You Must Defeat Doubt

Today we will talk about faith and doubt, and we are going to see that doubt is one of the greatest enemies we will ever have.  We will also talk about defeating doubt.

If you are anything like me, you have several areas of your life that you are currently praying about.  You have several areas of your life where you would like God’s help or to see God’s best.  So you pray about those areas and you try to make positive changes. 

I hope you listened to my last episode because I talked about what to do in any difficult situation.  To briefly sum it up, for any difficult situation you need to pray about it, study God’s Word about it, do anything God says, and stay in faith that God’s Word is working in your life.  We also talked about praying instead of worrying and what it means to stand in faith despite contrary natural circumstances.

If you have listened to me talk about faith, and I have a lot of episodes about faith, you know that true Biblical faith involves believing God’s Word regardless of contrary natural circumstances.  Sometimes, that can be very hard to do.  When you think about your salvation, it’s relatively easy to believe that you are a born-again child of God who will spend eternity in Heaven.  There is nothing in this world to tell you otherwise.  But staying in faith for virtually anything else, at least at first, is much harder.

When you first start praying for your healing, it can be hard to believe “by Jesus’ stripes you were healed” while you still experience symptoms.  It can be hard to believe that “God is making all grace about towards you so that you always have all sufficiency in all things and you may abound to every good work” while your bank account shows that you have no money.  It can be hard to believe “all your children are taught of the Lord and great is the peace of your children” when they act crazy and you feel so far from their heart.  We could think of lots of other examples, I’m sure.

The situation I’m describing is one of the great battles of our lives, and we don’t talk about it nearly enough.  Sure, it takes different forms, but it is the same battle, the battle to believe God’s Word despite what we see in the world around us.  Biblical faith requires this level of belief, where we are convinced because of God’s Word alone, regardless of natural circumstances.  When Jesus spoke about faith, this is the level of belief He meant – absolute certainty, absolute conviction, completely convinced, fully persuaded, doubtless.  While that may sound like a high standard, let’s look at a few verses.

(Mark 11:23-24 NKJV) For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Jesus tells us clearly in Mark 11:23 that doubt will block the answers to our prayers.  In the original Greek, the word for doubt is “diakrino.”  Let’s review some other interesting verses where the word diakrino appears.

(Romans 4:19-21 KJV) And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

This passage from Romans 4 talks about Abraham’s great faith.  Notice that Abraham didn’t look at his natural circumstances, he didn’t pay attention to them or worry about them.  He was fully persuaded in God’s promises.  He “staggered not.”  The word for “stagger” is “diakrino.”  We could translate that part of the verse to say Abraham “doubted not.”  Abraham didn’t doubt God’s promise that he would have a son.  Even against truly contrary natural circumstances, where Sarah had already been through menopause (Genesis 18:11), Abraham didn’t doubt. 

Let’s briefly consider that for a moment.  Abraham’s situation wasn’t just unlikely, it was impossible.  Sarah was not going to have a child without a miracle.  Honestly, most of my situations don’t look that bad.  Abraham stood in faith against the impossible.  Sometimes I have a hard time standing in faith against the unlikely or the hard.  And honestly, most of the time I don’t even have all of the facts to know how unlikely or hard it really is.  But Abraham knew that he needed a true miracle.  He knew that without God’s power Sarah was never getting pregnant.  And yet Abraham still believed, he was still fully persuaded.  We need to believe like that, where even natural circumstances that show us what we want is impossible are not enough to deter our faith or cause us to doubt.  That’s how we must believe. 

(James 1:5-8 KJV) If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

In this passage from James, diakrino is translated as “waver” in the King James Version.  In fact, most translations translate diakrino as doubt in this passage, but I want to briefly discuss the concept of wavering.

The translators of the King James Version probably used waver in this passage because James compares one who diakrinos to a wave of the sea.  It says a wave is driven with the wind and tossed.  When you doubt, when you diakrino, you are pushed back and forth, you waver.  Sometimes you focus on God’s promise and stand in faith for that promise.  But other times you focus on your natural circumstances and you doubt God’s Word.  You doubt that God’s power is flowing into your natural world to change your circumstances according to God’s will.  You doubt that you will ever see God’s promise in your life.  You believe God’s Word sometimes but you believe the natural difficulties of your situation other times. You are double minded and wavering.

My friends, I submit to you that the vast majority of us have wavered many, many times.  The vast majority of us have diakrinoed or doubted, many, many times.  And look at what James goes on to say about the person who wavers or doubts, that person will not receive anything from the Lord.

Now let’s look at a couple of verses from that passage in the New King James Version which makes this point crystal clear.

(James 1:6-7 NKJV) But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

If you doubt, you will not receive anything from the Lord.  That may sound harsh, but it totally lines up with what Jesus said in Mark 11:23.  If you doubt, you will not receive.  This may sound cliché, but it’s the truth, if you believe you receive, if you doubt you do without.  In fact, doubt is one of the greatest enemies you will ever have, and it must be treated accordingly.

All things considered, I do a reasonable job about controlling my mouth.  I don’t speak negatively over my life or any of my personal situations.  When I am trying to stand in faith, I only speak God’s Word and God’s blessings over the situation.  But the same can’t be said of my mind.  I definitely worry and doubt far too much.  Even if I don’t allow those thoughts to enter my mouth, I allow them to live in my head.  I hate to admit it, but my concern about finances has been almost constant at some points in my life.  I have had a virtually constant concern about other areas as well. 

Even if I don’t dwell on negative thoughts, as I know that’s wrong, sometimes I still allow them in and spend too much time with them.  I think about what if this or what if that.  I think about fall back plans or worst case scenarios.  I’ve even heard some people say that those are useful mental exercises so you get mentally comfortable with difficult outcomes or prepare yourself for mental strength.  But, when you are believing God for one of His promises or answers to your prayers, negative thoughts over that situation are a form of doubt.  Worry is a form of doubt.  Lingering on your concerns or negative possible outcomes is a form of doubt.  Having a backup plan in case your prayer doesn’t work is a form of doubt.  And we must not allow doubt in our lives.

We need to let these concepts sink in to the very depths of our soul, so that we never forget them.  The person who doubts will not receive anything from God.  Doubt is one of the greatest enemies we will ever have.

As you go through life you must begin receiving from God through both prayer and declarations.  Our passage from Mark 11 briefly mentions both.  While this topic could receive an entire book, I generally believe that if something is already within my realm of Christian authority, I need to be making declarations in faith, commanding the mountains to move.  If something is not already within my authority, then I need to be asking God.  Sometimes I’m not positive about how to approach a particular subject, so I check with the Holy Spirit.  Where do I feel peace as I begin to speak about the subject.  Does the Holy Spirit lead me to make a demand or declaration, or does the Holy Spirit lead me to make a request?  I’m digressing a bit, but you need to think about this and incorporate this analysis into your prayer life. 

I need to regularly make prayers and declarations to see God’s will in my life.  I do all of these in Jesus’ Name, of course.  God’s will for our lives is not automatic.  We must be praying all the time, in every situation.  Sometimes these prayers concern God’s help in a negative situation we have encountered.  Other times these prayers concern our advancing or increasing, more influence, increased finances, more ministry, etc.  We must be praying and believing in every area of our lives.  And we must stop doubting.

Doubt can destroy your life, for doubt will keep you from receiving from God.  Again, doubt is one of the greatest enemies you will ever have, and it must be treated accordingly.  If a thief broke into your house to rob you and kill you, you wouldn’t sit back and let it happen.  At least you shouldn’t.  You should get up and either expel or kill the thief.  You must do the same with doubt.  We must recognize the truth about doubt, and we must expel or kill every doubt that would ever enter our minds. 

Kenneth E. Hagin, one of the greatest men to live in at least the last 100 years, described dealing with negative thoughts like this – “you can’t prevent a bird from flying over you, but you can prevent it from making a nest on your head.”  That’s a great way to think about doubt. 

We should just accept that negative thoughts will come.  When you see an empty bank account, when you feel a symptom, when you have an argument with your child, when you see any negative situation, the negative thought will come.  This is actually a physiological response to negative stimulation.  The negative thoughts will come, but what are we going to do with them?

If you allow the negative thought to linger, it will make a nest in your head.  It will stay there.  Not only will it negatively affect your mental and physical condition, but it immediately begins counteracting your faith, and you won’t receive from God in that particular situation.  I know that sounds harsh, but it’s what the Bible says. 

So let’s discuss some mechanisms for removing doubt from your life.  I’m using all of these and I’m seeing success. 

Remember Romans 4:20 says Abraham “staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief” and that the word “staggered” is the same Greek word as “doubt” which is “diakrino.”  This verse tells us why we “diakrino,” why we doubt.  We doubt because of unbelief.  I discuss dealing with unbelief in great detail in my book Understanding and Receiving Divine Healing, so I encourage you to check that out.  But to put it simply, Jesus tells us in Matthew 17:21 that unbelief goes away through prayer and fasting (he’s not referring to demons in that passage, as is commonly misunderstood, he’s referring to unbelief).

Fasting and prayer will remove unbelief from your life, and with unbelief gone doubt will also be gone.  Fasting can take different forms, but regardless of whether you fast food, television, social media, or something else, you want to fast something significant in your life so that you have extra mental and physical time for God.  Fasting puts down natural circumstances and increases your spiritual sensitivity and focus.  As you fast, spiritual reality becomes more real to you, and it becomes easier to believe God.  Natural circumstances become less important, spiritual truth becomes clearer, and your faith is strengthened.

Last week I talked about the importance of prayer in dealing with negative situations and we looked at Philippians 4:6-7.  Let’s read those verses again as they perfectly apply here.

(Philippians 4:6-7 NLT) Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

When you feel worry or sense doubt, you should immediately begin to pray.  Just be open and honest with God.  Ask God to help strengthen your heart and mind against the doubts.  Ask God to help with your situation.  If you have made declarations or prayers in faith, ask God to help you remain in faith that you will see what you declared or prayed.  When you do this, God’s supernatural peace comes to guard your hearts and minds.  This peace guards your hearts and minds against worry, against doubt, and against the negative thoughts that will rob you from the answers to your prayers. 

I also like to pray in the spirit, which is praying in tongues or your prayer language.  I can just take a minute, calm my mind, pray in the spirit, and think about God’s promises.  Remember that fasting and prayer drive out unbelief, which is the cause of doubt.  Sometimes I just need a quick shot of praying in the spirit to drive out the doubt and unbelief attacking my mind.

(2 Corinthians 10:4-5 KJV) (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ[.]

This passage from 2 Corinthians is very powerful and has a lot of applications.  But for the moment let’s focus on how it tells us to handle our thought life.  In short, we must analyze every one of our thoughts.  Does a thought positively impact your life or support your faith?  If so, then it may stay and grow.  But if not, it must go.  The negative thoughts and imaginations exalt themselves against God’s Word and God’s promises.  They must be cast down and they must be arrested and brought to the obedience of Christ.

To cast down a negative thought and bring it to the obedience of Christ you must take authority over that thought and correct it with the Word of God.  Perhaps you have a thought that you are sick and your healing prayers aren’t working.  You recognize that thought for what it is, doubt.  You also recognize that this doubt will counteract your faith and prevent you from receiving from God.  So it must be dealt with, and you deal with it specifically and deliberately.

“Negative thoughts about my health, I take authority over you in Jesus’ Name. I command you out of my mind and out of my heart, never to return.  By Jesus’ stripes I was healed.  God has restored my health and healed my wounds.  God has removed sickness from my midst.  God is the Lord Who Heals me.  I refuse any and every negative thought against my health.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen!” 

If you just think these positive, faith thoughts in your mind, that’s better than doing nothing.  But it’s must better to say them out loud.  Answer your thoughts with the Word of God.  Do this again and again until it becomes reflexive.  Eventually, you will train your mind so that the negative feelings associated with the negative thoughts never even touch you, because you deal with the negative thoughts so quickly.  The negative thoughts might fly over your mind, but you don’t allow a single one to make a nest there.

My example above concerns healing, but the same process should be used for every situation in your life.  Speak out God’s promises for your family, your finances, God’s plan for your life, and every other area where you are under an attack of doubt.  Maybe you feel doubt or worry over six or seven areas of your life in a day.  That’s probably not uncommon.  Just handle them all correctly. 

Doubt is one of the greatest enemies you will ever have.  Doubt will completely block your ability to receive from God.  Every doubt must be removed from your life.  You remove a doubt by prayer, casting it down, and destroying it with the Word of God.

I’m now going to discuss a new show coming out on Netflix called 3 Body Problem.  I haven’t seen the show, but I’ve read the books.  I’m going to discuss one concept from the books that has really helped me in my fight against doubt.  This probably won’t make it into the show because it wasn’t a huge plot point, but it was very interesting to me.  I would also mention that these are not Christians shows or Christian books, but all things considered they are fascinating and at least there is no woke garbage in the books.

In the story, at least as the books present it, humanity learns of a catastrophic event that will happen 400 years in the future.  They also learn that, for a few reasons, doing anything about it is basically impossible.  So the books are about different ways they approach the situation and what happens.  One problem is that some people become infected with a tremendous hopelessness, like nothing matters, so they don’t want to do anything.  Obviously if this spreads then that would be a serious problem. 

So this guy invents a machine.  You put your head into the machine, and the machine can instill a thought in your mind that is basically impossible to overcome.  They want to use this to help people believe in a positive outcome.  One example they use as a test is the thought that water is poison.  The subject immediately becomes deathly afraid of water, and it takes two months of deep psychotherapy to convince the person that water isn’t poison.  That’s how powerfully this machine can cement a thought into your brain.

I need to approach my faith, my belief in God’s Word, as if I have put my mind into that machine.  Every single thought of doubt, every single thought that God’s Word won’t produce, that my prayer won’t get answered, that, despite me using my faith correctly, it won’t work out, every single thought like that must be banished and never allowed to return.  Furthermore, any new such thought that comes my way must be immediately barred and rejected as contrary to what I know is true.  My faith must be so imprinted on my mind that any contrary thought, no matter how obvious or reasonable it may seem, is immediately rejected as wrong.  That’s Biblical faith.  That’s being fully persuaded.

I don’t have that machine, but I can live like I do.  Once I make a declaration or a prayer according to Mark 11, I can imprint my words on my mind.  I believe that it’s done, and I set a mental barrier against any contrary thoughts.  I don’t even allow them to stay for an instant.  In fact, any contrary thoughts are rejected as lies.  Remember that Romans 3:4 says, “let God be true, but every man a liar.”  We must trust God’s Word over everything else, even what our own eyes and senses tell us.  God’s Word is true.  My prayer has been answered.  The mountain has moved.  It’s done now.

So I will use this mental wall against doubt.  I will pray about everything and worry about nothing.  I will cast down every thought that exalts itself against the Word of God.  I will speak God’s Word and build my faith.  And I will not doubt.  I will not doubt.  I will not doubt.

I realize this may sound extreme, but you must remember that doubt is one of the greatest enemies you will ever have.  Doubt will prevent you from receiving anything from God.  Doubt can destroy everything you are going for, everything you are trying to accomplish by faith.  But praise God, we can eliminate doubt from our lives.