Choose faith over doubt and unbelief.
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathaniel asked. John 1:46Regardless of the AMAZING miracles Jesus performed right in their presence...doubt and unbelief would creep in and show up time and again.We see through a filter. Your life filter is based on your own upbringing, personality, and experiences. You see everything—God, yourself, others, circumstances, etc—through this filter.We are programmed to doubt everything and believe nothing that we can't see, feel and touch... Sadly, even when we see it, feel it and touch it...We still doubt! Philip, a disciple of Jesus, once told a friend, Nathaniel, about Jesus. Nate wasn’t into it. “Just come and see,” Phil told Nate," You don’t have to take my word for it. Just meet this Jesus guy!"Life and faith are more simple than we make it. We get stuck staring through our hole in the fence that we miss all the beautiful and incredible things taking place around us daily. Nate was told about Jesus but he couldn’t wrap his mind around how Jesus could be cool... or relevant... let alone God. His filter of doubt and unbelief wouldn’t allow it.
We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)When things go wrong, how long do you sit with hurt feelings before moving to hopeful feelings? Everyone you encounter today, secretly is thirsty for encouragement. God already knew this.“ So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.”We have the opportunity, with every interaction, to......speak words of life or death...empower or undercut...honor or disrespect...praise or devalue... encourage or discourage. I Thessalonians 5:11Doubt and unbelief are big problems for Christians. They are negative and discouraging. They cause us to make poor choices, which make life difficult. Doubt and unbelief cause us to say things like, “I wish I could be thinner,” or “I wish my husband would show me more affection” or “I wish I could earn more money,” or “I wish I had a better house.”We have the opportunity, every day and with every interaction, to remind people that they carry the image of the God of the universe and that when He looks at them He says, “It is very good.”Everyone, is a loved child of God; whether they believe it or not. Today know that everyone you run into is most likely operating with an encouragement deficit. So let their interaction with you feel like water to a dry soul. Let’s purpose to be encouraging! Remember this scripture:“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11Meditate on those words. They don’t say I may have something better for you, right ? So how do we get so doubtful or filled with unbelief ? We allow the closed doors in our lives, missed opportunities, and the end of things that we thought died prematurely to fill us with doubt and unbelief about our futures.But what if God’s main plan for your life is simply that you be you, in relationship with Him? If your life is messy; if you just took a fall; or if someone else caused you a major setback, be encouraged:“ By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. ” 2 Peter 1:3God has already given all of us what we need for today. Receive it. Depend on it. Lead into it. And enjoy it. Never allow doubt and unbelief to make you think God won’t help you because you haven’t done everything right. The enemy wants you to believe that lie!Don’t allow the enemy to use your mind as a garbage dump and fill it with negativity, doubt and unbelief....Fight back!!! ...choose faith that you are fearfully and wonderfully made— weaknesses and all.
...choose faith that His resurrection is real and everything is forgiven....choose faith that good is coming from bad—all the time....choose faith that God is more interested in our relationship, than in my image.Choose faith over doubt and unbelief.You may have to do this more than a few times today. Do it anyway.Chad Smanjak
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