe? He won't and He shouldn't. I've been in and out of this funk lately, I've been very confused about major life decisions, and all because I have let my faith falter. I've doubted my Father and taken my trust back. I'm not entirely sure of what He's doing in my life and so I got scared and withdrew my faith. That's the exact opposite of what we should do. If I've learned nothing else lately, it's that God doesn't reveal His entire plan to us right away, He wants us to need Him and trust Him.
He's waiting on my trust right now, and I'm learning how to let go of me, one day at a time, and put a little more trust in Him. I know that until I put my complete trust in Him I will not continue to grow. I won't always get to know everything that's going down and everything that He is doing in my life, and coming from an ACOA background, a background where I was taught to always be in control, that's scary for me. But it's scarier to me to entertain the idea of life without Him, so I am doing my best to let go.
After all, there's beauty in the breakdown.
;)
Why Do You Doubt?
"Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. -Matthew 8:25-26
It is by faith that God's mighty power is released into the life of a Christian (Heb. 11:33-35). The fact that you have doubts indicates that you do not know God as you should. If your prayer life is infiltrated with doubts, you have denied yourself the greatest single avenue of power that God has made available to you. Without faith it is impossible to please God ( Heb. 11:6). God never comforts you in your doubt. Jesus consistently rebuked those who would not believe Him. He had revealed enough of Himself for His disciples to have believed Him in their time of need.
God wants to build your understanding of Him until your faith is sufficient to trust and obey Him in each situation (Mark 9:23-25). The moment you turn to Him with a genuine commitment to rid yourself of doubt, God will match your doubt with a revelation of Himself that can convince you of His faithfulness. When Thomas doubted, Jesus revealed Himself to him in such a way that every doubt vanished (John 20:27). You can only resolve your lack of faith in God's presence. He must reveal Himself in such a way that any doubt you might have is removed. Jesus did this with His disciples. He involved them in a consistent, growing relationship with Himself. Jesus took them through teaching, to small miracles, to large miracles, and to the resurrection. Jesus knew that the redemption of the world rested on His disciples' believing Him. What does God want to do in the lives of those around you that waits upon your trust in Him and the removal of your doubts?
************************************************
How fitting that this should be the devotional I read just days after God has put an amazing brother into my life who has essentially been telling me this same thing. There should be no doubts, and when doubt is present nothing will change, one can not grow. God will not comfort you in your doubt, why should He? If you don't have enough faith to trust in Him, why should he have to try harder to make you believe? He won't and He shouldn't. I've been in and out of this funk lately, I've been very confused about major life decisions, and all because I have let my faith falter. I've doubted my Father and taken my trust back. I'm not entirely sure of what He's doing in my life and so I got scared and withdrew my faith. That's the exact opposite of what we should do. If I've learned nothing else lately, it's that God doesn't reveal His entire plan to us right away, He wants us to need Him and trust Him.
He's waiting on my trust right now, and I'm learning how to let go of me, one day at a time, and put a little more trust in Him. I know that until I put my complete trust in Him I will not continue to grow. I won't always get to know everything that's going down and everything that He is doing in my life, and coming from an ACOA background, a background where I was taught to always be in control, that's scary for me. But it's scarier to me to entertain the idea of life without Him, so I am doing my best to let go.
After all, there's beauty in the breakdown.
;)
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