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Recently, I have read that the more we try to suppress, repress and even rebuke our doubt, a feeling of uncertainty; and other uncomfortable feelings, the more stressed and anxious we become. I purposedly included the word “rebuke”, but before you disconnect, please hear me out. Many times, we find ourselves blaming the enemy and try to pray away what God wants us to experience. PRAYER IS EXTREMELY POWERFUL! It’s amazing when we enter into His presence and worship Him for who He is. There have been times that I have awoke so heavy that I could bearly get on my knees, but when I do, I experience His refreshing. But then, if I’m honest, it doesn’t take long for me to be weighted down again, wondering if (not when) my situation will be resolved.
We should talk to God about EVERYTHING. We might as well be honest, because He already knows how we are feeling. But, unfortunately, we will pray about those uncomfortable emotions or those difficult situations and when they don’t go away, right away, we become discouraged and disappointed and we feel that God has not heard us. The Good News is that He always hears us, the issue is how to we handle His silence….We do have choices.
The first thing that I strongly suggest that you do is go to His Word. Do you realize that the Bible talks about every conceivable emotion and or situation we could have? For those of us that are not bible scholars, you can always start in the Book of Psalm. David had numerous conversations with God about how he felt.
Let’s see what the Bible, says about doubt in the New Living Translation…
Unless the Lord had helped me,
I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave.
18 I cried out, “I am slipping!”
but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me.
19 When doubts filled my mind,
your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer. Psalm 94:17-19
In Matthew, Peter has enough faith to walk on the water, …
But when he saw the strong[a] wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?” When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Matthew 14:30-32
Then later in Matthew, Jesus gets mad with a fig tree (you have to read the whole story) and …
The disciples were amazed when they saw this and asked, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. 22 You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.” Matthew 21:20-22
These are just a few of the scriptures about doubt. Jesus knew that we would experience doubt, but He also gave us ways to overcome it. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus spoke to his disciples (us) in parables or stories, so that we would have an understanding of what would be some of the different situations we would encounter and what we should do to handle them. He wanted them (us) to be prepared and not be caught off guard. Jesus knew that there would be a constant battle between our soul (our mind) and our Spirit (His Spirit in us).