DOUBT INTERRUPTS COMMUNICATION WITH GOD .
Doubt Interrupts The Connection To God
"And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind Him, and touched the hem of His garment: For she said within herself, if I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned about, and when He saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour." Matthew 9:20-22
Note: Even if you never had any doubt and faith that was unwavering, you would still be in the world and subject to the free will of others to interfere with your life and to provide a cause and effect that does not always end favorably.
"She said within herself." If you have ever wondered just how important God thinking might be, here is the center of how our faith works. The mind of God hears the voice of man, whether it is spoken outwardly or just thought inwardly. What we think becomes awfully important in light of this truth.
"She said within herself, if I may but touch His garment , I shall be whole." Whether she was a religious person or not, whether she had read the scriptures or not, what she said within herself was a statement that only faith can generate. At least up unto this time it had not been so, that if you thought in your mind, that if you touched the edge of Jesus's clothes, you would be healed of a disease that you had been suffering from for twelve years. This was the kind of thinking that comes from believing that God is who He says He is. This is the kind of faith that comes from understanding the omnipotence and the omniscience and the holiness of God. This is the kind of faith that is available to every one of us.
If you are not getting this kind of faith-building teaching at your church, at some point in time, it would do you well to think deeper and let God teach you about Himself for a season. It will change your mind. If you are a pastor and you have trouble believing that verses like these are just as potent today as when they were written, you too need to let God teach you about Himself for a season. It would do your congregation more good if you were to take a sabbatical, than to teach the Bible with doubt in your heart. Doubt interrupts the connection between God and man that brings about healing and miracles.
Ok, so does that meant that there is no formula that always works, every time? Yes and no. Yes, with faith all things are possible and with faith you can move mountains, but all of this is under the parameters set by the Express will of God and in that express will of God there is in operation unbelief and doubt by those who oppose the will of God and do adversely to the provisions within the will of God that negative affect certain outcomes. Trusting God always works is a fact, but trusting God does not foretell the outcome. Yes, God knows the outcome, but you will find that the outcome is not always what you perceive is the will of God for you.
No, formula's don't work. Formula's are religious in origin and designed by man to incorporate the church polity into the schema of God's economy. No God can not be thwarted by some religious jargon, nor can the will of God be suppressed or altered by some religious rite or some polity rule or some church doctrinal statement. Formulas are for the religious minded and they work or don't work based on the unpredictable outcome of life's events, but in no way do the formulas avert God's will or alter the written Word of God of thwart the inner man working of the Holy Spirit.
The takeaway from this is Doubt interrupts the connection between God and man that brings about healing and miracles.
FORGIVENESS IS PERMANENT
Forgiveness Is Permanent
"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Ephesians 4:32
Are you a believer?
If you were to live forgiven the results would be miraculous. Guilt from the past is a plague, a mental virus capable of gnawing at your soul and disrupting your plans. Guilt keeps great ideas down and guilt causes many who would become leaders to gather in droves like cattle with others who are burdened by guilt. Guilt causes you to think of yourself from the eyes of man. Guilt motivates people to follow this and follow that, afraid to break away and face the opposition.
You are forgiven. You need to live that way. Forgiven, once fully apprehended also travels through your soul, and it builds you up and stamps "Approved" on your plans. Forgiven opens the mind to have ideas and pursue them and causes us to be leaders, to seize the day and look at our obstacles as hurdles that can be jumped. Forgiven causes you to think from the eyes of God. The God who sees you through His Son. You look good to Him. You look beautiful, advantaged, empowered, inspired, courageous, strong and bold. Forgiven motivates people to follow Christ, who set an example for us. Forgiven makes a way, and breaks away from all that is dragging on you. Forgiven is the God/good life.
It is so easy to be revived by such a powerful message as this and then fall prey to the voices of oppression, and in no time at all to start feeling guilty again, dragging yourself through the quagmire of life. You need to believe you are forgiven, and do this until you are assured in the depth of your soul that God is true.
You say, Oh! but you don't know what I've done. You're right! and neither does God.
UNCOMMON TRUST
Uncommon Trust
"For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2 Corinthians 12:8
I met a man that is living this verse. He gets it. He has had a bout with infirmities over many years. He was healed of serious infirmities. Then something else happened and in was in need of the Lord's touch again. And he was healed and then something else came about and he prays for healing now. He does not demand from God, nor does he complain that God is just not moving fast enough for him. No. He is glorying in his infirmities, just like the Apostle Paul and the power of Christ will rest upon him.
He gets it. He understands that God's grace has already done more for him and through him than any man deserves. He trusts God for the healing he needs right now, but he waits in faith and his faith is not swerved from left to right if he is not healed tomorrow or the next day. He besought the Lord. The Lord spoke to him and now he glories in what God has done in him, to him and through him.
He gets it. "Most gladly therefore will he glory in his infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon him." God healed him and he was thankful. More things happened and he trusted God with them and through them. Now he needs prayer again for God to heal him. But this man gets it.
God let's things happen that are not pleasant to us, but the faithful stay faithful despite the outcome. Their faith is not based on what God might do, but on what God has already done. They get it."