Defending Your Family - Lesson 6 - Doubt

DOUBT (most of this is based on an internet article by Jim Kaseman)

Thief of God's Blessings

Mark 11:23, “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”

Doubters invert the metaphor and insist that they need faith as big as a mountain in order to move a mustard seed. -Anonymous

Doubt is the common experience of every person on this earth.
There isn't a single intelligent individual alive today
who hasn't experienced doubt.

Every human being that has ever lived
has had to exercise control over himself
because he has experienced doubt.

Satan has devised many tricks of doubt
and they are not always so easy to recognise
as they should be.
Satan is sly and deceitful.
Therefore as born again believers,
we must be wise to his tricks
and know how to deal with them.

Doubt means to favour an opinion,
to be unsettled, an opinion or belief,
to be uncertain or undecided,
to be inclined to disbelief.

To doubt means to be fearful;
apprehensive, or suspicious,
the archaic meaning of doubt is to hesitate.

Working with this definition,
it is fair to say that to doubt God
indicates we are not sure God means what He says.
We are uncertain of the outcome if we trust God.
We are afraid, wary, apprehensive, and suspicious
that lie may have some ulterior motive in dealing with us,
rather than having our best interest at heart.

There may be few people who are willing to admit to such thoughts.
However, in our walk with the Lord
each of us has his moments of hesitation
that hesitation is an indication of doubt.


Mark 4:40, “And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?”

Can you give testimony of when you were of little faith?




DOUBT IS THE OPPOSITE FAITH

Doubt is the exact opposite of faith.
If you are acting in faith and you try to reason,
it is like playing football on a basketball court.

The way of reason is of doubt and uncertainty.
The way of faith is of love, believing, and confidence.
We need the way of faith because in these physical bodies
we are limited to our five physical senses.

Each time that you pray for something you can do one of two things:
First, you can believe God, act in faith and receive that answer to PRAYER,
Or, you can doubt and do without.

Satan knows that if he can plant a seed of doubt
it will grow and cause problems.
And each time doubt wins out
it builds your level of unbelief.


However, each time you allow God to come through,
it builds your level of trust,
the Word of God will cause your faith to grow
and your level of unbelief will decrease.

The sun, with all those planets moving round it, can ripen the smallest bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else to do. Why then should I doubt His power? -Galileo

Psalm 66:18, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:”

If we have repented of our sins why do we still doubt Him?
Is there a secret sin still in there?





TRICKS OF DOUBT

There are some of the tricks of doubt
and we are going to go over what to do
in order to counter the attacks of doubt

WAVER

This is when Satan tries to get you to not believe just for a few seconds.
It's a wear-out tactic, similar to the waves of the sea,
which continually beat on the shore.

The result is a person who will receive nothing of the Lord.
To counter this we must make up your mind
before we ever take that step of faith
that we are going to stick with our decision
no matter what happens.

Get into the habit of sticking with your decision – that's responsibility.

James 1:8, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

Tell us about your double-mindedness?

OPINION

Here the enemy tries to get you to believe that
it's just your opinion of what the Word of God says
or the opinion of some church or someone else.

For example, healing is not for today.
That was for the Old Testament saints.
That was for the Apostles.

The solution to this one is that we must have
a definite ultimate authority
THE WORD OF GOD.

The problem in many circles today is that
the Word of God is not always the ultimate authority.
A denomination, individual, or religious group
becomes the authority
and they end up in trouble

DON"T STAND ON YOUR OR ANYBODY ELSE'S OPINION –
STAND ON THIE WORD OF GOD!

2 Peter 1:20, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.”

Do you like it when someone gives you some bad advice and tries to tag a scripture along with it?

UNSETTLED

This is similar to waver but much more subtle.
This consists of many little attacks based on your feelings.
You feel like it is not going to work
or that the answer to your prayer may not come through.

You're so bothered by the problem
you find it hard to believe.
It does not go away like the wave does.
What is the answer to this one.
We walk by what God's Word says
and not by how it feels or looks.

II Corinthians 5:7, “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)”

Can you give us any advise as to how we can more easily do this?





UNCERTAIN AND UNDECIDED

They are the same
except uncertainty thinks about what will happen before it happens,
where undecided happens after God did it.

They are not sure if God really did it or not.
They don't want to be unbelievers so they remain undecided.
What they do not realise is that we are the ones that are being proven
and not the Word of God.

Therefore, our indecision classifies us as unbelievers.
To counter these two, we must recognise
God's stability and man's instability.

The reason God allows some things
to be impossible with man
is because it forces a decision.

GOD'S WORD IS A SURE FOUNDATION.

Psalm 19:7, “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.”

Why do we get uncertain and undecided at times?

HESITATE

The enemy will say things like:
"Wait a minute, don't take that step of faith yet.
Let us try this, have you checked this or that out yet?
Are you sure you have done everything yet?
Don't take that step of faith yet."

TOO OFTEN, WE GO TO OUR LIMIT
AND STILL DO NOT TAKE THAT STEP OF FAITH.
The only way to counter this attack
is to take that step of faith
immediately towards God and then do it!

Start confessing that it is going to happen right from the start.


Matthew 8:21, “And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.”

What stands in your way of doing what the Lord asks?





FEARFUL

You'll look crazy,
you'll ruin your reputation if you believe God.
If you trust God, you will die!

If you talk too much about Jesus Christ in public,
it might be bad for your business.
Don't get too excited about Jesus
or they might kick you out of your church!
The one single thing that is robbing
the Christians of most of God's blessings is fear.
Christians use the word "fear"
to express themselves in almost every other breath.

For example, "I'm afraid I won't do it right.
I am afraid God will do something.
I am afraid I will get to work late tomorrow.
I am afraid I cannot go downtown with you today.
I am afraid I will not get up on time.
I'm afraid this is the best steak that I've ever eaten."

Many Christians will not give up sin
because they are afraid they cannot quit.
Many Christians will not operate
on the gifts of the Holy Spirit
because they are afraid they cannot.

Fear will make a man's hair white.
Fear will make you sick.
Over 80% of the people in hospitals
today are there because of anxiety, fear, tension or worry.

The Bible says that fear will stop a man's heart.
Fear will control a man's mind a lot quicker than logic will.

THE FIRST THING THAT YOU MUST DO IS STOP TALKING FEAR.

Fear stops faith from working.
Fear stops God's power from working in your life
and it gave Satan license to operate in your life.

Forget about what people will think of you.
Believe God's Word and do it!
REMEMBER, it's up to you to believe
and then it's up to God to do the rest!

Mark 4:38, “And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?”

What does this verse say to you?





APPREHENSIVE

This is similar to fear but usually it precedes fear.
First you become apprehensive
and then you become fearful.

Counter this one by daring!: to trust God.
When you become a little apprehensive about believing God,
just be real daring about it
and leap out and believe God's Word.

Luke 12:11, “And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:”

Have you ever rehearsed something in your head 100 times, rather than trust God?





SUSPICIOUS

Here the enemy tries to get us to blame God
for disappointments we have experienced in others.

Some will compare God with their earthly fathers.
Their earthly father lied so God might lie.
Or, someone's mother died believing God for her healing.
Now they are suspicious of God
instead of realising that Satan is the killer!

To overcome this you must get to know the character of God,
Ask God to reveal him to you through His Word.
Get acquainted with God your Father.
Find out what He has done for you
and what He is doing for you today!
Discover His love and His mercy!

Matthew 7:4, “Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?”

Have you ever been guilty of something and pointed out a brother or sister’s fault?





"IF" THE BADGE OF DOUBT

It identifies when there is doubt.
For example, "What will I do IF it doesn't work?

On the other hand, the word "if”
is also used in many of the promises of God.
For example in

John 15:7, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

And in

11Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

We see that God is not sure what man will do ...
GOD IS NOT SURE OF US AT ALL TIMES !
Therefore, one of our goals should be
to see to it that God can count on us
as much as we want to be able to count on Him!

God should be able to count on us
to do the believing and then
we can count on Him to provide the answer.


REASON

However, if we cannot figure it out then God can't do it!
REMEMBER that faith and reason are different
and you must decide which one you are going to go by.

INTELLECTUAL FAITH

Walk by faith, walk in the spirit, walk by the Word of God
and then you will have absolutely no trouble
walking in this physical realm of which Satan is the god.


CONCLUSION

As we can see all these forms of doubt
are close and intertwined
and that is why Satan deceives so many people.

So, stop thinking, believing and confessing doubt in your life.
Remember that those doubts that run through your mind
are not your doubts until you make the decision that they will be.
How do you make the decision?

Proverbs 6:2, “Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.”

This verse says that we are trapped by the words that come out of our mouth!
We give thoughts of doubt to life when we begin to speak them.
What does this verse tell us to do?

II Corinthians 10:5, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

And what advice is contained in …

Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”


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