36. FAITH IN GOD vs. FAITH IN CIRCUMSTANCES, PEOPLE’S OPINIONS AND OUR OWN FEELINGS

(The Faith Forum Series – Batch 2)

This morning in my devotions, I have been meditating on Colossians 2:12-13.

In the book of Colossians, Paul wrote a letter to the Believers (Christians) at Colosse and in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul reminded them that, as believers in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, they were:

• “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Colossians 2:12-13)

This ‘faith of the operation of God’ which we as Believers have is two-fold, as follows:-

(1) Faith of the operation of God THAT WE HAVE BEEN REGENERATED

Part of the verse above reads: “…And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.”

QUICKENING speaks of REGENERATION or being made SPIRITUALLY ALIVE, something far more precious than just physical life.

We have faith in God and of the operation of God simply because as Abraham believed (Romans 4:3-5), we believe that whatever God says he will do and can do, he does do and we demonstrate in baptism that, due to our faith in believing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, we have been made SPIRITUALLY ALIVE in Jesus Christ by God’s divine power and operation and so identify with Christ.

That is we have been washed in his blood and have therefore been REGENERATED by his Holy Spirit, which, according to God’s Word the Bible, has come to indwell us until the day of redemption. (SEE Note 31 entitled ‘The Blood Of Jesus Gives Spiritual Life’).

This is true, no matter the extent of our subsequent failures. Once we have genuinely believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and confessed that he is Lord, as Romans 10:9-10 tells us, we are REGENERATED or made SPIRITUALLY ALIVE and this REBIRTH cannot be reversed by what we later do or don’t do.

This of course is not to be confused with people who claim to believe the truth with their lips (mere professers) but live their lives in any way they choose, in open rebellion to God. Such persons were never REGENERATED because although they claim to have believed, their faith is not genuine but is imitative of the real thing. (SEE Note 100 entitled ‘Do You Have Imitation Faith Or Enduring Faith?’, Note 265 entitled ‘What It Means To Have Faith’ and Note 150 entitled ‘Faith-Do You Have It?’).

Sometimes, as human beings and because we are not all-knowing, we can’t tell the difference as to whether a person falling into sin is a genuine Christian that has backslidden (in that they are genuine believers who have taken a wrong path in life) or an UNREGENERATED, lost person (in that they were never truly saved because they never truly believed).

However, God knows the difference. He knows those who are his and one telling indication that a person who has backslidden is genuinely his is that he or she will not remain comfortably in his or her fallen condition but will arise like the Prodigal son and return to God’s presence, once God keeps them him or her in the land of the living and with his or her mental faculties, long enough to do so.

This is why Proverbs 24:16 states: “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.”

The REGENERATED person often rises up again as a result of the Lord’s conviction or chastening, the latter of which he only does in his mercy and love when a person is his child and therefore is SPIRITUALLY ALIVE in Jesus Christ.

(2) Faith of the operation of God THAT WE WILL BE RAISED FROM THE DEAD UNTO LIFE ETERNAL IN HEAVEN

Part of the verse we initially read states: “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.”

We also have faith in God and of the operation of God (once again because of who he is, what he has said he will do and can do and because we know that he does not lie and his Word is sure), that he will raise us up from the dead when Jesus returns and that our soul will live on where he is and with Him.

ON ANOTHER NOTE:

When we foolishly doubt God, who he is, what he has said he has done, what he has said he will do, what he has said he can do, who we are to him and our identity in Jesus Christ, what we are doing is choosing to redirect our faith, not in him but in our circumstances, people’s opinions and our own feelings, the three (3) major catalysts for sowing seeds of doubt in our lives.

These catalysts are also the three (3) major avenues that the enemy uses to attack our faith as Christians:

1. Circumstances;
2. People’s opinions;
3. Our own inner feelings, inadequacies, struggles and turmoils.

We should always esteem God’s Word (what he has said) HIGHER than circumstances, people’s opinions and our own feelings.

FAITH OF THE OPERATION OF GOD vs. FAITH IN OUR CIRCUMSTANCES

What happens sometimes is that CIRCUMSTANCES (what we are going through in life) are of such a nature in our lives, that they try to make us doubt who God is, that he loves us, what he has done for us and what he has said he will do for us and his own glory.

A Christian woman may think for example, due to her CIRCUMSTANCES:

• Yes I know that the Lord said he can do anything and everything and I believe he even promised me from his Word, as I read it, that he would give me a family of my own one day and children but look at my age! The reality is I’m getting older and there is no man in sight! Nobody sees me despite my best efforts and despite my years of prayers! Now, this Coronavirus makes things all the more difficult. How am I ever going to get to the place where I am seen, start courting, get engaged, have a Wedding, conceive and become a joyful mother of children, which is what I thought God told me he would do for me, seven years ago, while reading his Word?

Yet, God’s Word says and it is therefore written:

• “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” (2 Corinthians 1:20)

• “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

• “…if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God” (John 11:40).

On at least three (3) occasions in the Old Testament, we also see Abram (who was renamed Abraham by God), putting faith in the CIRCUMSTANCES, rather than in the operation of God.

Interestingly, he is described in the Bible as a man of great faith but it did not seem that he started out that way. It seems that he had some measure of faith to begin with, which was why he obeyed God, when he told him to leave his father’s family and to travel to a place that he would tell him of. However, as he grew spiritually and learned more about God’s character, he eventually got to the place where he had strong faith in God and in the operation of God, that he (God), would do just what he said he would do.

This spiritual progression from weak faith to strong faith is understandable, as after all, Abram (who became Abraham) did not have a book like we have today (the Bible) with true stories of patterns and attributes of God laid down in detail, for us to digest and learn from.

In Genesis 12:1-3 for example, God told Abram to get out of the country where he was living and from his family and his father’s house, to a land that he would show him. He told him further that he would make of him a great nation and would bless him and that he Abram would also be a blessing. He told him that he would bless them that blessed him and curse them that cursed him.

In faith, Abram obeyed by leaving his father’s house and embarking upon the journey that God had called him. He and his wife Sarai and the others with him, travelled to Canaan, to the land of Sichem unto the plain of Moreh and then to a mountain on the east side of Bethel, where he erected a tent. He then continued his journey toward the south but when a great famine arose, he went down into Egypt.

At this point, Abram may have never expected that a famine would arise and that he would end up in Egypt. Despite the fact that:

(1) God was the one that had called him out of his father’s house of comfort in the first place,

(2) that he had promised to take him to a land that he would show him,

(3) that he was a God that did not lie,

(4) that he had promised to make of him a great nation (which required offspring from his loins) and

(5) that he had said he would bless him,

based on the reality of the CIRCUMSTANCES before him (which Abram deemed to be dire), it seems that he forgot all about what God had said or perhaps, in light of the famine, in light of how far he had travelled thus far and the fact that he was about to go down into an ungodly place like Egypt (which he probably figured God would never have allowed him to go), he doubted that God would still do what he said he would do and considered that maybe he had changed his mind.

After all, the CIRCUMSTANCES he faced, made God’s promises seem to be unattainable and downright impossible. His life was now at stake. How could he ever become a father of the nations?

Abram therefore took matters into his own hands because he felt that the CIRCUMSTANCES required him to stop placing his trust in God but to act selfishly to preserve his life. As he approached Egypt, he instructed Sarai his wife to lie to the Egyptians and say that she was his sister. The reason he gave was that because she was a very beautiful woman, he was convinced that the Egyptians would kill him in order to lay claim to her.

Abram therefore forgot what God had said and instead of putting faith in the operation of God to preserve him and the seed within him and to take care of him until he got to where God had promised to take him, he allowed the reality of the CIRCUMSTANCES to overrule, causing him and Sarai to lie, so as to preserve his life.

Had he remembered what God had promised, although life had taken an unexpected turn (as he had not expected a famine and had never anticipated having to go down into Egypt), he would have known that no situation or CIRCUMSTANCE takes God by surprise, that he (Abram) did not need to panic and lie about being Sarai’s husband or to be fearful that he would be killed, as the God who told him to leave his father’s house and had led him thus far was still with him on the journey and still planned, despite the CIRCUMSTANCES, to make of him (and from his loins) a great nation.

Not trusting God therefore, led Abram to worry about what would happen when he and his wife entered Egypt, then it led him to take matters into his own hands to try to come up with a solution, instead of trusting God to work it out. This then led him to make a bad decision to lie to the people in Egypt, which led to more trouble than he had bargained for. For, although they did not kill him and treated him well because of Sarai (whose beauty they were impressed with), they recommended her to Pharaoh the King and she was taken into his house.

Abram may not have bargained for this, so I could imagine his dismay and alarm at the development. He had gotten to that place though because he failed to trust God in that moment. Had God, in his sovereignty, not intervened to plague Pharaoh and his house because Sarai, a married woman, had been taken, Pharaoh would have made her his wife.

Sadly, Abraham did the very same thing again a second time, more than ten (10) years later, when he went to Gerar. The king of Gerar, Abimelech, took Sarah based on Abraham’s lie that she was his sister but nothing more and once again, God had to intervene to prevent that king from sinning, by having sexual relations with her.

As if these two incidents were not enough, Abram and Sarai also took matters into their own hands a third time without fully having faith in the power and operation of God but focusing mainly on their CIRCUMSTANCE, when Sarai realized that she couldn’t have children and that, despite God’s promise to Abram, she remained barren.

Instead of having faith in what God had said and that that meant that God would one day give her conception no matter how many times she had tried in previous years without success and no matter her age (because God does not lie), she caused Abram to marry her Egyptian maid Hagar, so that a child could be conceived through that route.

Abraham is not alone. Other men in the Bible who God used greatly, also allowed the CIRCUMSTANCES they faced, to make them doubt what God had said. David for example, knew that he had been anointed by God through Samuel to be king, in the place of Saul. Yet, after being chased by Saul relentlessly, who wanted to kill him, 1 Samuel 27:1 reads:

• “And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.”

David was therefore convinced that, unless he escaped to the land of the Philistines, Saul would succeed in ending his life, although he (David) had been anointed by God to be king and that meant that God would therefore protect him from Saul and keep him in the land of the living, so that he could become king.

Philip, one of Jesus’ disciples, also put faith in the CIRCUMSTANCE that was before him as opposed to faith in the operation of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was part of the Godhead and God the Son.

In John 6:1-7, it states that:

• “After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.”

Clearly, many people had followed Jesus, so much so, that the scripture states of the numbers, that it was “a great multitude”. Given the clear reality and that they were most likely hungry, Jesus asked Philip where thy could buy bread so that they could eat. He did not genuinely wish to know where bread could be purchased to feed the multitude, as he knew exactly what he planned to do. However, he posed the question to Philip, to see how he would answer.

It was a test! Would Philip focus on the seeming impossibility of the situation, given that there were so many people around or would he remember and focus on the fact that Jesus, the Son of God and God the Son, that created the entire world, including all of the people there and the plants and the ingredients that bread came from, that sent manna down from heaven and fed the Israelites when they were in the wilderness for forty years and the one by whom all things existed and was the image of the invisible God (Colossian 1:15-17) was there and ever able, to do exceeding abundantly above all that he could ask or think? (Ephesians 3:20). In short, would Philip have faith in the CIRCUMSTANCE or faith in the operation of God?

Because Jesus was there, what may have ordinarily posed a problem and a major one at that was no problem at all because the one with whom nothing was impossible, the all-powerful one, was there!

Mary, Jesus’ mother, knew this, when they were at the Marriage in Cana of Galilee and the wine had run out. Instead of focusing on the CIRCUMSTANCE, which seemed like a perplexing, embarrassing and hopeless predicament, she told the servants, in complete faith in Jesus, who he was and that he could work a miracle to right the situation, “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it” John 2:5.

Yet, Philip failed his test. He took the bait and instead of focusing on the fact that the Lord was there and could solve every problem and easily so, he focused on the situation or the CIRCUMSTANCE. He forgot that Jesus and his power were more real than reality itself. He therefore told him, seemingly thinking of an even greater problem than Jesus raised, that even if they had two hundred pennyworth of bread, it would not be enough to feed all the people. That is, even if they were to find a place where they could buy a lot of bread (which in itself seemed to pose a challenge), even if they had two hundred pence with which to buy (which appeared to be a lot of money and therefore, also seemed to pose another challenge), not even this amount of bread would be sufficient. They would still need more!

Philip therefore focused straight away on the reality of the situation and saw a predicament based on the CIRCUMSTANCE, for which, to his mind, there was no earthly solution. While this may have been true from an earthly level, it did not matter in the least because Jesus was there! He could provide a heavenly solution!

Philip, like so many of us, failed the test by his reply, in that he placed more faith in the CIRCUMSTANCE, which seemed impossible to solve, over faith in the operation of God.

As mentioned above, Abram did the same thing on three (3) recorded instances. On the last occasion, him looking at how much time had passed since God had promised him a son, how old he and his wife were and the fact that she was still barren, he forgot that God was a God of his word, that he needed no help to bring to pass what he had purposed and that all that he (Abram) was required to do was to trust him. He was to have faith in God’s operation and not focus on the difficult and seemingly impossible CIRCUMSTANCE.

Peter too failed this test. When he saw the Lord Jesus walking on the sea while he was in the ship, by faith, at Jesus’ instruction, he got out of the boat and started walking toward him, on the water! This was indeed commendable, as he was exercising faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in his ability to keep him afloat. However, at some point, he stopped focusing exclusively on Jesus who had commanded him to come. Instead, he let go of his FAITH IN THE OPERATION OF GOD and began to focus on, not how strong his Lord was to sustain him in the storm but on how strong the wind around him was. He remembered that he was in the middle of the sea and naturally was not supposed to be able to walk on water and began to panic. From the moment his thoughts flooded with the reality of the situation or CIRCUMSTANCE, he lost focus on the Lord Jesus Christ and began to sink.

Matthew 14:22-31, states of the incident:

• “And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”

Undoubtedly, faith in the operation of God and who he is (which is Lord over every circumstance) keeps us buoyant, even in difficult, dangerous or uncertain times, whereas faith in and therefore, a focus on or preoccupation with our circumstances, leads to fear, feelings of hopelessness (because we are nothing but weaklings in our own strength) and ultimately, makes us sink. For, it is faith in God that enables us to do great exploits because it is through our faith, which pleases God, that he often chooses to work.

Hebrews 11:1 and 6 tell us:

• “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

James 1:5-8, in emphasizing the importance of having faith in the operation of God, over everything else, including how things appear or how hopeless our situation looks, states:

• “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. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

Not surprisingly therefore, in Matthew 13, when Jesus came to his own country, the Word of God states that he did not do many mighty works there because they did not believe on him. Instead of exercising faith in him as the Son of God, all they saw was the man who they knew to be the carpenter (Joseph’s) son, whose mother was Mary, his brothers James, Joses, Simon and Judas and his sisters, all of whom they knew, to be ordinary people. They refused to believe by faith therefore, that he was God the Son and instead, focused on the CIRCUMSTANCE of his humble upbringing. The Bible states of Jesus’ response, “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

FAITH OF THE OPERATION OF GOD vs. FAITH IN PEOPLE’S OPINIONS

Apart from circumstances, PEOPLE AND THEIR OPINIONS also try to make us doubt God’s truth, as they try to impress upon our minds and hearts the opposite of what he has said. He has said we are precious in his sight and valuable but they say in unison, that we are insignificant, nobodies, not important at all and scum and they treat us this way, sometimes even in our own families and in the household of God.

They may think to themselves and even tell us, many times from their actions:

• “You will never amount to anything. You are unimportant and will never be good enough. Your sins are as scarlet and no matter how you are sorry and have repented, they will never be as snow. Your past will always be an albatross around your neck. It is impossible for you to move forward. You are expected to always be a failure and God will never even think of using you to do anything great for his Kingdom. Nobody will ever love you. Look at your age. You are too old to get married or to have children. You will always be single and miserable in your singleness, which you deserve.”

Yet, the Word of God says and it is therefore written:

• “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:5);

• “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.” (Colossians 2:8-12)

(SEE Note 47 of Single Daughters, entitled ‘Silencing The Naysayers’, Note 174 entitled, ‘They Can Think Whatever They Like – God Will Do Whatever He Pleases‘, Note 86 of Bible-Believing Daughters entitled, ‘They Say I Can’t But By God’s Grace I Will‘, Note 262 entitled, ‘What People Say vs What God’s Word Says’, Note 176, ‘How You Gonna Curse Who God Has Blessed?’ and Note 63, ‘After They’ve Done Their Worst, Yet Still, I Rise’).

FAITH OF THE OPERATION OF GOD vs. FAITH IN OUR OWN FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS

In addition to circumstances and people’s opinions, sometimes OUR OWN FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS cause us to not have faith in the operation of God. Such feelings and thoughts often arise from the devil’s promptings and the fleshly, corrupt nature that is still within us, which coexists with God’s holy nature that he has placed within us. Ever so often, destructive feelings and thoughts try to deceive us from within, to make us doubt God’s Word and what he has said.

For example, our feelings which come from our sinful flesh and the devil, often times informed by our dismal experiences and circumstances tell us:

• God said he loves you and he has forgiven you but look at what you have been going through for the past ten years. You are still single. He hasn’t seen it fit to present you to one of his valuable sons because you are not good enough and there is no restoration for the magnitude of what you did when you committed that sin, although you repented or maybe there is restoration but it is limited. It does not extend to him providing a family for you. He has said he will do so much for you but look at how you have been suffering with your career issues and singleness issues and loneliness issues all these years! While you perpetually remain in the doghouse, other people are being blessed. They have God’s favour, they have been forgiven but you have not. Things are too bad and too far gone and your problems too great, for any meaningful change or for things to look up at this late hour. Everybody has already given up on you, thinking that nothing will happen for you at this point. Why don’t you just give up as well? Surely, if the Lord intended to come through for you and to change your season, after so many years, he would have done it by now?

Yet, despite what our flesh or the devil tells us, God’s Word says and it is therefore written:

• “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”

• “The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever.”

• “…the devil…He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44)

• “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” (Psalm 32:1-2)

• “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:22-26)

• “Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth for the Lord: for he is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.” (Psalm 33:18-21)

• “But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” (Isaiah 49: 14-16)

• “Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!…Blessed be the Lord: for he hath shown me his marvellous kindness in a strong city. For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: NEVERTHELESS thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee...Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.” (Psalm 31:19,21-22,24)

(SEE Note 263 of Single Daughters entitled, ‘Nine (9) Lies The Enemy Will Tell You As A Single Christian Woman‘, Note 74 entitled, ‘The Devil Is A Liar‘, Note 196, entitled ‘A Hopeless End Or An Endless Hope?‘, Note 221 of Bible-Believing Daughters, entitled ‘I Shall Not Die But Live!‘ and Note 45 entitled, ‘Showdown In Egypt – God’s Power Trumps All‘.)

CONCLUSION

Our CIRCUMSTANCES, PEOPLE’S OPINIONS and OUR OWN FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS, often try to make us doubt God and second guess:

• who he is;
• that he loves us with an everlasting love;
• that his mercies are new every morning;
• that he cares for us;
• that he is able to bring about complete restoration in our lives when we repent after we have fallen;
• that even when we suffer and for prolonged periods, he has purpose in that suffering even when we can’t possibly understand or make sense of it;
• that he is with us even in those moments when the valley seems dark, long, the storm is raging all around us and he seems silent or asleep;
• that even when we are tired of what we are going through, confused as to the purpose for it and feel like we simply cannot go on, that he is faithful and strong, even when we have failed him and are weak and;
• that he will faithfully uphold us with the right hand of His righteousness and guide us forward.

As Christians, we must therefore never get to the point where we allow CIRCUMSTANCES, PEOPLE’S OPINIONS OF US and FEELINGS GENERATED FROM OUR DECEPTIVE FLESH AND THE DEVIL’S VOICE, to make us doubt God. For, that would be to let go of the truth and embrace a lie. That would be as sad as a ship that was afloat (through faith in Jesus) but has begun to take in the water all around it and sink because doubt has hit it with holes.

We must always elevate God’s Word (which is infallible and never changing) and what HE has said, above these things. We must get in the habit of telling ourselves:

• My circumstances look this way BUT GOD has said…

• People think of me in this way BUT GOD has said…

• I don’t feel like if God loves me or that I am special or that he has forgiven me of my sins and cast them into the sea of forgetfulness or that I am blessed BUT GOD has said…

Whether it is a circumstance that looks dismal, people’s bad opinion of us or our own destructive thoughts and feelings, we must learn to silence the voice of the enemy (which is a lying voice) with the Word of God, even as Jesus did when he was tempted in the wilderness.

Resolve in your heart today, that come what may, you will continue to have faith in God and of the operation of God because HE HAS SAID and that is enough.

(Written on 07th September, 2020, added to thereafter)

ADDENDUM

1 Corinthians 14:10 states, “There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.”

If you find yourself struggling with the voice of people’s opinions, circumstances, your own feelings and that of the enemy (even as I sometimes do), consider praying to the Lord about the issue, even as I have done in the past and did again this morning. I prayed something to this effect:

• “Father in heaven, help me to put my faith in you and in your Word the Bible and not in people’s opinions, circumstances that can at times look dismal or my own feelings and flesh. Cause me to block out every voice that is contrary to your voice, whether it be the voice of people, the voice of circumstances, the voice of my own feelings or flesh, the voice of the world and the voice of the devil and his followers. For, these voices cannot be relied upon. They are not voices of truth. They cannot be trusted because they are deceptive. They seek to derail me from TRUTH. Help me Father in heaven, to tune in only to your voice of truth as revealed in your Word the Bible, to cling to the assurances given therein and cause every other false voice to fade into oblivion. Silence every diabolical voice without and deceptive voice within. Help me to embrace that which is true and to vehemently reject all lies, in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

(Addendum written on 04th October, 2021)