As a child, there were times when my mother told me not to do certain things. She told me not to take the money I had been saving up to school with me. She told me not to wear her favorite pair of diamond earrings for any reason, and she told me not to leave the stove on if I wasn’t going to be in the kitchen while the food was cooking. I disobeyed all those things. I lost all my money the day I took it to school. On another occasion, I wore her favorite pair of earrings without her permission and lost one of them, and one day, I almost burned the house down because I forgot about the food that I left cooking on the stove. Each time, I was quaking in my boots about what my mother was going to do when she found out about what I had done. I’d be so nervous that I couldn’t eat or sleep, but with every occasion, her chastisement was filled with grace and forgiveness, and I am so grateful for that lesson.
He delights in us
God has given us the parental relationship as a way of providing for us and teaching us about what a loving, forgiving, and patient Heavenly Father He is. He loves us, and He delights in helping and being in our lives. People who do not know Him have been tricked into thinking that He waits to put the hammer down on our wrongdoing, but that isn’t who God is. Zephaniah 3:17(NLT) says, “For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” Our Heavenly Father delights in us. He knows that we all make mistakes, but His grace and forgiveness will never cease. He loves us despite our weaknesses and shortcomings, and He wants to be with us every moment of our lives.
The psalmist said in Psalm 18:19(NLT), “He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me.” Knowing this truth should build our confidence that our Heavenly Father has handpicked us out for His purpose, and this brings Him great pleasure. 2Timothy 1:9(NLT) says, “For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.” Our Heavenly Father wants us to place complete trust in Him, His love, and His Word. He wants us to know that He is glad to have us as His children so that we will walk without fear in this dark and evil world.
God cannot fail
Hebrews 10:23(NLT) tells us, “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.” Holding tightly to our hope in Christ takes endurance, persistence, and self-motivation. Holding tightly to our hope in Christ requires the resources of our minds and hearts. Those are the places where we grab hold of the truth and refuse to let it go. Even though circumstances may not look the way we think they should, or we may not have optimum conditions, we must remember God’s promise to keep, preserve, and provide for us. We must tell ourselves not what we think or what others say and think. We must tell ourselves what God says in His Word, because God’s Word is true.
He can be trusted to keep His promises because He always does. Numbers 23:19(NLT) declares, “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?” This is the truth about God’s nature and being, and to bring honor to His name, we must have faith that He will always back what He says in His Word. If we have doubt in our hearts about the infallible nature of all that He is, if we doubt in His faithfulness, love, power, perfection, and grace, we cannot please Him the way He deserves.
He’s a Rewarder
Hebrews 11:7(NLT) says, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” We must believe wholeheartedly that God is a Rewarder. He rewards those of us who diligently keep our minds and hearts saturated in His Word. This means that you and I can’t believe any old thing that we hear and call it truth. We can’t believe any old way that we choose and call it faith. Faith is right believing, and right believing is believing God’s Word. It’s basing our decisions and choices on what God says, and trusting that when we do, He will reward us.
There are many believers that have been waiting for years for a blessing to manifest in their lives. They are deeply emotional about this because they can’t understand why their conditions and situations haven’t changed. They may even think that God is withholding or prolonging the blessing when none of that is true. Through the gift of salvation, we have been given the faith of Jesus Christ, and that faith is perfect; it has zero flaws. The gifts of God work with a mathematical precision, so rewarding our faith in Him is always God’s commitment. In most cases, the issue is that we haven’t fully casted our doubt aside. It’s still operating in our hearts and keeping us from believing God the way we should. If this might be you, pray and ask the Lord to reveal where you have doubt. Commit yourself to read and study His Word so that your faith is increased, and doubt no longer has any room in your heart.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Cast Doubt Aside”, written by Reverend Fran Mack. Edits by Kim Times and K. Stephens for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2023. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.