We have been exploring what it means to live in and live out the promises of God. I believe most believers encounter a gap where they try to stand on a promise, yet it seems like nothing happens. In my experience, that is where about 95 percent, maybe 99.95 percent of Christians live. It does not have to be that way. These things should not be. Consider this crazy radical thought. Jesus never taught about unanswered prayer. Sit there. Think about it. He never taught about unanswered prayer. Evangelicals have become experts in explaining away why things do not happen. After a while, we just get to a place where we deal with the disappointment problem by never expecting things to happen. I know many people have been hurt in relationships, hurt in love, and they come to the conclusion, and it is true in a way, but it is a terrible truth. It is not a good conclusion. The way to not get hurt is just never get close to anybody. I guess at a practical level that is going to work because you are not going to get hurt, but you are also never going to have a relationship. Many people solve the faith problem by simply saying, I am not going to believe God. I want to jump into this today, deal with this.
The Shipwreck of Faith
As it is written in 1 Timothy 1:19 (NKJV): “Having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck.” Paul talks to Timothy about those who have made shipwreck of the faith. Shipwreck. Just think about that. Imagine a ship going from Port A to Port B, leaving Israel, Jaffa, on its way to Italy, to Rome, like Paul did, and somewhere along the course you made shipwreck. Paul says some people have literally made shipwreck of the faith. I think a lot of Christians have done that. It is not like they have shipwrecked their entire faith in Jesus. The faith in him as the savior of the world, the faith in him in a global sense, but often the faith in him that he will be real. He will be active, that he will intervene and interact with their lives. I have seen a lot of people who basically just reach that place of shipwreck where they go, I am not going to do this any longer. I think that is a really bad thing to do. I want to give you some keys today that will help you out of that mess.
Building on Good Foundations
As it is written in James 2:19 (NKJV): “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” The first thing is this. Start with good foundations in your faith. I shared yesterday how I got hurt in my faith because I tried to believe God for something, and when it did not happen, God failed or whatever, and it never occurred to me at the time. Maybe I did not have grounds to have faith. You see, if I am going to have faith in you. I cannot just have this weird, well, I have got faith in you. Well, great. What does that mean? I have faith in your word. I have faith in your promise. I have faith that you are faithful to your promise, and I have faith that you have the ability to meet and keep that promise. So when somebody says, oh, faith in God. Okay, like, the Bible says the devils believe and tremble. So it does not take a lot. It does not mean a lot when somebody says, I have faith in God. What I actually want to know is which of God’s promises do you have faith in? You do not just have faith in God in an abstract way. You have faith in God’s promises. At that time, I went there and my faith was not really in any of God’s promises in that experience, my faith was actually in a guy who wrote a book. I believed this would work because I believed in the honesty and the integrity of the guy. I believed it would work for me because it worked for him. Now, that is not intrinsically wrong, but what I should have done is read the book, been inspired by the guy, and then gone back and said, hey, the God who this guy met, I want to meet him too. I want to know the Lord in the same way this guy does. I want to do what he has done, so I will get what he has got. Again, I think a lot of our challenges, when we just copy somebody else, we end up doing the right things. I was releasing faith actions, but I did not really have faith in my heart. That is really one of the crooks of where I want to get to today.
Faith in the Heart
As it is written in Romans 10:10 (NKJV): “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Faith is not simply a head thing. It is a heart thing. The Bible says with the heart man believes unto righteousness. It takes, there is sometimes a journey from the head to the heart that passes through the mind and the mouth. There is sometimes a journey where we have got to get to the place where we actually really believe this stuff in our heart. I think many of us will be in a situation where we have got a promise of God, like Sarah, and we are looking at it, and our minds are like a pinball machine on tilt. Well, I do not believe that. Yeah, I can say I do, I can act out I do, I can religiously I believe. But what does it mean to really believe in the heart? I have met a lot of people and I love them, who will quote Mark 11:24. What things you desire when you pray, believe you receive them and you will have them. It is an amazing verse. Kenneth Hagin used to preach on it all the time. Mark 11:24. Read the verse one or two before that. It speaks about speaking to the mountain. Whosoever will speak to this mountain and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which you say will come to pass. I think most of our problem is it is not that we do not have faith. It is that we are trying to have faith, and we have still got doubts in our heart, and our doubts, like Peter walking on the water. Our doubts cause our faith to be dragged under. Peter walked on water when doubt hit him, he begins to sink. What happens when a ship hits a shipwreck, it begins to sink. So doubt will sink your faith. I have often said that people sometimes get offended at this. I like to say, when in doubt, repent. I do not mean that you are a terrible old sinner. My point is, realign, rethink, recalibrate, when there is doubt in your heart. Stop. Come back to the Lord.
Dealing with Doubt Through Presence
As it is written in Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV): “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” How do we deal with doubt? I have learned that you do not get rid of doubts with the sort of intellectual theological explanation. You do not get rid of doubts by pretending they are not there. You get rid of doubt by being in the presence of God. There is a song I love to quote. It says, turn your eyes on Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Here is the answer. Here is the antidote in my experience to doubt. Just be with Jesus. Spend time with him. Let him. Do not try to attack the doubts. Let the light of who he is, of his glory, of his presence, come in and invade that space. I think the more time you spend with Jesus, the more time you spend in his presence, the more doubts get dissolved, the more doubts flee away. The more time you spend with somebody, the more you will know of the character, the reliability, the faithfulness. When we are talking about Jesus, we are talking about somebody who never lies, never fails, never gives up, never walks out on us, who is faithful to the uttermost.
Expecting Storms in the Journey
As it is written in Acts 27:25 (NKJV): “Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me.” Come on, you are going on a journey, you are going to, let me end with this though. I do not think we should be surprised when we have shipwrecks, we do not want shipwrecks, but we should not be surprised when we go through storms. I think it should be a normal natural thing. I think some of us start on a journey of faith. The sun is shining. We have our yachting gear on, and we think it is, we think we are on a pleasure cruise, and we are not expecting to hit a storm. When we hit a storm, but, oh my God, the devil is attacking me, like, yeah, the devil is attacking you. You are going through a storm. I do not think we should be surprised when we go through storms. I think if we know in advance we are going to go through storms, we are prepared for that. I fly a lot, flying back to the states over the pond in a couple of days time. I am not surprised if I hit turbulence. I do not want to hit turbulence. I would rather not have to go back to my seat, put my seatbelt on and hold my coffee. It is the plane shaking around or whatever. But I am not surprised by it, and I have confidence in the plane and the manufacturer of the plane and the pilot piloting the plane to get me through the turbulence. So if you are going through a storm, do not be surprised. Realize that is part of the course, that is not the time to throw the word of God overboard. It is the time to throw the doubt overboard, believe in God, and he will lead you through that storm.
The promises of God call us beyond disappointment and shipwreck into a place where faith becomes heart-deep and storm-tested. By building on solid foundations, addressing doubt in his presence, and expecting challenges without surprise, we step into what he has declared.
Selah.
Scriptures for Study: 1 Timothy 1:19, James 2:19, Romans 10:10, Hebrews 12:2, Acts 27:25, Mark 11:24, Mark 11:23, Matthew 14:29-31, Hebrews 11:1, 2 Corinthians 1:20, Genesis 18:14, Romans 4:21, Psalm 119:89, Numbers 23:19, Deuteronomy 7:9, Joshua 21:45, 1 Kings 8:56, 2 Peter 1:4, Acts 13:32, Romans 4:17, 2 Corinthians 7:1, Galatians 3:16, Ephesians 3:12, Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:12.
10 Questions for Reflection:
- Where in my life have I explained away unfulfilled promises instead of pressing into them?
- What disappointments have led me to lower expectations of God’s intervention?
- How has copying others’ faith experiences caused shipwreck in my own journey?
- In what areas is my faith more in my head than in my heart?
- What doubts in my heart need to be addressed through time in God’s presence?
- How can I realign when doubt arises, without pretending it does not exist?
- Who in Scripture exemplifies faith that overcomes storms, and what can I learn?
- Where have I treated the faith journey like a pleasure cruise, unprepared for challenges?
- What promise of God do I need to anchor in during current turbulence?
- How does knowing storms are normal change my response to them?
