Overcoming Doubt?

[DanielGarneau]

Do we allow some of our modes of reasoning to suppress faith from our lives? Why not ask God to help us find ways of countering doubts about the faithfulness of His promises? You may consult this article in its original context: Overcoming Doubt? at Savoir et croire .ca (Knowing and Believing).

God bless!

 

[Windmillcharge]

Do we allow some of our modes of reasoning to suppress faith from our lives? Why not ask God to help us find ways of countering doubts about the faithfulness of His promises? Overcoming Doubt?

Christianity is based on historical facts and we are told to be able to give a reason for what and why we believe it.

There is nothing wrong with having doubts or questions about Christianity.
The wrong is in not investigating ones questions and finding the answers to them.

To be blunt. All questions/doubts about Christianity are old. There are No ne questions/doubts, which means they have already been answered and that finding an answer to what ever is causing one sleepless nights is not difficult.

Basic web site try coldcasechristianity for more difficult answers try reasonable faith.

 

[Miss Hepburn]

Why not ask God to help us find ways of countering doubts about the faithfulness of His promises?

You mean people don't?

 

[DanielGarneau]

You mean people don't?

Hello @Miss Hepburn, thank you for asking. I realize I made it sound like that, but that was not my intended meaning. So let me rephrase myself as follows: «Please share with us what you do to counter doubt when you are faced with it in your own life».

There are three things I have done. Here is a summary of them:

1. About three to five years ago, I decided that if I was to have enough faith to ask anything from God, thanking Him for what He did was as much part of the faith-act as asking. My problem had been that when God did something spectacular in response to one of my prayer, I would tend to lay back and find it strange that things turned out as they did. Thanking God helped me wrap my mind and heart in faith around what He did.
2. About one year ago, I began to realize that there were large chunks of Scriptures that I read without really believing that they were for me. Some passages in Acts for example were completely dead to me because I was not sure they applied to me today, context being different. The Lord helped my lift that barrier, but I realized I had some hesitations with applying promises or words from prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc.
3. As of January 1, in a time of prayer and meditation, I felt convinced by God to counter such doubting as those described above with a strong stance against any form of reasoning that hindered me from believing what God is doing or what His Word says He has in store for me today.

So, I would be interested to hear and read what other believers have done to counter their own doubting, on the one hand. On the other hand, I feel led by the Lord and by His Spirit to share about this issue, hoping others of like mind and spirit will want to participate.

God bless. I must run now, my wife wishes us to take a walk under the beautiful snow falling right now in Quebec City where we live.

 

[Armadillo]

So, I would be interested to hear and read what other believers have done to counter their own doubting

Our faith waivers, His does not. We have doubts, He does not.

We are to have the faith of Jesus Christ and place our faith in Jesus Christ. Without His faith, our faith is meaningless and doubts creep in. We are to live by the faith of the Son of God, Galatians 2:20 and our faith meets His faith by believing in Him, Galatians 2:16. Faith "of" and faith "in" are apples and oranges.

When I walk through, of my own accord, and not led into (as some would believe) life's dark "death" valley from time to time, knowing that Jesus is with me will calm the fears and banish the doubts. My confidence is in Him and not in myself to lead me out, 2 Timothy 1:7, Psalm 23:4.

 

[Miss Hepburn]

Our faith waivers, His does not. We have doubts, He does not.

It would be swell if you could speak in the first person....
As in, My faith waivers.....I have doubts.

I know this is common to do, most people talk like this, I'm not picking on you ...it takes practice ...
I mean no offense, btw.

"You know how ya wanna shoot the guy in the lane next to you when he cuts you off?"
Um, no....

Another one...very common...assigning feelings to someone else they don't have;
attempting, unconsciously, to be inclusive....and enjoy some comradery.

 

[Armadillo]

It would be swell if you could speak in the first person....
As in, My faith waivers.....I have doubts.

I know this is common to do, most people talk like this, I'm not picking on you ...it takes practice ...
I mean no offense, btw.

"You know how ya wanna shoot the guy in the lane next to you when he cuts you off?"
Um, no....

Another one...very common...assigning feelings to someone else they don't have;
attempting, unconsciously, to be inclusive....and enjoy some comradery.

Thx for the swell advice, have a great night

 

[DPMartin]

maybe one should consider that it's not about "your faith". its about the faith of Christ. by grace through faith hence certainly not your grace, and its God's Faithfulness to fulfill His Word given, that is why anyone will survive to the resurrection in to His Presence.

if the Lord God didn't give His Word here:


Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.



then He would have no reason to save any man. He could have easily made another.

 

[bbyrd009]

We are to live by the faith of the Son of God, Galatians 2:20 and our faith meets His faith by believing in Him, Galatians 2:16.

imo i am called to have the faith of the Son, and my faith meets His by following Him, but i guess we are having the same discussion as before now, i guess?

Iow a billion people who all believe that Christ did the right thing in picking up His cross = a billion lost souls.
They might even worship Jesus for this, they might even institute Holidays for celebrating It (and then hide it further with "Easter," but never mind for now), but none of these will save them, you still got a billion lost ppl

 

[DPMartin]

to continue:


many look to "measure of faith" as a reference to all men but that isn't the case. note Paul speaks to the brethren here not to the whole of man:


Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:

so if it be "your faith" then why hasn't men been saved without Christ if one's own faith is sufficient? consider, in the garden didn't Eve trust and or believe (faith) what the serpent said? that didn't bring any salvation did it?


God is Faithful, simple as that, and that is the Faith of Christ. one could even say the Faith of Abraham and the rest.


no one believes or trust what they don't know, and knowing comes by revelation. flesh can't discover spirit, but spirit can reveal itself to flesh. so, how can any man have faith in the Word of God unless it is revealed to that person that it is of God. even flesh can acknowledge power if it is revealed to the flesh that the power is.

no one raises themselves from the dead by their own faith. you shall be raised by the Faithfulness of God which is the faith of Christ. it take God's Faithfulness to keep you because you don't have the faith to keep yourself. hence the constant failure, or doubt. your faithfulness is Christ just as your righteousness is Christ, your justification is Christ.
the life of the flesh has no justification in Heaven or the Presence of God, therefore only the Life of Christ can save you. so, that which is of that Life lives not what is of the "old man".

 

[bbyrd009]

i guess it is possible to doubt in your heart, or doubt in your mind, or doubt in your gut, 3 different aspects of "doubt," and any one prevents conviction, i guess

 

[bbyrd009]

Thx for the swell advice, have a great night

"Of course we all know that one must pick up their cross and follow Christ if we are to have a hope of salvation."

becomes a subtle way for me to exclude you, iow

 

[Helen]

Doubt is not sin...it is a nullifier of faith in action.
" Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not.." He didn't say "You wicked sinners.."

We all have doubts from time to time. The victory is to have more faith than doubt.
We do it, ( whatever is required) even when afraid ..faith in the face of fear wins the day.

 

[Dcopymope]

Is this an example of Jesus Christ overcoming a moment of doubt with total faith in God?

(Mark 15:33-34) "And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. {34} And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

(Luke 23:46) "¶ And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost."

Does this define what it means to have faith, or to "let go and let God" as the saying goes?

 

[bbyrd009]

We all have doubts from time to time. The victory is to have more faith than doubt.
We do it, ( whatever is required) even when afraid ..faith in the face of fear wins the day.

this is great, sounds great, and is i guess a good start. How often do we act from complete conviction? i'm not even sure if i know what that means. Dunno if i could even describe being sure in heart and mind, but not gut? Bc i don't really even know what that means, iow. You bring up a doubt/fear connection that i hadn't really considered, too

 

[bbyrd009]

ah, doubt in the gut might be that vague feeling of unease when the heart and mind are in agreement, but you still have reservations?

(i'm not doing my usual whacking of the thread subject here, i hope; i try to save those for when the main subject is...finished lol )

 

[Windmillcharge]

Is this an example of Jesus Christ overcoming a moment of doubt with total faith in God?



Does this define what it means to have faith, or to "let go and let God" as the saying goes?

No, it is a description of reality. At that moment Jesus was alienated from God, he had become sin and God had withdrawn his prescence from Jesus.
It was a cry of despair and loneliness. In that moment Jesus experienced the true meaning of hell.

 

[Dcopymope]

No, it is a description of reality. At that moment Jesus was alienated from God, he had become sin and God had withdrawn his prescence from Jesus.
It was a cry of despair and loneliness. In that moment Jesus experienced the true meaning of hell.

While it was perhaps a case of alienation from God, it does seem like a moment of doubt nonetheless. I wouldn't consider myself 'forsaken' if I didn't have any doubt, especially if I knew that I was sent here to be the lamb slain for our sins, but that's just me.

 

[Miss Hepburn]

How often do we act from complete conviction?
i'm not even sure if i know what that means.

"We"? Or you?
For me, all the time? Putting my reputation on the line constantly.

 

[Miss Hepburn]

ah, doubt in the gut might be that vague feeling of unease ......

Really? It's a vague feeling?
Wonder if anyone else would agree...