My friends, today I want to begin a series about the three deadly Ds: Doubt, Disbelief and Disappointment. Gods’s been showing me some very sobering truths about these three and how the enemy uses them very subtly to kill, steal and destroy our faith. I’ve been a victim to these three—perhaps you have been too. So let’s take our time and explore these three deadly Ds so that we can learn to recognize them in our life, learn to defeat them, and even learn to discern the enemy’s attempts to shoot these arrows at us so we can raise our shields of faith in defense (Ephesians 6:16) and deflect him like the fly that he is. Let’s begin where it starts…

Dubious Doubt

Doubt is subtle and makes its entry slow and stealthily. This is the birth of sin. Lets go back to Genesis 3 a moment and take a look at the first entry of doubt into mankind’s existence.

The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”

“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” — Genesis 3:1-5

The enemy enters shrewdly and begins his dialogue with a question—“Did God really say…?” That is the seed of doubt he plants with the intent of making his target question and doubt God and His truth. God told Adam and Eve clearly the truth about the tree of knowledge. The enemy cast doubt upon this truth, but even more subtly, the enemy made Eve doubt whether she could trust God. This is the subtext here, my friends. Read these and tell me if you relate to any of them:

• God is withholding something (His goodness) from me.
• Therefore, God doesn’t really love me.
• So, I must not be good enough.

As Eve stood there, I can only imagine how these played out in seconds in her mind. That’s all it takes for doubt to implant and sprout.

• She now perceived God’s protection as keeping her from something better.
• She now perceived God’s stipulation as Him not loving her completely and she has somehow been rejected.
• She now perceived a lack within herself that would only be solved by taking matters into her own hands and doing what she thought best. She doubts God.

My friends, the enemy’s tactics have not changed since the beginning. He uses the very same strategy he used on Eve to try to destroy us. And when we begin to entertain doubt, everything thereafter is affected from this tarnished perspective.

Let’s take a look at James:

"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,” — James 1:5-7 NASB

"If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” — James 1:5-7 NLT

I want you to look at both of these translations to see the full meaning behind them. And I encourage you to do your own study as well. In the NASB translation I’ve bolded the part that so clearly shows the meaning of James’ words about God’s generosity. Our God does not give according to our ability or perceived worth. If He did, He would not have sent His Son Jesus to die for everyone. And the Bible—which He gave us as His Word and truth, to learn from and grow in—is full of wisdom. God desires to give us wisdom.

In the NLT translation, the bolded statement is clear that our faith must be in God alone, not ourselves. Almost as if to say, “No back up plans.” When we do this we’re not trusting God. We’re not believing what His Word says. We doubt God and the truth of His word.

At the end of last year and early into this year, the enemy hit me so hard that this doubt crept in and began to attack my faith. I even began to doubt the truth of Romans 8:28! If you’ve been hanging out her for any length of time, you know that is my life verse. I’ve lived by it for years, have taught its truths and have built my faith upon it.

Yet there I was in total chaos doubting what I had once known to be true. The enemy had found an opening and snuck in asking, “Is God really good to you?”

If you look at the verses earlier in James 1, you’ll see he’s talking about our faith being tested. This leads to our need for wisdom. What James is saying is that when we ask for wisdom, we must believe we will receive it. And I believe this truth applies to all of God’s promises. He’s given us His Word and He is faithful. Instead of tossing back and forth like that wave looking for answers, we need to be still and wait upon Him to give us the answers, wisdom and grace that we need. And believe that He will.

I have danced around the truth of James’ words for years, my friends, not wanting to be that doubter tossed by the wind and sea—it’s very humbling and sobering to realize I’d allowed the waves of doubt to rock my boat. But now that the shrouding clouds have lifted, I’m learning to recognize doubt and eradicate it.

I love this quote from Jennifer LeClaire:

“The battle is in the mind but the war is for your heart. Believing in our mind is mental assent but believing in our heart—having pure faith in our heart—is where the miracles happen.” — Jennifer LeClaire, author of Heart of the Prophetic

God’s Word tells us that:

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. — 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

What are those weapons of war that we wield? God’s Word, prayer, faith, truth—our spiritual armor (Eph. 6:10-17). My friends, the battle truly is in our minds first, thus why a transformed and renewed mind is crucial to a doubt free walk of faith.

Doubts diminish as faith increases.

I will stop her for now, but be sure to come back Friday for the rest of this revelation God gave me about "dubious doubt" and the stunning proof He gave me of what happens when we shift from doubt to belief. It's a story about miracles, my friends. I can't wait to tell you the rest!

Grateful to be on this journey with you!

Copyright: alphaspirit / 123RF Stock Photo