CHAPTER III
HOW TO OVERCOME DOUBT BY FAITH.
Have you often wondered why it is that your prayers
are so seldom answered? Or why you were not healed al-
though you thought you prayed in faith? Or why there is so
much defeat, worry and frustration in your life instead
of the joy, peace and victory which a Christian is supp-
osed to have? Have you wondered why your faith is so weak
and inadequate? do trials cause your faith to languish and
grow faint rather than strong and mature?
The Word of God will give you the reason. It is doubt.
The temptation to doubt what God has promised us in His
Word is one of Satan's most effective weapons to rob the
Christian of peace of mind, healing, joy, material prov-
ision of his needs, spiritual power, strong faith, bless-
ings and victory. The spiritual principle set forth in
James 1:5-7 is applicable to any situation or promise God
has made us in His Word which is to be appropriated by
faith.
If you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth
to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and is shall be
given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing DOUBTING
(Greek). For he that doubteth is like a wave of the sea
driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man
think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
Although we may at first ask in faith for an answer to
our needs, if we later begin to doubt, Satan will rob us
of the answer, for it will not come. God, says that a
doubter is like a wave of the sea; he wavers between faith
and unbelief and therefore is unprepared to receive the
very thing he seeks. He is like a wind tossed wave or
billow of the sea, rising first with hope, then sinking
down out of sight into the depths of doubt.
Whatever God has promised in His Word can only be
received by faith. doubt is a disease that eats away your
faith like a cancer. Doubt is the Devil's handmaid whom he
sends to seduce your faith and rob you of God's blessings.
Faith is from God; doubt is from Satan. He who begins to
doubt can go only one way--down!
HOW CAN YOU OVERCOME THE TEMPTATION
TO DOUBT?
1. ACCEPT CHRIST'S ATONEMENT AS SUFFICIENT
FOR ALL YOUR SINS.
Is doubt a sin? It is one of the greatest! God's Word
declares: "but without faith it is impossible to please
Him" (Hebrews 11:6). Again, "for whatsoever is not
faith
is sin (Romans 14:23). Did Jesus die for all your sins?
Then he also died for your doubts, for the Word of God
plainly states that doubt is a sin and displeases God.
Cast your doubts on the Lord and He will surely remove
them (I Peter 5:7).
2. WHEN YOU CLAIM A PROMISE OF GOD ALWAYS
ASK IN FAITH AND EXPECT AN ANSWER.
So much prayer goes unanswered because Christians do
not really take God's integrity seriously enough to expect
an answer each time they pray. They hope that occasionally
their "turn" will come and God will give them what they
ask. But God is interested in answering prayers and ful-
filling His promises to us--this is why He made them. The
only requirement is, however, that me must ask in faith,
nothing doubting. When we pray we are to expect an answer
for Jesus said:
What things soever ye desire, when ye pray believe
that ye receive them, and ye shall have them (Mark 11:24).
If ye have faith, and doubt not...all things whatsoever ye
shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive (Matthew
21:21-22).
3. ALWAYS STOP DOUBT AT THE DOOR OF THE
MIND WHEN IT SEEKS TO GAIN ENTRANCE.
This is where your defeat always begins--in the mind.
Satan suggests such doubts to your mind as to whether or
not God is willing to answer your particular request, or
whether you are worthy, or have asked properly. He tells
you your problem is too difficult, or your disease too
far advanced for any hope of cure. Here is where most
people are defeated. They allow thoughts of doubt to enter
their mind; they entertain the doubt; they examine its
merits; or they try to reason with the problem instead of
resting of God's promise. Then when they try to get rid of
the doubts and exercise faith, they find that the doubts
refuse to leave! Entertain doubt for a minute and it will
require and hour to get rid of it; listen to Satan's
doubts for an hour and it will require a week to gain back
the ground lost and recover your faith! Do not ever enter-
tain doubt about that for which you have prayed for one
moment--stop it at the door! You need never doubt again
about anything. You can overcome all doubt and transform
your entire Christian life. You alone hold the key to
complete victory. Simply refuse to accept a single doubt-
ful thought which Satan suggests to your mind. "Resist the
Devil and he will flee from you."
4. WHEN TEMPTED TO DOUBT, PRAISE GOD AND SING
HYMS OF FAITH AND VICTORY INSTEAD.
This is one of the most effective weapons against the
Enemy the believer possesses. There is nothing that will
banish Satan with his lies and doubts more quickly than
praise and song. The Devil will flee if you commmand him,
but he will also flee if you praise God! He refuses to
stay around the Christian who continually offers praises
unto God. If we would praise God more we would have to
command the Devil less. Why? Praise covers you with a
protective garment which the spirit of depression, doubt,
and heaviness cannot penetrate. The spirit of joy and
praise is one of the benefits Christ purchased for us at
Calvary, for the Lord declares in Isaiah 61:1-3: "The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me...to appoint unto them that
mourn in Zion..the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness." Israel once overcame
her enemies with song and praise unto the Lord without a
weapon being used and without a fight. so can you! Read
II Chronicles 20.
God desires praise more than material offerings
(Psalms 69:30-31), for "whoso offereth praise glorifieth
me" (Psalms 50:23). Doubts will vanish like the morning
mist before the rising sun in the life of one who offers
up songs of praise unto the Lord continually (Psalms 34:1;
35:28; Hebrews 13:15).
5. NEVER CONFESS DOUBT OR UNBELIEF.
Always confess what God's Word says and hold fast to
this in the face of all circumstance which appear to the
contrary, for you will receive what you confess. "Death
and life are in the power of the tongue" (Proverbs 18:21).
Admitting doubt even in a small way will paralyze and with-
hold God's blessings from you (James 1:6-7). Absolutely
refuse to confess doubt, defeat, unbelief, or anything of
a negative nature. The reason for this is clear, for "a
merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow
of the heart the spirit is broken" (Proverbs 15:13).
Confessing doubt invites a spirit of depression and
defeat. Satan attacks the mind with thoughts of doubt and
unbelief seeking thereby to destroy your peace and joy in
the Lord for he knows that "...the joy of the Lord is your
strength" (Neh.8:10).
One of the greatest sources of weakness, failure, un-
answered prayer, and defeat is your own tongue. The conf-
ession of doubt is your own admission that you are defe-
ated and Satan is victor! Truly "death and life are in the
power of the tongue." adopt the "vocabulary" of
faith.
Never allow yourself to use negative or doubtful express-ions of
speech.
6. REFUSE TO LISTEN TO THE DOUBTS OF OTHERS.
Listening to the doubts, disbelief, skepticism, and
uncertainty of others can undermine and weaken your faith.
Never discuss the problems which you have committed to the
Lord, or God's promises which you have claimed by faith,
with those who do not believe God positively answers every
prayer of faith based upon His Word. For example, if, by
faith, you have claimed bodily healing, Satan often uses
the unbelief and skepticism of others to implant doubts in
your heart. Many of his tares are sown just this way and
the seed of God's Word is choked and becomes unfruitful.
It is possible also to forfeit healing once obtained
by faith if we allow doubt to affect our faith. A man
healed of cancer of the hip by faith was later stricken
with cancer of the stomach and died because he listened to
the doubts of his fellow church members who denied the
validity of divine healing for today! answer doubt with
faith. But do not linger arguing with doubters, for it is
Satan speaking through them seeking to overthrow your
faith.
7. DISCIPLINE YOURSELF TO A FAITHFUL STUDY
OF GOD'S WORD AND REGULAR PRAYER.
The most effective remedy for doubt is a close walk
with God. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God" (Romans 10:17). "...desire the sincere
milk
of the word, that ye may grow thereby" (1 Peter 2:2).
Prayer is the means of "...building up yourselves on your
most holy faith" (Jude 20).
Finally, therefore, resist doubts like you would any
other temptation to sin. "Resist the devil, and he will
flee from you" (James 4:7). Never open the door to doubt,
and faith will take its place. The two never exist toget-
her--if one is present the other is absent. The choice is
yours. Which will it be? FAITH OR DOUBT?