Video Bible Lesson - A Prayer For When You Struggle with Doubt By Jordan Sok

1/2 Hour of God’s Power with Scott Ralls

5/1/2020

A Prayer For When You Struggle with Doubt
By Jordan Sok

“’If you can?’ said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for one who believes.’ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.’” (Mark 9:23-24)
From the time I was a young girl, my faith was something I took seriously. I loved learning about this incredible God of the Bible that loved me in my sin, so much so He sent His own son to take my place in death. I loved reading that He is alive and that He works everything for my good and His glory. And I loved the realization that the pages of Scripture I read were God-breathed and alive, applicable to my day-to-day life. I believed all of it.Or so I thought.
Then freshman year of college happened. And along with the regular ups and downs that come with freshman year, it was the most stressful year my family had ever experienced. To make matters worse, I felt responsible for everyone in the situation. Looking back, it’s obvious that it wasn’t my responsibility to make sure everyone smiled through such a season -- emotions should have been expected. But in my anxious, 18-year-old mind, if someone in the family wasn’t cheerful, I was to blame.
But when the blame on myself became too much, I began putting it on someone else. The only person that I could think was responsible – God Himself.
Tough seasons reveal what we really believe, and my tough season was revealing that everything I thought defined me wasn’t real to me at all.
I didn’t know what to do about it. Every day was more hopeless than the day before. I was losing my faith and in doing so, my identity.
So what do we do when our head and heart think differently? Ask God to teach us the truth.
For anyone to truly know God and the truths of His word, God Himself has to work supernaturally in our hearts. Want to hear the great news? HE WANTS TO DO THAT IN US. God desires for us to know Him and truly believe His Word. All we have to do is ask.
One of my favorite verses in the Bible is when a father brings his sick son to Jesus and asks Him to drive out the evil spirit possessing him. The father asks Jesus to heal him by beginning the sentence, “if you can”. When Jesus responds that everything is possible in Him the father exclaims, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” Amen. That is a prayer I believe God is honored in. This is my version of that prayer:
“Lord, I believe in you. I believe you are good. I believe that I am secure in you – that I am hidden in you and no real harm can come to me with you as my rock and my salvation. I believe that you see me and you love me - that I am treasured in your sight. Help my unbelief. Help that head knowledge become heart knowledge- so that my actions reflect those truths and not the lies the enemy throws at me.”
Ask the Father to help you believe today. He desires that for you.

#Jesus, #Christian, #Bible, #Salvation, #Heaven, #God, #HolySpirit

God Cannot Lie

Streams in the Desert

God that cannot lie promised (Titus 1:2).

Faith is not working up by will power a sort of certainty that something is coming to pass, but it is seeing as an actual fact that God has said that this thing shall come to pass, and that it is true, and then rejoicing to know that it is true, and just resting because God has said it.

Faith turns the promise into a prophecy. While it is merely a promise it is contingent upon our cooperation. But when faith claims it, it becomes a prophecy, and we go forth feeling that it is something that must be done because God cannot lie.
--Days of Heaven upon Earth

I hear men praying everywhere for more faith, but when I listen to them carefully, and get at the real heart of their prayer, very often it is not more faith at all that they are wanting, but a change from faith to sight.

Faith says not, "I see that it is good for me, so God must have sent it," but, "God sent it, and so it must be good for me."

Faith, walking in the dark with God, only prays Him to clasp its hand more closely.
--Phillips Brooks

The Shepherd does not ask of thee
Faith in thy faith, but only faith in Him;
And this He meant in saying, 'Come to me.'
In light or darkness seek to do His will,
And leave the. work of faith to Jesus still.

The Church: God's Design

The Church: God's Design

Dr. Charles Stanley

Hebrews 10:23-25

When you hear the word "church," do you picture a little white building full of smiling people in fancy clothes? As lovely as that image may be, God's design for church is unrelated to it. He created the church to be a unified fellowship of believers who encourage each other and carry out His ministry to the world.

The Bible clearly defines the following as ministries of the church: worshiping the living God, instructing and edifying believers, making disciples of all nations, and serving the needy. Unless the leadership is careful, however, these purposes can all too easily get out of balance, with the unfortunate result that the body ends up malnourished. For example, a church with too heavy an emphasis on praise might become introverted. Congregations that overemphasize teaching could lose their joy, and those that evangelize to the neglect of the other areas could miss out on great faith.

Because of sin and human imperfection, we do not experience church as it was originally intended. Instead, there's a tendency to overstress certain ministry areas. What's more, divisive arguments--many of which concern minor issues, such as music preferences--too often destroy unity. Greed, pride, selfishness, and gossip can also tear a congregation apart.

Since they're composed of imperfect people, churches will be imperfect too. Though expecting anything else leads to disappointment, we should nonetheless strive for God's original design, continually measuring ourselves against Scripture and correcting course to realign with His purpose.

The Power of Selfless Encouragement

The Power of Selfless Encouragement
KIA STEPHENS

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)

While sitting at my computer on a Saturday afternoon, I received an unexpected text from a friend.

In her message, she said the universally dreaded words no one wants to hear: “I have cancer.”

I was shocked to read those words from her. She was a mother of two, a devoted wife and successful in her career.

It seemed so unfair. I wanted to rewind to just a few months ago when we casually chatted about family. Unfortunately, her words and her present journey were irreversible.

Before I finished reading her text, I purposed in my heart to offer some type of encouragement. I was prepared to plan a visit, bring a meal or text a few kind (but inadequate) words, given her circumstance. As I scrolled through her lengthy message, I was soon blindsided by the encouragement she offered to me.

We hadn’t spoken in months, and she was undergoing chemotherapy. Yet her focus was on me. Unbeknownst to her, she shared the very words I needed to hear at the exact time I needed to hear them. Rather than responding immediately, I just sat and sobbed, tremendously impacted by the love of God I saw in her. She offered selfless, thoughtful and kind encouragement to me despite her medical condition.

This is the type of exhortation Paul, Silas and Timothy describe in 1 Thessalonians 5:11, which says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” In Acts 16 and 17, we learn that Paul, together with his fellow laborers, wrote this letter to the people of Thessalonica after having been flogged, thrown into prison in Macedonia and forced out of Thessalonica.

At a time when Paul could have been discouraged by persecution and nursing his emotional and physical wounds, he was instead concerned for the Thessalonian believers. He modeled the personal and heartfelt encouragement he wanted them to offer others.

The believers were admonished to couple this encouragement with building one another up. The Greek word used here for “building” means “to build a house.” This single act of using our words to encourage and edify fellow believers is likened to building a structure: the universal church.

This type of purposeful encouragement is vital for a believer’s faith, both individually and collectively. For the believers in Thessalonica, this was especially true because they were a new church facing persecution from nonbelieving Jews.

A commitment to encourage others like this challenges us all to selflessly lift the countenance of someone else — no matter what we might be facing ourselves. As we offer soul-deep encouragement to others, we can trust that God, in His sovereignty, will encourage us.

This is the principle described in Proverbs 11:25, “… whoever refreshes others will be refreshed” (NIV). I saw this time-tested truth in my friend’s text message and in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonian believers. Through their noble examples, we are inspired to selflessly offer encouragement to others in the same way.

Dear God, please help me to offer heartfelt encouragement to others no matter what I may be facing. Help me to trust that as I refresh others, I will be refreshed. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

TRUTH FOR TODAY:
Romans 15:5, “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had.” (NIV)

Strangers in a Strange Land

Strangers in a Strange Land
By Anna Kuta

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).

Last fall, I took a road trip with some friends to watch our college football team, the Richmond Spiders, take on in-state rival James Madison University. Our team was 3 and 1 at that point in the season, and our only loss had come from a nailbiter the week before, so we were pretty confident as we set out that morning. It was a gorgeous day for football and we’d managed to get some of the very last tickets before the game sold out, so we were quite proud of ourselves and excited for what seemed like it would be an extremely successful trip.

However, it wasn’t long before things started going downhill. We took a wrong turn and ended up circling the entire town of Harrisonburg twice. An hour and a half later, we finally got to the stadium gates just as the game started, but as we started climbing the bleachers to our seats, we began to realize we were the only ones in sight wearing Richmond red and blue. Turns out our tickets we were so proud of were not in the Richmond fan section, as we thought, but the reject seats on the complete opposite corner of the field. We felt like the enemy as we took our seats smack in the middle of a sea of yellow and purple, but that wasn’t going to deter us from still cheering on a victory.

When Richmond made a touchdown right away for the game’s first points, things seemed to be looking great (besides the dirty looks we got). Unfortunately, that was as good as it got. We didn’t score again for the rest of the game. JMU piled on touchdown, touchdown, field goal, touchdown … and with each point my friends and I sat a little more dejectedly in our seats. Someone threw yellow streamers and paper airplanes at us, and then it started pouring rain. It finally ended and we left the stadium soaking wet and miserable. But the ordeal wasn’t quite over yet. We started walking back to our car, got heckled, decided against walking in the rain among hecklers, got on a shuttle, and proceeded to get heckled for the next half hour we were stuck in traffic. When we finally got back to the car, all we could do was grumble a little bit and shake our heads.

We can laugh about that disaster of a day now, but it certainly wasn’t very funny at the time. Maybe you’ve had a similar experience at a sporting event, or you can identify with the same feeling of being unwelcome in a different situation. Have you ever faced similar hostility for your faith? Even though you and I might never experience anything close to the extreme suffering that many believers around the world face, we all have times when we feel out of place or downright vilified because of our faith.

As Christians, we are “strangers and aliens” in a world of unbelievers, as Peter says in 1 Peter 2:11. The older I get, the more keenly aware I am that I don’t think like them, that I don’t have the same desires, motivations and passions. The more I grow in my faith, the more different I feel from many people I come in contact with, and the more open I am about my faith, the more that difference becomes tangible. We are called to be set apart, yet we are in the world for a reason: to share Jesus. It’s often not received with open arms, but it’s what we are commanded to do as followers of Christ.

Like Jesus says in John 15:18, it’s not always going to be easy. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own, He says. But when we accept Christ and enter into a relationship with Him, He chooses us out of the world. Like my friends and I felt when we were surrounded by fans of an opposing team, so we as Christians will never feel “at home” in this world. Yes, we’ll face opposition, but Jesus Himself said it’s a badge of the Christian faith and a sign that we belong to Him. In answering His call to reject worldly conformity, we can truly make an impact by being an example for Jesus.

Intersecting Faith & Life: It’s not easy living a life of Jesus’ high calling, and the way we’re treated by the world can be plain discouraging at times. Pray for God to help you desire to be more like Him and to give you strength to stand up against opposition.

Further Reading

1 Peter 2:11-12
Romans 12:2
John 17

How Prayer Humbles Us

How Prayer Humbles Us
By Mark Altrogge

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:6-7

Most of us don’t like to humble ourselves. At least I don’t like to. And prayer is an act of humility. Prayer is an act of weakness. When we pray we admit to God that we desperately need help. That we’re weak and needy and not in control of all things. That we are not self-sufficient.

But God is attracted to this act of humility.

We humble ourselves “under the mighty hand of God.” In other words prayer acknowledges that God is sovereign and controls all things. We bow before his sovereignty. We acknowledge that God rules but his mighty hand and we can’t control a single thing in and of ourselves.

Prayer waits for “the proper time” for God to lift us up. Waiting for God is humbling for us, and, again, we acknowledge that we can’t change anything and must wait for God to. We must patiently wait for the One who knows the end from the beginning, the infinitely wise one, who knows the absolute perfect time to come riding in to rescue us or supply our need. He knows the perfect time to answer our prayers. Our affliction won’t last one second longer than he determines.

God tells us to cast all our anxieties on him. Why must we tell God our cares when he already knows them? Because asking is an act of humility, and since God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5), prayer puts us in the position to receive grace. God so longs to pour out his grace on us, he tells us the best way to receive it!

God tells us to cast or anxieties on him “because he cares for you.” When we pray it’s important to remind ourselves that God, the creator of the galaxies, the sustainer of heaven and earth, is deeply concerned for us—individually. I used to think God was so busy running the universe he didn’t have time for my “petty” needs. But I found out that God loves and cares deeply about his children individually. He knows us by name. He knows every hair on our heads. So pray because God cares about you and your anxieties and needs. If he feeds the sparrows of the field and the ravens that cry out, how much more will he hear the cries of his precious blood-bought children?

Don’t be proud. Don’t try to tough it out and get through life on your own. Humble under the hand of the Almighty who is tenderhearted, sympathetic and generous, and waiting to pour out grace. Cast your anxieties on him and he will lift you up at the proper time.

A Prayer for When You Can't 'Feel' God

A Prayer for When You Can't 'Feel' God
By Kelly-Jayne McGlynn

Isaiah 41:10: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

A feeling of peace, stability, and belonging. A burden lifted off my shoulders. A sense of direction and purpose. I used to feel all of these things when I prayed to God. I felt like he was right there beside me, walking with me, holding my hand. I sensed him through all that I did and all that I saw. And then, after a stage in my life of complete instability, all those feelings vanished. There was so much change at one time that I simply went numb. It felt like my soul had gone blind and I started to question everything. Where did God go? Did God leave me? Was God ever really there to begin with…?

It is such a blessing from God that he gives us those senses to experience him and his love. However, Hebrews 11:1 reminds us not to rely on those feelings: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Even when we can’t see God, scripture calls us to have faith anyway. God want us to have confidence in who he tells us that he is, rather than what we can perceive of our circumstances. This includes our feelings.

Even when we don’t feel God, he is still right there. He is with us. He strengthens us. He holds us up by his own hand. With God’s help, we can know this truth in our hearts, even if we cannot at that moment emotionally connect to it. Let’s pray.

Dear Father in Heaven,

Thank you for your steadfastness and continual presence in our lives. Sometimes, we can feel you right next to us. But sometimes, it is hard to know that you are there at all. Sometimes life gets so difficult that our hearts just cannot feel you through the pain. Sometimes you take away those feelings so that we may seek you even more fervently. I pray today, Father, that I may rely not on my own feelings but rather on your love for me. May I rely on your Word to be the truth that rules my life over my own understanding. Help me to see you and believe in your character even though my feelings may tell me otherwise. You are kind, you are good, and you are gracious. You are both all-powerful and all-loving. You care deeply for me and for my loved ones. Be with me as I live out these truths no matter what my circumstances are today, Lord, as we walk forward together. I love you and pray all of these things in your Son’s amazing name, Amen.