In our every day walk of agreement with the LORD, we often come to a block or an obstacle that causes us to doubt or question our goal in this abundant life of light love and law of GOD's presence within us. Today's target are these doubts, as they are to be rebuked by us as they were by Jesus Himself and then Paul as revealed in Romans 7 and the letter to the Hebrews. Not to leave out the small book of the Revelation of Christ which describes these moments in figurative picture language as a on going battle of heart and soul/flesh within man. Then my next subject will be "unfaithfulness," the LORD willing this I will look at next.
Momentary Doubts, that cloud the skies of believers (doubters):
Abraham, as to the inheritance of Canaan,
Genesis 15:8 of 1-11 "After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: 'Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.' But Abram said, "O LORD GOD, what will You give me, for I continue childless, and the heir (steward) of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram said, "Behold, You have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir." And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: 'This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.' And HE brought him outside and said, 'Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.' Then HE said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.' And he believed the LORD, and HE counted it to him as righteousness. And HE said to him, 'I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.' But he said, "O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?" HE said to him, 'Bring Me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.' And he brought Him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away."
Of Gideon, as to victory over the Midians,
Judges 6:17 of 11-18 "Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel (Spirit) of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, 'The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.' And Gideon said to Him, "Please, sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian." And the LORD turned to him and said, 'Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?' And he said to him, "Please, LORD, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." And the LORD said to him, 'But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.' And he said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is You who speak with me. Please do not depart from here until I come to You and bring out my present and set it before You.' And he said, 'I will stay till you return.'"
Of John the Baptist, as to the Messiahship of Jesus,
Matthew 11:3 of 2-6; 28:17 "Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?" And Jesus answered them, 'Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.'"
Matthew 28:17 of 16-20 "Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw Him they worshiped Him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name (Christ) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.'"
Of Martha, as to the Resurrection of Lazarus,
John 11:39 of 38-44 "Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, 'Take away the stone.' Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, 'Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of GOD?' So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, 'Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that You sent Me.' When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out.' The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, and let him go.'"
Of Thomas, as to the Resurrection of Christ,
John 20:25 of 24-25 "Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe."
Of the early Christians, as to the deliverance of Peter,
Acts 12:14-15 of 16-17 "Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel (Spirit) of the LORD stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, 'Get up quickly.' And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel (Spirit) said to him, 'Dress yourself and put on your sandals.' And he did so. And HE said to him, 'Wrap your cloak around you and follow Me.' And he went out and following Him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel (LORD's Spirit) left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I am sure that the LORD has sent His (Spirit as an) angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting." When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter's voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, "You are out of your mind." But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, "It is his angel!" But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the LORD had brought him out of the prison. And he said, "Tell these things to James and to the brothers." Then he departed and went to another place."
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