As we see the return of our Lord Jesus growing nearer each day, we really need to be making good use of this time to be a witness for God, and a good way to do that is for people to see that we are LIVING in the victory of God’s promises, and not just talking about it.  How do you do that?         The Bible says the just shall live by faith.  Picture faith and doubt as two equal, but opposite powers, going in opposite directions.  I’ve heard people say they feel they are pulled in two directions at the same time.  That’s a good example of “double minded”.   In Deuteronomy 30:19, God told us He sets before us blessing and cursing, life and death; therefore choose LIFE.  We can have it only one way, and God tells us to choose the BEST way, blessing!  We, as disciples of Jesus Christ, need to establish God’s word as the highest authority in our lives.  While many say they are doing this, in reality they are placing what they see, hear, or feel as the highest authority, then wonder why they aren’t living in the victory the Bible shows us we can have.  To make matters worse, they blame God for not keeping His word.  The Word works.  But, you have to SPEAK it and LIVE it.  It’s a choice that requires your full-time commitment.

            James 1:5-8 says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.  But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind, and tossed.  Let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.  A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

            Jesus told us in Mark 11:23-24 that if we believe in our heart and doubt not that what we say will come to pass, we will have whatsoever we say, that we must believe receive before we will ever see it.  Countless times I have prayed for someone’s healing, and asked them, “Did you receive?”  And their reply was, “I hope so.”  According then to Mark 11:23-24, I wasted a perfectly good prayer, because it lacked the proper postage, so to speak, in that the person being prayed for was insufficient in faith.  It’s not that God said “NO” to their request, rather, He had nothing there to work with. God is not so much moved by our need as He is our faith.

            In Mark 5, the woman who suffered from a twelve year issue of blood had such confidence in the healing anointing of Jesus she didn’t need Him to pray for her.  She said if she could just touch the hem of His garment, she would be healed.  She touched and she received, just like she said.  How about if she would have doubted?  Would she have been healed?  Absolutely not!

            Doubt and faith are two equal and opposite forces.  They both work by words.  Ever hear anyone say, I doubt if I’ll ever get well?  No matter what else they’re doing to get well, it never comes to pass because of doubt in the heart.  And it’s the law of God at work.

            If people would just examine their heart to see where the doubt started, they could make adjustment and get over into faith.  But many times people refuse to admit they’re in unbelief.  I think that it has it’s root in pride, and of course, it is written that pride goes before a fall.  Wisdom comes when we are teachable.  Some may say they’re teachable, but a look at their life shows they are not.  Some people get downright defensive if you tell them they are dealing with doubt in their heart.  You’d think they’d want to know the problem so they could deal with it and move on successfully, and especially if their doubt was keeping them from their desired result.

            There’s a story in Mark 1 about a leper who said to Jesus, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.  The leper wasn’t doubting Jesus could.  His doubt was that he would!   It says Jesus was moved with compassion, and touched him,, and said,  “I will, be thou clean.”  When Jesus said “I will”, it cancelled the “If”, the doubt the leper had, and immediately the man was made whole.

            You see, doubt would have kept the leper from receiving his healing, so Jesus did what He could to erase that doubt.  Still, the leper had a choice whether to believe or not.  God has no doubt that He wants to bless us.  The doubt is always in us, never on God’s part.

            Nothing has changed since Jesus was here.  You still have to believe if you want to receive, and as it says in James 1:7, if you doubt, don’t think you’ll receive any thing of the Lord.  It’s not that you won’t receive, because you will.  It just won’t be from the Lord.  It will be what you don’t want.  The devil will see to that!

            It stands to reason if you can’t receive wisdom from God when you have doubt in your heart, then you can’t receive anything else from Him either.  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  Knowing God cannot lie is the next stage.  Once it is settled in your heart God cannot lie, it starts getting easier.  As you study God’s Word, He reveals it to you.  Wisdom starts coming.  God isn’t withholding wisdom, or any blessing from you.  The only thing holding you back is doubt.   And doubt either causes, or is caused by fear.  Get rid of doubt, because there is no reason you should ever have it, because it doesn’t come from God.  Besides keeping you out of God’s blessings, it keeps you in torment.  How many times have you looked back at a situation where you doubted to step out in faith?  Looking back at a place where your fears caused you to doubt, always result in regret.  God would not have us live in regret.  How can a life full of “what if” ever be satisfying?  It can’t.  

         Maybe there was a chance to take a new job, but your doubts kept you from doing it.  Later on after staying where you were, the old “I wonder what would have happened?” sets in.  It’s happened to me before, and it’s not a good feeling.  When you know it was the Lord and you don’t step out, you miss your blessing.  And there may never be another opportunity like it again.  Every door does not stay open forever.  Sometimes it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing, like the woman with the issue of blood faced.  She faced death by stoning by being out in public in her unclean condition.  She could have doubted in her heart if it was the right time or the right place.  But her desperation for her blessing far outweighed any doubts she might have had.

            How about if Abraham had stayed home with his family, instead of leaving to parts unknown at the direction of God?  It would have changed the course of history, and possibly delayed the coming of our Savior.  And certainly it would have robbed Abraham of his being called “Father of Nations.”

            How loud are your doubts yelling at you right now?  Are they so strong that you’ll stay right where you are?  Or, are you so hungry for victory that you’re willing to tell your doubts to sit down and shut up?  When you ask God for wisdom, He will always require you to put it to use.  And to whom much is given, much is required.  But He also said to those who have, He will give more.  That goes for wisdom, for healing, for any other thing God gives us.  But, if you doubt, you will do without.  Tell me, is doubt really worth what it costs?  Next time you ask God for something, leave the doubt out. Just believe you receive, because Jesus said if you do, you will receive. 

         Oh yes, and thank Him for it.  After all, when was the last time God lied to you?