Here's something I'm sure is something only I have gone through. I mean, anyone that calls themself a Christian has never gone through this....
A wee bit of doubt.
Only me right? I'm the only one that questions all this bible stuff...I know we are told to let God 'help our unbelief' but let's be honest...This is just something I go through right? Right??
I jest and I'm sure any walk with God has brought up some head scratching moments, and it's almost like God knew that would come up:
Come now, and let us REASON together....God invites our questions. He wants us to have head scratching moments so that we keep going on the wonderful journey called sanctification.
And boy oh boy, did I have an ah ha moment tonight. I was reading one of my books and the author stated, and I'm paraphrasing...
"Pay close attention to John 17. Read it prayerfully!"
It's almost like the Holy Spirit told me to stop, and go read that chapter. As my arms are too short to box with God, I obliged. And wow, what a moment.
I came to John 17:17:
Did you catch that?
O.k., let me break down my latest 'ah ha moment' in scripture for ya :)
1. We all question our faith at times. It's human nature. We know that God will help our 'unbelief' (Mark 9:24) but we still battle.
But what does the book of Hebrews say...? Faith is the substance of things hoped for! The evidence of things not seen! O.K., so far so good...
2. We know the Christian journey goes through justification, sanctification and finally glorification. The sanctification part though, that's life long! That's the grind. That's the stuff that makes us followers of Christ and keeps us moving forward. But again, it's a grind!
3. And finally, the Holy Spirit impresses you to pick up that bible! And dig into the Word daily. We aren't to live by bread alone after all...And there's the 'moment' I had. Right there in the middle of John 17:17.
Sanctify them through thy truth, thy WORD is truth.....The method of sanctification can be found by diving into the word. Relying on Him! Picking up the bible, dusting off the cover and prayerfully letting God do His work of sanctification in you.
This realization has really helped me tonight, and I had to write this stuff down while it was fresh in my mind. Hopefully, when I'm feeling a bit 'down' or some unbelief creeps into my mind, I can remember this simple truth.
God encourages questions, He wants us to come to Him and rely on Him and his Word. If we remember that, the journey of sanctification is an immense blessing.
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Great post Jon. Got me to log back into Hive for the first time in 108 years just to comment :)
It's actually hilarious how silly we are with our faith. I was just reading through Genesis again and found myself chuckling at Abraham. Time and time again, he has conversations with God where God literally tells him all the things He will give Abraham. We're talking about the God of the Universe. The Creator God. And Abraham is like..."cool!" then in the next paragraph, he faces a small trial and is like "How will I ever handle this? I guess I better take matters into my own hands!".....I am paraphrasing but I was like, "Gee, Abraham, how about you go and talk to the God who just promised to make you the father of generations to come? You know, THAT guy!"
How often do we do this? Myself included. Doubt. It's the devils favourite game to play. Cast doubt. Make them doubt God. Make them think they don't need God. Make them think they can do it better than God. And we fall for it over and over and over. Thank you Jesus for Your GRACE! Because we are so silly...and so undeserving!
My Pastor spoke on this on Sunday. He titled his message Great Expectations and he read from the book of Acts in chapter 12:12-16 where Peter gets out of prison and he runs to tell Mary the mother of John Mark and a woman named Rhoda opens the door and she's so shocked that he is standing there, she forgets to let him in...instead she runs to tell the prayer group taking place and they are like, "You're out of your mind!"
....like, hang on guys. You're praying to God. You say and believe that God can do the IMPOSSIBLE...and when He does, you're shocked!? Sound familiar? It was a humbling sermon to say the least.
Pray with GREAT EXPECTATION that God is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do!
Amen!
So funny, I just read Acts 12 last night for my daily reading lol
Yeah we are but simple creatures...We have the creator of the universe on our side, yet we doubt. It's scary how the devil can get us to second guess things.
But hey, thanks for popping in and c oming back to Hive...I expect lots of posts now LOLOL
It's HIS truth that sanctifies us, often times "my truth' and "your truth" defiles our minds. His Word washes us clean from our own stupid defilements.
Oh man, amen to that!
Best thing I've read all day
Hmm
Some people say that we should not question God because he owns the world and can do whatever he likes with us but I love the points you had to prove on here…
I think God welcomes it. He has nothing to hide. So questions just go along with His desire to have us choose him out of free will.
God loves us and when we seem not to understand a few things, we can always ask questions for we will be answered
Amen to that!
And my question is why the god let us question our faith.
He gave us free will and choice. And with that, it allows for lots of questions.
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