Doubts

Moments of doubt occasionally come to every believer. Perhaps our prayers appear to be unanswered. Maybe we've obeyed God but things just keep getting worse. Or maybe we begin to question whether we can truly be saved without earning our salvation by self-efforts and self-works. Doubt can leave us questioning whether God actually has the ability or intention to carry our His plans. Look up Jer. 29:11. That's always a good Scripture to fall back on when we are having feelings of doubt. In fact, it would be a great verse to memorize if you're into memorizing.

But allowing doubts to linger in our minds can hinder our fellowship with God. We are to live by faith which is the only way to please God (Rom 1:17; Heb 11:6). Doubts short-circuits faith and causes insecurity.

Our prayers can become ineffective when we fail to trust God. The impossible becomes possible only for those who believe God and do not doubt (Matt 21:21).

And doubts can hinder our kingdom service. God often asks us to do God-sized tasks but He doesn't leave us up to our own devices to carry them out. The Bible promises us that the Holy Spirit will fill us with power to fulfill God's plan. When we doubt, we'll either fail to answer God's call or stop part way through.

Finally, doubt can hinder blessings. And doubt can and will produce discouragement in our lives, which crowds out our joy in the Lord and the peace Christ gives (John 14:27).

Doubt, or spiritual uncertainty, can come from a variety of sources. These include: unconfessed sin or lingering guilt; a misdirected focus off Christ and onto circumstances; and misunderstanding or ignorance of the truth of Scripture.

When we are troubled by doubts we need to follow three simple steps: 1) identify which part of our thinking is causing us not to trust God; 2) recall a time when God faithfully sustained us and brought us through a trial of some kind; and 3) identify a promise or attribute of the Lord that points the way back to faith. We must remember that doubt is a waste of time and energy.

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Sorry about yesterday's blog. It was Monday and our small group started up again and so I didn't get home until after noon and then just didn't get around to writing one. I will try to do better but I have the sneaky feeling that Mondays are going to be out for blogs for awhile. I have taken on the awesome responsibility of teaching the Bible study portion of the small group activities and I am not very good at multi-tasking. My brain short-circuits when I try to do more than one thing at a time. I have so much I want to do before next Monday rolls around. Mostly just prepare for the Bible Study. Scary stuff! We will be studying 2 Peter, a book or letter that gets very little attention. I picked it mostly because it is short and I'm just filling in some time with 2 Peter. Hopefully our resources will be in by the time we finish our study. I also picked it because it is so different from the other epistles. I thought I might be able to glean something out of it. Next week we're just going to read it all at one time (the way it was meant to be read) and then just the first 11 verses, I think. Pray for me that I am able to present this information in a worthwhile and beneficial way. My thoughts can be so abstract and scattered sometimes that it's a lot like listening to several people talking to you at the same time. I haven't taught a class in years and years. I need prayer. Lot's of prayer. I want to bless my friends with a good study and I keep having this phrase run through my mind: "And what, pray tell, makes me think I can lead a class again???" Isn't that a nice thought to have lingering in your head? But I know that's Satan working in there, making me nervous. Making me doubt. My God is stronger and smarter than he is. I just need to keep telling myself that truth. Anytime I pit Christ against Satan, Christ is going to win. Right? Right! Anyway, I think Monday's blog may need to be set aside for a few weeks. At least until I can get a handle on things. I'll see how it goes and you'll be able to figure out what's going on if you call up my blog and you see Friday's blog there instead of Monday's.

Tomorrow I will meet with Evelyn at her house and go over the attendance rolls and see who needs a card next time and who doesn't. I just can't seem to get a handle on who's attending church and who isn't. The problem being that I have to sit really close to the front so I can read Pastor's lips to go along with the sounds I do still hear, and so there is a whole church sitting behind me that I don't know. People I don't recognize. And the last thing I want to do is send a "We Miss You" card to someone who's been attending regularly. That would be tacky. As well as a waste of the Lord's money. At 41 cents a card (for postage alone) can add up quickly.

Our weather is rainy today. Although it's not raining right now. It's supposed to be this type of weather for a couple days, clear up, then cloud up again with more rain likely. But I never count on the weather forecasts because they are usually wrong. Usually, I can be as accurate at forecasting as they can simply by tossing a coin. I know weather isn't an exact science but it appears to me they could be a little better at predicting it. Where the problem lies is with the models they choose to follow from the computer. The computer will assess things and give them several forecasts and it's up to the meteorologists to pick the right one and they never seem to do that. No, never is wrong; just most of the time. They do occasionally hit the nail on the head.

Well I know this is short but I'm getting cold feet again about teaching the study and I think the best way to solve that problem is to just dive into the material and show myself that I do have a handle on things. That we will gain insights as we go along. It's just that without prepared (printed) material and having to rely solely on the words in the Bible is pretty frightening. I mean, what if my mind goes blank. It does that quite regularly, you know. Just totally blank. And for heaven's sake I hope they don't ask me any questions I can't answer. If they don't stay with my train of thought we'll all in trouble! And my train of thought can be way off base at times. I think I should go over the material again. I want to add some references to look up to the material because that does two things. It gives authority to what is said on the subject and it helps to familiarize people with the Bible. Okay this is it for me for today and once again, I think you can pretty well scratch out Monday blogs for awhile. Having the small group in the mornings the way we do kind of puts a damper on the day. Oh but really good news! Michael said he might start going with me!!! Can you believe that? If he starts this coming week he won't have to start out behind everybody else. I'm so excited that he's even considering it. But I know him too well to hold my breath on the matter. It's not that he doesn't believe, because he does, I think it's more that he just doesn't want to be bothered, that going is an effort and he doesn't know if he wants to put out that much energy or not. Okay, this is it for today. [The sun just came out!] And do, really do pray for me. Thanks.