God’s promise for Week 1:
“God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us" (Eph 3:20 MSG).
Day Three
“Anyone who doubts is like a wave in the sea, blown up and down by the wind…They should not think they will receive anything from the Lord." (James 1:6-7 NIV)
Do you ever get sick of eating the same thing for supper week after week? It seems like I get into the rut of re-circulating the same few dinner ideas over and over again until everyone in my family is sick to death of them. So how do I break out of this cycle? I open up a cookbook and realize there is a whole world of dinner ideas out there just waiting to be made! I don’t know about you, but my spiritual life is often like that. I get stuck in a rut, finding it difficult to get excited about God and his wonderful promises. I become, like this verse says, “a wave in the sea, blown up and down by the wind". I think that more often than not, the reason for our doubt is that we haven’t picked up God’s book of recipes lately to get some inspiration! If we don’t read and memorize and believe the promises of God in his Word, doubt will creep in and blow us aimlessly around this life. And sadly, when we live like this, we “should not think [we] will receive anything from the Lord." The fulfillment of God’s promises in our lives depends on whether or not we believe that God means what He says. And we can’t believe what He says unless we constantly remind ourselves of what He says. There is no way around the fact that spending time reading the Bible and in prayer is the only way we can really live by faith in this life. When we regularly fill our minds with the promises of God, the battle between fear and doubt can be won. When we choose not to doubt the promises of God, we will find that we become more like an anchored ship than an aimless wave. Think for a minute about your “hopeless case list". Know what comes to my mind? “This relationship will never change." “That person will never get her head screwed on straight!" Instead of letting these thoughts (which really are “doubts" in disguise) dominate my thinking, I am going to stop being aimlessly blown around this life and choose to anchor myself to this promise: “God can do anything"!!!
Prayer:
“Lord, when doubts fill my mind, when my heart is in turmoil, quiet me and give me renewed hope and cheer." (Ps 94:19 NLT)
In Faith:
Remember to pray for your “hopeless cases"!
