Doubt and Unbelief

James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

When we feel we are drowning and need God to lift us up, we know there is one prayer that God will always hear:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)

Let me give you a hint about confessing your sins to God. Sometimes I'll have a sin just come up in my mind, a memory of the past or a current temptation, whatever. And my initial impulse is to push that image or that thought back down, because I am ashamed or afraid God will judge me for it. But that's the opposite of confessing. That's trying to hide my sin. God says "be sure your sin will find you out" in Numbers 32:23 and "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." in Proverbs 28:13. God already knows it's there. So the thing I've been shown to do instead is the way I will confess a sin is I'll hold it up to Him instead of trying to hide it or stuff it down. Hold it up, confess it, own it, and keep presenting it before God until He burns it up with His holy fire and consumes it. After you do that, you will notice that that sin does not pop back up again to haunt your conscience. "The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin and unrighteousness." Confess your sin and then confess that scripture too. You know God will honor His word, and you know the Devil cannot oppose it.

So when your sins are forgiven, you are saved. That is the definition of salvation.

Rom 8:30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

So how do respond to God when He does us such a kindness? With thanksgiving and praise!

Psalm 100 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. 3 Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.

You will notice a lot of patterns in David's psalms. When David is in trouble, he lays out his sad state before God. Then he declares God's everlasting faithfulness. And he ends by giving thanks and praise for God's deliverance. Read Psalm 3 for an example of this pattern. Many times we see that David opens up his prayers with what sounds like DEMANDS for God to hear him and answer him. Psalm 4 and 5, for example. Do you know that this is something God LOVES??? Jesus taught that we should be audacious with God in our prayers, that we should rouse God, as it were, from His sleep, that we should continually bother God until He relents and gives us what we need. Luke 18 "persistent widow"

Charles Spurgeon would word it differently. He preached that God's mercies are always preceeded by prayers and that the most effectual prayers begin with searching the scriptures to see whether or not God has already promised the thing we are seeking. Once we find this promise in His revealed will, then we enquire of God whether or not He will honor His word and if He will not give us this thing we need right now.

Jesus redeemed humanity...

Hebrews 10:5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:

“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God.’ ”

8 Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), 9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

15 But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before,

16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 17 then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

(meaning there is no more need for an offering for sin, having been done away with once and for all)

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

This is the Jesus Who lives inside us. The Jesus Who will never leave us nor forsake us. The Jesus Who has redeemed our sinful nature and elevated it into His divine nature. The Jesus Who has seated us with Himself at the right hand of God, far above any thrones or dominions or authority.

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Now, I have often felt far away from God or that my mind is not renewed and that I do not have a consciousness of His grace and His truth in my life. This coincides with a pattern of life where I am beset by sin and temptation. So my experience of Jesus is of being rescued by Him, over and over, day after day. Then my life seems to have the same reset point every day rather than making progress in grace and the knowledge of Him.

So let's talk about temptation for a minute. This is what you might keep getting caught in the revolving door of. So how do we get out of the doldrums and the revolving door of constantly drowning and asking Jesus to rescue us over and over again?

2 Tim 2:22 Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Many of us don't flee youthful lusts but we pursue them. Let's be honest now. Why? Because they bring us pleasure. But let's not confuse pleasure with joy. The joy of the Lord is everlasting; it is a transcendent joy which lifts you up out of your troubles and sets your feet upon the Rock of Christ Jesus. The illicit pleasures of this life are fleeting, and they always have a cost. The first thing they cost you is your peace. The second thing they cost you is your freedom, because he who sins is the slave to sin. But if Jesus set you free from sin, then He set you free from being the slave to sin. You now have the choice, whereas before you had no choice but to be a slave to sin.

Rev 1:5b (NIV) To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

Romans 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

Notice it says "his own desires." Any time you are accused by your conscience of being super evil and that your desires are certainly evidence of you being unforgiveable, remember that. You have evil desires because you are a human sinner, and Jesus died for all human sin.

1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear (or endure) it.

Hebrews 12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

1 Pet 2:11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul

What happens when we resist temptation and flee youthful lusts?

James 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

What is that crown of life? He's not talking about salvation, because that is not something we earn or can earn but is a free gift of grace through faith. So what is the crown of life? A crown is an honor, and it implies royalty and authority. What I've recently found in my own life is that those things I eagerly yearn for--intimacy with God, deeper knowledge of God, really seeing things from God's perspective, having grace and peace, etc., those things just sort of spontaneously appear in my life after I have made a habit of resisting temptation rather than giving in to temptation. Once you resist a temptation, it becomes easier to resist it the second time. And pretty soon, after the 3rd or 4th time, you have created a good habit.

The other night I was lying in bed, and I could *feel* God's presence in my body, like on a cellular level, saturating me with the full confidence that He had made me, He knows me better than I know myself, He loves me, and He embraces me and accepts me just as I am, and has a wonderful plan for my life. And that wasn't just me having a "religious" experience. It was more like God pulling away the veil and showing me more of Himself, just out of nowhere for no particular reason.

It reminded me of these scriptures...

Psalm 139:14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.

Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

Psalm 139 (entire)

So I felt like this experience of God knowing me and loving me was maybe the result of all those difficult, dry times where I was faithful and obeyed even though I didn't feel anything and didn't seem to be getting any kind of immediate "reward." You know, we are so programmed now for instant gratification. But we forget how living things grow and thrive. Your relationship with God is a living thing. It requires nurturing and sometimes work, like any relationship. And learn from the parables Jesus told about farming and seeds and crops. If you want your life with God to mature, it needs to have the soil prepared, it needs to be watered, it needs to have the weeds removed, it needs sunlight. All of these things are necessary, and none of them are optional. Without any one of those things, a crop will not grow to maturity and produce a good harvest. So get used to the fact that you will not always FEEL good and that everything's not always going to be EASY. But just know that God is paying attention and will reward you in His good time.

So sometimes I'll just be sitting there in the quiet and feel God's presence, and He'll just start speaking to me or showing me things.

That veil that separates us from eternity fosters doubt and unbelief. But it is just a veil, a thin veil that stands between our partial experience and God's ultimate reality. Eternity is not just a long, long time; eternity is the real world. The world we experience in the flesh is largely an illusion; but it is a persistent illusion that captures our attention through drama, because it is like a roller coaster, with time being the track, constantly moving us along in one direction. But eternity is not like our roller-coaster experience on Earth where we see in part and know in part; eternity is a singularity, the vast ocean of God's love and joy and complete knowledge and victory, where we know as we are known. Our life in this body is but a vapor. The veil that keeps us from perceiving eternity as the real world and this life as inconsequential is a tapestry spun like a spider's web of our own vain imaginings that keep us deeply involved in our minds and to tether us more tightly to the physical world. That's why the devil is so involved in things like lust and art and music and the media and education: to create fascinating narratives that keep us obsessed with vain, imaginary distractions to make the veil that much more opaque in order to obscure the knowledge of God from our minds. The Bible says that God's invisible attributes are evident from His creation in Romans 1:20. But we can't see it because we pay attention to artfully-created fables and myths instead of true reality. Even Christians only see eternity darkly, as through a glass; but at least we can perceive it and we get lots of previews and glimpses of what is real so that we are able to apply God's perspective to our lives.

1 Cor 13:12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

But it is in those times when we don't perceive God that it is *most* important to maintain our faith and obedience. That's when faith is really faith. When we feel like we don't even see the road, that's when we need to remember to follow the simple path of obedience.

Lemme tell you a story about how I was when I first got saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. (This was back in late 1983 and early 1984) I always wanted to be alone with God. If I wasn't working, I was praying. I read the Bible completely within about a month or two. I experienced God's presense and unspeakable joys and spectacular visions. But I still didn't live an overcoming life. I still struggled with sin, and I still had a hard time leading others to Christ most of the time, like whenever I was around people I would sort of forget about God and just focus on those people. I think I was more concerned with what people thought about me than I was with God. When I started lacking in those amazing divine experiences in the Spirit, I assumed that God was abandoning me. I eventually fell away from God after a few years and went through like 20 years of wandering in the wilderness before I finally came back like the prodigal son. But God was still teaching me that whole time. And now for the first time in my life I am living an overcoming life and progressing in grace and faith. Why? What's different now? Do I spend as much time alone with God as I did when I was a young believer? No. But the difference is, when I was a young believer, I only believed God as far as I could see Him and feel him. Now I believe God all the time, no matter what. And I believe His word is true no matter what. Before, I had my doubts and reservations about God's word, even though He proved Himself faithful to me. Now I believe God's word more than I believe my own experience and my own understanding. That's what's changed. I don't need experiences to prove that God loves me and that I am accepted in the beloved. I believe God. God said so. And God never lies. We may lie, but God never does. He has no reason to lie, does He? Why does anybody lie? Because they want something that they don't have. But God already has everything. He doesn't need anything from you or anybody else. God has no reason to want to deceive you. So if God says something in His word, it's because He loves us enough that He wants to make that truth known to us. It is for our benefit, not His.

A dry spell or lack of overcoming could be a signal that you are overdue for a Bible-reading session. Read a chapter or two every day and see if God doesn't speak to you and calm your soul and give you a renewed vision. Oh, but you say "I never read my Bible." *There's your problem!* You definitely should be hungry for God's word. If you're not hungry, that indicates that you have a sickness. Every healthy believer has a strong desire to fellowship with God and to hear from God, and if you're finding you don't hunger and thirst for righteousness, then I bet one thing that is lacking is your intake of God's word. If you are not hungry for the word, you are not functioning as a healthy Christian, and you are a sitting duck when the Devil comes to call. You are like a vegan cat. Jesus said "man shall not live on bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." (Matt 4:4) Jesus said "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you." (John 6:53) Jesus is the Word. (John 1:1)

So please, please, study God's word. Be hungry for it. Devour it. It will give you exactly what you need, even if you don't realize what it is that you need yet. 2 Tim 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Because if you are ignorant of God's word, the Devil can trip you up by misquoting it and misinterpreting it and mischaracterizing it. There are a plethora of religions on the earth that were devised by demons to distract people from the purity and simplicity of the gospel. What the world thinks we do here in this church and what we actually do here are completely opposite things. 1 Jn 5:19 (NIV) We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. What they don't understand about the Bible is exactly that thing that would set them free.

Here's another great prayer tip from Peter: 1 Pet 5:7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

What does it mean to cast? It means to throw away with great force. You cast a net, you cast a fishing line, you cast away garbage and rejected things.

What is your greatest care? Is it not your SELF? Cast your SELF upon Him, for He cares for you.

1 Jn 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

And since we know He hears us, we can enter into His presence with thanksgiving. And in His presence is fullness of joy.

God is transforming you into the image of His Son Jesus. Phil 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

And while we wait for Him, we have the wellspring of joy living inside of us, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus Himself, the overcoming Spirit, the Spirit of life. Our creator and our redeemer, our Savior and our Friend is transforming us into His image even now. And we have the honor and the privilege of worshiping and serving Him together.