Doubt vs Faith, Winning the War in your Mind, Part 1, Ep 3-13
Welcome Back! I am your host Dawn Simmons, and in this episode of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies we are going to be discussing the ever-common struggle we have with doubt versus faith so we can begin to win that war in our head. Understand if doubt is with you, there is a war going on, even if you don’t recognize it. How we respond to doubt reveals a lot about our relationship with the Lord. This is a two-part series where we will talk about the Spirit of Doubt and lay the groundwork for both episodes in our first episode, and then next week we will dig into faith and how we go about winning this war in our minds.
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Ok, back to our discussion on Doubt and Faith. We are starting to lay the groundwork and to do that we will begin with defining both doubt and faith so we are all on the same page from the get go.
Doubt: to be uncertain about; consider questionable or unlikely; hesitate to believe:
Faith: complete trust or confidence in someone or something
The pivotal scripture for both of these episodes is Matthew 21: 21-22, because in it we hear what Jesus has to say about the relationship between the two, doubt and faith. We need to understand there is an inverse relationship and it is our responsibility to manage that relationship both in the natural realm and in the spiritual realm. We live in both simultaneously and we need to speak and move like we live in both simultaneously.
Matthew 21:21-22 says this, Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Jesus here is describing this inverse relationship; this see saw effect with doubt and faith. We do need to put this in context. Does this mean if I don’t like something I can have faith to get what I want and it will be done for me? No, if it were all about me getting what I want I am sure I would make some changes, maybe a neighbor or two, just kidding, just one neighbor, just kidding, I digress. When we are moving in faith as discussed here, which we will talk more about in part two, we are talking about our alignment with the Holy Spirit, so our motives and actions are Holy Spirit directed.
Let’s look at another scripture James 1:2- 8. We want to look at this one because it reveals a lot to us about the character of the spirit of doubt and what we should expect when we operate from a place of doubt. It says this, Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
Let’s get to know the Spirit of Doubt a little bit better. We have talked about this spirit before. We will hit on some of our previous discussion points, but we are specifically looking at doubt now in relation to what it does to our faith life.
The Spirit of Doubt is a demonic spirit that likes to hide in the background. It may very well have been the first to arrive, but it will hide. When a demon can hide, it can do more damage than when it makes a big announcement that it has arrived.
Once we have given doubt space in our mind, it will creep into our heart and then into every area in our lives as we begin to see the downward changes happen in our marriage, in our work, in our relationships and most importantly, in our relationship with the Lord. There is a reason Paul tells the Philippians in 4:4, Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
When we are in concert with the Holy Spirit, cooperating, living our life with a focus on the Holy Spirit, listening and following the Holy Spirit, we will have peace. We will have an ability to pray, wait on the Holy Spirit, know in our spirit that He is working and in that strength we are guarding our hearts and minds by keeping them focused on the peace of God.
When we allow doubt into our mind and our heart, there is collateral damage that will occur. Doubt erodes trust. Doubt destroys creativity. Doubt builds walls. Doubt shuts doors. Doubt ends friendships. Doubt builds fears. Doubt ends marriages. Doubt conceals talent. Doubt shreds love. Doubt will tear down your strength and lead you to believe you are alone and you never were. You may have pushed people aside. You may have misinterpreted someone who you thought was pushing you aside, but if you have Jesus, then the Holy Spirit has never left you side.
Why is doubt so difficult to conquer? Well, let’s look at how it works and see why that can be challenging.
The spirit of Doubt will maneuver in your mind to pull you back from activities and opportunities by feeding you with lies that you are not good enough. It will lie to you and create a comfortable space for you to retreat so that it can block off what God wants to tell you in truth through the Holy Spirit, through your church, through your friends. Once the spirit of Doubt can get you to buy in just a little bit, then it can start to move in your life and you are giving it access to your mind and your heart. By coming into agreement with anything the Spirit of Doubt is deceiving you with, you are creating opportunity for Doubt to grow and that is when Doubt will begin to bring in some friends. You may begin to feel alone, isolated, and that is all by design. Doubt has opened the door to Insecurity, Jealousy, Self-delusion and once defeatism enters the room of your mind, you will have a very difficult time getting yourself aligned with the Holy Spirit. The moment we rise up to try to do so, we are met with doubts about what we are doing, what we are saying. Our words change from hopeful to despair and we begin to say things that are self-defeating and leading us to a place of believing failure is our only option and our only outcome. These are all lies. Demons are very good at what they do. Demons have been around since before creation.
We all have weaknesses. We know what they are, we may not share them but we know our own weaknesses. Well, guess what, so do the demons. We don’t have secrets from demons any more than we have secrets from God. When you have done something that is in opposition to what we know is God’s plan or how the Kingdom of God functions, in other words, when we sin, particularly when we have not repented of that sin, well, that may be a weakness or a secret, whatever it is, it is not a secret from the demons. They want to know all of that so they can exploit it.
Now let’s say you live a pretty righteous life. You stay focused on the Lord, you repent when you should, you do all the things the Lord would want of you. There is still a weakness somewhere, maybe it’s how you were treated as a child, maybe something going on at work, or even just a flat out lie being told about you. The enemy will manipulate any situation, even righteous situations to create fear and get you off balance. How do I know that, well Joseph had to deal with that, didn’t he? Potiphar’s wife accusing him of something he did not do, he ran, he ran out of fear, he ran because it was how to get immediately out of a bad situation. But Joseph was just. Did it mean Joseph didn’t still have to pay a price? No, he spent years in prison paying for something he did not do. Do you think the Spirit of Doubt was hanging out in jail with him? Do you think the Spirit of Doubt kept quiet all those years?
Never let the circumstances you see, dictate your outcome. If Jesus had done that, how could He have been resurrected? Doubt wants to get you to a moment of weakness, and then use your own words and thoughts against you. Normal challenges may be magnified or increased, instead of one flat tire it’s two, and the purpose is to make you feel everything is against you. It’s not the truth, it’s just what it wants you to feel. We tend to respond to how we feel, whether it is true or not and that is what gets us into trouble. We don’t always wait to know the truth or hear from the Holy Spirit before we react or respond. It’s a weakness. Why is this such an important tactic? It takes our mind off of the Lord and erodes our faith and trust in Him. It’s a carefully crafted plan of action against you that if you aren’t at peace in the Lord, you may find yourself wrapped up in that challenge being presented to you instead of wrapped up in the security of the Lord.
This is actually a really good stopping point for this episode. I think we have a pretty good idea of who the Spirit of Doubt is and what it is he is trying to do.
I hope this has been time that inspires you to want to learn to grow in your relationship with the Lord and build your desire to partner with Him. We want to grow in Him and learn how to work with Him to build the Kingdom and Conquer Our Unseen Enemies. The more we grow the more our life will change, and you can help change the lives of anyone around you who is willing. Join me next week and let’s talk about Faith and how we can win that war in our minds of Doubt versus Faith.
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As always, let’s discuss our Top Show points:
· Defined Doubt and Faith:
o Doubt: to be uncertain about; consider questionable or unlikely; hesitate to believe:
o Faith: complete trust or confidence in someone or something
· Matthew 21: 21-22, it reveals the inverse relationship between doubt and faith.
· James 1:2- 8. it reveals the character of the spirit of doubt and what we should expect when we operate from a place of doubt.
· The Spirit of Doubt is a demonic spirit that likes to hide in the background.
· Once we have given doubt space in our mind, it will creep into our heart and into every area in our lives including in our relationship with the Lord.
· Philippians in 4:4, referencing the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, and the importance of guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
· When we are in concert with the Holy Spirit, we are guarding our hearts and minds by keeping them focused on the peace of God.
· When we allow doubt into our mind and our heart, there is collateral damage that will occur.
o Doubt so difficult to conquer
o Maneuver in your mind
o Pull you back from activities and opportunities
o Feed you with lies that you are not good enough.
o It will lie to you and create a space for you to retreat
o Block off what God wants to tell you in truth
· Once the spirit of Doubt can get you to buy in just a little bit, then it can start to move in your life and you are giving it access to your mind and your heart.
· By coming into agreement with anything the Spirit of Doubt, you are creating opportunity for Doubt to grow.
· Doubt has opened the door to Insecurity, Jealousy, Self-delusion
· Our words change from hopeful to despair and are self-defeating and leading us to believe failure is our outcome.
· Joseph and the Spirit of Doubt trying to erode his trust while he was in imprisoned.
· Never let the circumstances you see, dictate your outcome.
· Doubt wants to get you to a moment of weakness, and then use your own words and thoughts against you.
· We tend to respond to how we feel, and not wait to know the truth or hear from the Holy Spirit before we react or respond.
· Doubt wants to take our mind off the Lord and erodes our faith and trust in Him.
We encourage you:
· To have an active Bible reading plan, if you want a personal relationship with the Lord, you need to be active about reading His word.
· Take a look at my newest book, Conquering Our Unseen Enemies, available on Amazon or our website, Conqueringourunseenenemies.com
· Follow us in Instagram, @conqueringourunseenenemies and FB.
I have enjoyed our time this week and look forward to spending time with you again next week!