Beyond The Shadow Of A Doubt

Have you ever heard that statement before? Possibly as in, " I know it beyond the shadow of a doubt". Usually someone may say this meaning that they believe they know the absolute truth of something and have no doubt of its validity. When you are absolutely sure of something and have no doubt of it whatsoever, there is nothing that can make you move from that knowledge or believe otherwise.

Have you ever been in a situation where you had the opportunity to do something and everything looked great and favorable, but you had just a small feeling of fear that it wouldn't work out as planned? That small feeling of fear, is the shadow of a doubt. Doubt is defined as distrust, a lack of confidence, fear. Doubt has kept many people from doing great things. Doubt can cripple and destroy faith.

We need to realize something. A shadow never hurt anyone and a shadow is always bigger than the actual thing it is the shadow of. Have you ever seen in a cartoon where a big scary shadow was creeping up on someone and they were afraid of what was coming, but when it got there it was nothing to be afraid of? That is what Satan wants to trick us into thinking whenever we get stirred up or compelled by God to do something for Him and the kingdom or something that would show His glory.

God tells us He will lead and guide us. Psalm 32:8 says,

" I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide the with mine eye".

God is telling us that He will explain and teach us the way we should go with our lives. He says that he will guide us with His eye. I know that sounds weird, but think of it like this. As He is guiding us, we will see things as He sees them and see the things He sees. If we see things as He sees and as He sees them, then there is nothing we could not be prepared to handle or face. We may still have to face it, but it will not be as hard to face it as it would be if we were to be taken by surprise. One of my favorite verses in the bible is Hebrews 11:1.

" Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen ".

Let's look at this verse a little closer. It says faith is the substance of things hoped for. Substance is what makes up something, i.e. a house is made of wood and metals and plastics and stones. Faith, which is believing and trusting God to do what He says He will do, is the substance of whatever you are hoping for. Hope means to expect. We have taken hope and turned it into wishing in our lives. We say " I sure hope so ", or " I hope it does ". What we are really saying is I wish it would happen, but I really don't expect it to. We have to turn our hope around from wishing to expecting.

The second part, faith is the evidence of things not seen. Again faith meaning to believe and trust God. Evidence, what is evidence? Evidence is proof of something. When someone is in court they must have evidence or proof of whatever it is they are trying to convince the judge and jury of. So faith ( your belief and trust in God to do what He says He will do ) is the evidence of whatever it may be that you are hoping ( expecting ) for but do not see at the present moment.

Living by faith is not easy. It isn't supposed to be. If it was easy then it wouldn't be faith. The bible says that the just live by faith and that it is impossible to please God without faith. What this means is that if we are Christ followers, Christians and God is our God then we should be able to trust Him as such. It makes us feel good when we know someone sees us as trustworthy. God wants us to allow Him to prove His trustworthiness to us. He wants us to trust Him with our lives. That is why living by faith pleases Him. He wants us to trust in Him.

I believe when we overcome fear in our lives, in whatever form it may be in, then we can walk in faith and God can direct our paths and show Himself to an unbelieving world. Doing this we will move beyond the shadow of a doubt.

In Christ, Kevin

Bring The Pain Pt.3

Inflict The Pain

Have you ever wanted to hurt someone? I mean someone who has hurt you or done you wrong in some way. Come on now, be honest. Almost everyone at some time has wanted to inflict pain upon those that either hurt us or someone we care for. We have in us the God given desire for justice that we in our carnality can misplace.

I remember going through many times in my life that people had done wrong to me in some way or another. I, in my hurt and pain would imagine somehow getting even with those people or that somehow they would get what they deserved. The truth is all I wanted was justice. All I wanted was for those people that I felt shouldn't have done the things they did to me, to feel the hurt and pain that I was. I wanted them to know they had hurt me and be sorry for it. The reality is that may never happen. The other reality is that if we do not learn to deal with that reality, then those people will always have control of that part of our lives.

Consider what Romans 12:19 says, " Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord".

I read a saying that went like this, " He who angers you, owns you " (author unknown). It is true if you think about it. Every time you think about that person and what they did, you are allowing it to dictate and determine how you feel and your attitude, thereby controlling you. I have just finished reading a novel where the main character survived and won his battles because he never lost his cool, he never acted upon his emotions, and he out thought his opponents. This is kind of how we have to deal with situations. We have to control our emotions, not our emotions controlling us. God gave us emotions to be regarded in that aspect. We don't necessarily have to out think someone, but understand and act upon what we know God would think.

One thing we must learn and keep in our thinking is that whoever it is that is doing us wrong are not the ones we are in conflict with.

Ephesians 6:12 says, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places".

Jesus knew this as He was on His journey to the cross. Satan had caused great hurt and pain to God through his deception of Adam and Eve. Satan know held ownership to God's greatest creation, us. Many people ask why God didn't just put and end to Satan or Lucifer as he was known then and set everything right. If He had done that, which He very well could have and had the power to do, then God would have been wrong and negated His word and that which He spoke into existence. Jesus was the one who brought justice to the world, but not in the aspect we think. He paid the price for our souls and went to hell in our place. Satan accepted Jesus as the sacrifice thinking he had won. The catch was that Jesus was paying a price He did not owe. He was sinless and blameless. Now it was time for justice.

Colossians 2:15 says, " And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it ".

Jesus inflicted a little pain upon Satan and his demons. He defeated them and took ownership of his domain. Jesus took the keys to death, hell, and the grave. When you have the keys to something, that usually means you own it. Jesus then gave the power of that victory to us.

Luke 10:19 says, " Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you".

We now have the power over Satan and his demons. The only way he can attempt to have power over us is by using other people to hurt us. The only way that can happen is if we allow it. We allow Satan control by holding on to the hurts and pains from others. It is not an easy thing to do, to look past the person to see the evil force behind their actions, but it can be done. Jesus inflicted pain upon Satan when He defeated him at the cross, now we can inflict pain upon him by defeating him in our daily lives. Gird yourselves up. Begin to walk in the Spirit and love of God and inflict the pain.

In Christ, Kevin