Hardly is there anyone whose faith is perfect and if your faith is not perfect it grows as time goes on. It grows even better and stronger after being hit by the storms of life.
At every stage of our lives are trials, difficulties or challenges that tend to hit us hard shaking our faith and like they say "new levels, new devils."
Each time God lifts you to new levels, the devil will always raise his own level of opposition against you and everything you believe in leading to some levels of doubts.
Doubt is like the gap between our current faith and perfect faith. There will always be a time when we doubt our faith in God - we doubt his love for us when it seems like he pays deaf ears to our prayers, we doubt our salvation in him, doubt the reliability of the scriptures and even doubt his existence.
Just this morning, while wanting to make a post on my Instagram page, I came across a video of a lady who said prayer does not work neither is there any Jesus coming to save us from anywhere.
The circumstances of life - fears of failing, fears of losing a loved one or even your life, fears of lack and want, fears of not meeting your your desired goals or dreams - can cause certain doubts in one's life especially when you have prayed and prayed but it seems there are no answers to your prayers.
Sometimes, people do the unthinkable just to get to a desired end when doubts begin to crop in affecting their faith in God.
Even John the Baptist whom Jesus referred to as the greatest ever born of women ( Mathew 11:11) had some level of doubts when he was faced with trials in his life - imprisoned by Herod and awaiting a possible execution.
Consumed with doubts about the person of Jesus, he asked "Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?"
We also see Thomas in the Bible who had expressed great faith in Jesus also had doubts too at some point in his life too.
Jesus was to go to Bethany in Judea to raise Lazarus from the dead in John 11:6-7, the disciples feared for his life because there were people there who intend stoning Jesus to death (John 11:8) but Thomas filled with so much faith said to the other disciples "Let us also go that we may die with him." - John 11:16.
But same Thomas who had so much faith in Jesus expressed some doubts about the resurrection of Jesus when he said "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, I will not believe." - John 20:25b
We also see Peter express so much faith in Jesus when he saw Jesus walking on the water and asked Jesus to bid him come walk on the waters. Jesus did ask him to come and Peter actually walked on the waters not until he set his eyes on the storms of the sea and began doubting his faith to walk on the waters and as a result he began sinking (Mathew 14:222-30)
Doubts can always creep into our thoughts when things don't go as expected or as we had hoped, when we are disappointed, when we fail, fall or make mistakes, when it seems and feels like our contemporaries are doing better than us in every aspect of life and when it seems like God pays deaf ears to our prayers.
It is human and natural to have doubts sometimes and its okay but of utmost importance is what we do with the feelings of doubts. What is our default mode when we begin to have some series of doubts?
It's either we let these doubts get the best of us or we overcome them with our faith in Jesus. According to Epictetus "It is not what happens to you but how you react to it that matters ."
Doubts, when looked at from a positive angle can be a great source of motivation for us to overcome every situation or circumstance that causes such doubts.
When you are scared of not passing that exam or an interview, doubts can make you want to study harder to overcome failure.
There was a time I went blank on stage speaking to an audience in a program which resulted to so many doubts wondering if I can ever do that again but trust me, each time I member that incident when invited to speak, it propels me to prepare better and despite the doubts or fears, I will still do it and each time after that incident, I have always come out better.
Doubt is part of our every day life and they are neither good nor bad but our response to such feelings of doubts is what will make it look good or bad.
As Christians, in fact, irrespective of your faith or religion, doubts will always crop into your life at one point or the other but we can always use these doubts to our advantage.
Instead of suppressing or giving in to your doubts, turn them to God and seek answers from the scriptures. You can also speak to one or two trusted friends about your doubts.
Other times, you can as well go the opposite direction of your doubts and do that same thing which brings fears.
Doubts irrespective of how we perceive them - either negatively or positively - can also lead to our growth in life as they challenge our faith in God, get us closer to God and help us build a stronger relationship with God.
Quote for the day - "Keep feeding your faith until your doubts, starve to death." - Navjot Sidhu
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