Tag: believe

Job Affirms God

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 9, 2024

Consider What Job Believes in the Midst of His Suffering

After Bildad’s attack, Job stares into the distance. He sits in silence as if this time he will not respond.

Still, his anger bubbles within him, slowly at first and then building until it boils. He scans the three men and closes his eyes. He draws in a deep breath, filling his lungs as if for a final salvo.

“How long will you three persist in tormenting me? Why do you insist on continuing to pile your heavy words on my back? If I am in error, then it is my issue and none of your business.

“I cry out to God for help, but I receive no justice. For some reason he opposes me and stays distant. He’s taken away my honor. In his anger he treats me like an enemy, sending his army to surround me and place me under siege.

“What little family I have left, God has estranged them from me. Everyone I know has deserted me. Even my servant ignores me when I beg for his help. My wife won’t even come near me. All I have left is this broken body.

“Why won’t you take pity on me? God has struck me. Why do you too? Must you also add to my pain?

“Yes, I know that God exists. He’ll vindicate me in the end. Soon I will die, and then I’ll see him with my own eyes. Oh, how my soul longs for that to happen.

“But as for you three, don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself and the judgment you will each face.”

Reflect on Job’s Situation

Job’s friends attack him with their words. And Job believes that God opposes him for a reason he can’t understand. The three men condemn Job out of their ignorance, and God seems to deny Job the justice he seeks.

Despite all this, Job continues to trust God with his eternal destiny.

Though Job roils in physical anguish and emotional turmoil now, he still expects that God will redeem him.

Job looks beyond the pain of his life to expect that when he dies, he will see God at last. Job believes.

And he can’t wait for that encounter to take place.

Questions

When has our faith wavered?

How can we keep our allegiance to God despite the circumstances of our life, whether deserved or undeserved?

Discover more about keeping our focus on God in Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 6:31–33, Matthew 22:37, and Colossians 3:2.]

This post is an excerpt from the Bible study devotional, I Hope in Him.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Job 19 and today’s post is on Job 19:25.]

Discover more about Job in Peter’s book I Hope in Him: 40 Insights about Moving from Despair to Deliverance through the Life of Job. In it, we compare the text of Job to a modern screenplay.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags believe, friends, Job, trust

Christian Living

What Does Hope Mean?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date November 12, 2023

The World’s Understanding of Hope Pales in Comparison to the Bible’s

As followers of Jesus, we put our hope in him. But what does it mean to hope? The world’s understanding of hope isn’t very comforting. And the dictionary doesn’t do so well at aligning its definition with how Scripture uses the word.

Hoping Is Not Wishing

The dictionary defines hope as to “wish for an event to occur.” It also talks about a “longing or desire.”

In this context, we may hope for a particular gift for our birthday. We may hope our most recent purchase accomplishes what we want it to. Or we may hope to have a good day or a safe trip.

In each of these examples, this hope is little more than a wish. These types of hopes are just a longing or a desire.

Yet when the Bible talks about are hope in God, it’s much more than a wish. It’s more than a longing or a desire. Yes, an expectant hope may at some base level be a wish, a longing, or a desire, but to be of any significance, our hope must transcend these basic understandings.

Believe

The thesaurus tells us that two synonyms for hope are believe and belief. This gets us closer to a biblical hope. When we hope in God, we believe in him and what he says. We believe in his promises.

Yet too often today when we use the word believe it’s a little more than a wishful expectation, a desire to realize a certain outcome, a longing for what we want to see happen.

Confident Trust

Interestingly, a secondary meaning for the word hope occurs in the dictionary. It’s listed as archaic, meaning that this understanding of the word has fallen out of normal usage. What is this archaic definition of hope? Quite simply it’s to have “confidence” or “trust.”

When we place our hope in God, we have a confident trust in who he is and what he will do for us and through us. This sounds very much like faith. Faith is a belief in God, confident and unquestioning.

Hope in the Bible

The word hope occurs throughout the Bible, equally distributed between the Old and New Testaments. Psalms, with its many faith-filled songs of praise to God, leads the Bible with the most occurrences of hope at thirty-four.

Consider “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long” (Psalm 25:5, NIV). This confident declaration certainly transcends wishful thinking. So it should be when we place our hope in God.

In the New Testament, Romans is the most hope-filled book, with the word appearing in fourteen verses.

Here are two of them: “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently” (Romans 8:24-25, NIV).

Or how about “We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5, NIV).

Hope in God

When we place our hope in Jesus, for both now and for eternity, it’s not just something we wish will occur or that we long for. It’s much more. Our hope is something we believe in with a confident trust that it will occur, that we can count on it.

This is real hope.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags believe, hope, trust

Bible Study

John Bible Study, Day 38: Thomas Believes

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 25, 2023

Online Bible Study for the Gospel of John — John Bible Study from the book Living Water

Today’s passage: John 20:19–31

Focus verse: Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)

The Bible writes that faith is having confidence in the things we hope for and assurance in what we don’t see (Hebrews 11:1). Today this definition of faith applies to us.

We cannot see Jesus, so we must accept his resurrection and the salvation that he provides through faith. We have confidence and assurance that he overcame death to save us.

The disciples and Jesus’s other followers have it better than we do. Some of them see the empty tomb and eventually all of them meet the resurrected Jesus. It doesn’t take so much faith to believe what their eyes perceive. John, “the other disciple,” sees and believes (John 20:8).

We can assume that Mary and Peter also believe once they see the evidence of Jesus’s empty tomb (John 20:1–2 and 6–7). The rest of the disciples believe when they see him (John 20:20)—or at least everyone except Thomas.

Though Matthew, Mark, and Luke only mention Thomas once, John tells us more about him than the rest of the Bible combined. He shares three accounts about Thomas.

The first story is Jesus telling his disciples what to expect and encouraging them to believe. He talks of preparing a place for them in heaven and coming back to get them so they can hang out with him forever. Then Jesus adds, “You know the way.”

This confuses Thomas. He wants clarification.

Jesus responds with what has become a familiar verse. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

The second story is what Thomas is most known for. This is where we get the phrase doubting Thomas. When Jesus rises from the dead and sees his disciples for the first time, Thomas is absent.

He doesn’t believe the disciples when they insist that Jesus is alive—again. Thomas does the reasonable thing and demands proof.

In the third story, the disciples, including Thomas, hide in a locked room. Jesus materializes in their midst. He shows Thomas the nail scars in his hand and invites him to examine his side, pierced by the soldier’s spear. “Stop doubting,” Jesus says, “and believe.”

At last, Thomas does. “My Lord and my God!” Thomas now believes. He is no longer doubting Thomas but believing Thomas.

Though doubt characterizes him for a time, belief is where he ends up. He finishes strong. May we do likewise. May we have a firm belief in Jesus and who he is.

Jesus blesses Thomas because he sees and believes. We’re more blessed because we haven’t seen and still believe.

Questions:

Do you doubt that Jesus is who he claims to be? Why?
How do you define faith?
What should you do when your faith wavers?
Is faith the absence of doubt or is it belief in the face of doubt? Why?
Which of John’s three stories about Thomas do you most identify with? Why?

Discover more about faith in Hebrews 11:1–40. What insights can you glean from this passage?

Read the next lesson or start at the beginning of this study.

Tips: Check out our tips to use this online Bible study for your church, small group, Sunday school class, or family discussion. It’s also ideal for personal study. Come back each Monday for a new lesson.

Read more in Peter’s new book, Living Water: 40 Reflections on Jesus’s Life and Love from the Gospel of John, available everywhere in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags Apostle John, believe, disciples, Jesus, John Bible study, Living Water, Thomas

Bible Insights

Do You Believe God’s Message?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date March 18, 2020

Faith Comes from Hearing God’s Message About Jesus and Believing

In the book of Isaiah, the prophet asks, “Who has believed God’s message?” Isaiah then goes on to prophetically proclaim what Jesus will do. He will suffer and die for us, sheep that have wandered off.

He will take upon himself the punishment for our mistakes (Isaiah 53).

Who will believe this?

In Isaiah’s time, few believe what he says, what God says through him. Though they have reason to place their hope in God and the Savior he promised to send, most of them don’t. They reject Isaiah’s words and the God who sent him.

We see this phrase from the book of Isaiah quoted twice in the New Testament. Both John and Paul refer to this passage.

John Quotes Isaiah

John repeats this verse from Isaiah to remind his readers that the Jews—or at least most Jews—still weren’t believing God’s promise. And they weren’t seeing Jesus as the fulfillment of that promise (John 12:38). Some things never change.

Paul Quotes Isaiah

Later, in Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, he gives the people there a brief history lesson. He reminds them that not all the Israelites accepted God’s promise of a future Savior.

The Jews rejected God then, just as some of them continue to reject him. Though God will continue to extend his offering to his people, other nations will find him too (Romans 10:16-21).

Do We Believe Today?

What is our response to God’s good news today? Do we believe God’s message about Jesus who came to save us? Though we fall short of God’s expectations, Jesus can make us right and reconcile us with Papa.

Say “yes” to Jesus today.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Isaiah 52-54 and today’s post is on Isaiah 53:1.]

Read more about the book of Isaiah in For Unto Us: 40 Prophetic Insights About Jesus, Justice, and Gentiles from the Prophet Isaiah available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags Apostle John, believe, Isaiah, Jesus, Paul

Bible Insights

When Paul Speaks, Some People Believe

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date March 12, 2020

The eleventh and final sermon in the book of Acts: Acts 28:17-28 (specifically Acts 28:25-28)

Setting: Rome

Speaker: Paul

Audience: Jewish leaders

Preceding Events: Paul conducts a pre-meeting with the Jewish leaders, explaining his situation and confirming his commitment to his faith.

Overall Theme: Though Jews hear the message of Jesus, most do not understand; the Gentiles will understand.

(Paul spoke all day telling them about the kingdom of God and showing how Jesus is revealed in the Old Testament of the Bible. However, only his concluding remarks are recorded for us to read.)

Scripture Quoted: Isaiah 6:9-10

Central Teaching: Paul’s mission is to tell the Gentiles about Jesus.

Subsequent Events: Some are convinced, but others would not believe.

Key Lesson: Just as when Paul speaks and only some believe, when we tell others about Jesus, not everyone will respond.

This post is from the series “Sermons in the book of Acts.” Read about sermon #10 or sermon #1.

Read more about the book of Acts in Tongues of Fire: 40 Devotional Insights for Today’s Church from the Book of Acts, available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags believe, kingdom of God, Paul, sermons in Acts

Christian Living

Do You Believe in Miracles?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date February 9, 2020

Consider How the Example of the Early Church Can Inform Our Actions Today

What is your perspective on miracles and supernatural signs? I’m talking about the things we read about in the Bible, especially the New Testament.

This is about people receiving healing from their physical ailments and deliverance from their nonphysical afflictions.

It’s about the resurrection from the dead. It’s about hearing God when he speaks. And don’t forget speaking in tongues, interpretation, and receiving divine insights. Do you believe in miracles?

These things occur in the Bible with regular frequency.

For some people this supernatural power continues today. What they read about in the Bible informs their expectations, actions, and reality.

Their lives and their practices continue to build on what the early church began. It’s the kingdom of God present and at work in mighty ways.

Heresy or Not?

For others their life experience lacks miracles and spiritual power. They don’t believe in miracles, because they don’t see any. They adjust their theology accordingly.

I once even attended an ultraconservative church that taught that the spiritual power that the early church enjoyed, died with the apostles.

The preacher said this meant supernatural power has no place in today’s world. He asserted that anyone who believes so is a heretic.

He could cite no biblical support of his conclusion, merely his experience—or lack thereof—relating to supernatural power from Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

I suspect this person and others like him are the heretics, discarding what the Bible says because it doesn’t align with their experience and their comfort.

I Believe in Miracles

I do believe in miracles. I do believe in supernatural power from Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Though I long for it to be a regular occurrence in my life—like it was in the Bible—it does remain part of my experience, my theology, and my expectations.

If we don’t experience God’s spiritual power like the early church did in the Bible, we have two choices.

We can push aside our supernatural potential and remain comfortably unchanged and unchallenged. Or we can open ourselves up to the possibility that God wants to give us more—much more—in our daily lives and in our witness for him.

Do you want more from your faith, or do you want the status quo? Are you open to believe in miracles?

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags believe, early church, Holy Spirit, miracle, supernatural

Christian Living

What About Spending Time with Christians Who Believe Like Us?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 19, 2020

Hanging Out with Those Who Share Our Beliefs May Be Comfortable, But It Isn’t Good

In the post “Can You Be a __ and Still Be a Christian?” we discussed our tendency to judge other Christians and evaluate their faith through the lens of our life and the spiritual decisions we make. But these choices are secondary.

What matters is Jesus. The key, the one essential, is following Jesus. All other concerns dim in importance to this one eternal, all-encompassing truth.

It’s human nature to seek out those who believe like us—just like us. And in our increasingly polarized world, we more than ever seek like-minded people with single-minded fervor, pushing aside those who think, talk, and act differently—even a bit differently.

But when we focus our time only on people who believe exactly as we do, we run the risk of producing misguided beliefs—and then promoting them with unexamined confidence.

I call this spiritual incest, a provocative, yet apt label for an inevitable outcome we should avoid when we congregate only with like-minded people.

Go to Church with People Who Believe Like Us

When we seek a church to attend, we look for a place that aligns with what we’re used to and where we feel comfortable. This makes sense, but embedded in this goal is people who believe like us.

This is what we’re used to and what makes us comfortable.

Yet what we end up with is a spiritual echo chamber that allows us to feel good about ourselves and our choices but fails to produce meaningful, significant spiritual growth.

Instead we should seek a church that will challenge us spiritually to look at our faith, practices, and convictions from different perspectives.

We need spiritual diversity—not uniformity—if we are to thrive and grow into the people God wants us to become.

Don’t seek a church that makes us comfortable—that’s a consumerism mindset.

Instead seek a church that makes us a little bit uncomfortable, that stretches us spiritually, that challenges us to become more than who we are. This is a holistic, spiritual mindset.

Follow People on Social Media Who Believe Like Us

The same holds true for social media. We seek people who believe like us. They support our perspectives and reinforce our choices.

We feel smugly content with their affirmation. Similarly, we push aside those with conflicting ideas because they confront our choices.

We feel uncomfortably unsettled with their divergent ideals. So we ignore them.

I get this. This is my default mode on social media. And I sometimes question if I should be there at all. Yet when I allow myself to truly consider the perspective of someone who believes differently than I do, I grow as a result.

This can produce one of two outcomes. Either I tweak what I thought I knew to produce a more enlightened, inclusive understanding. Or I embrace with greater intellectual honesty what I already believed.

Only now my perspective becomes an examined one and not blindly accepted. Either way I grow.

Read Content from Authors Who Believe Like Us

Continuing this perspective, we tend to only read content from authors who believe like us. We do this for the same reasons we use to select what church we go to and who to follow on social media—of who we hang out with.

However, I doubt that you read my writing because you agree with everything I say. I’ve never met anyone yet who believes exactly as I believe.

I suspect, I hope, I pray that you read my writing because I occasionally challenge you to think of spiritual issues a bit differently, to tweak what you believe to be more spiritually enlightened and inclusive.

And whether you agree with what I write or not, my goal is for you to emerge with a more examined honesty in what you believe and why.

I want to move us more in step with Jesus and who he desires us to become. The goal isn’t to produce uniformity of belief, but to help us grow into the unique disciples he wants each one of us to become.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags believe, church attendance, follow Jesus, theology

Bible Insights

Do You Believe that God Can Raise the Dead?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date February 19, 2019
4 Comments on Do You Believe that God Can Raise the Dead?

Jesus Rose from the Dead and So Did Many Others

In Acts chapter 26, the prisoner Paul makes his defense before King Agrippa. Basically Paul recaps key moments of his life and turns his testimony into a sermon.

This must make King Agrippa squirm, because he pushes back, asking if Paul expects him to become a Christian. For the record, Paul does.

However, I want to focus on something Paul says early on in his testimony to the court. Paul asks those present, “Why would anyone consider it incredible that God can raise the dead?” (Acts 26:8). What an interesting question.

If we believe in God and consider him as an all-powerful deity, we can certainly accept that he is able to bring dead people back to life. Most notably he does this for Jesus. And Jesus, who is one with God, raises several people from the dead too.

So do Paul, Elijah, and Elisha, who all raise the dead through God’s power.

God’s Resurrecting Power

Where is this resurrecting power of God today?

Is God still in the business of raising the dead?

God doesn’t change. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow (Hebrews 13:8). Moses and James agree (Numbers 23:19 and James 1:17).

If God doesn’t change and once brought dead people back to life, there’s no reason to expect that he can’t raise the dead now. For some people in our world, resurrection from the dead is normal and still occurs.

Yet other people in our world, namely those in developed nations, dismiss the idea of supernatural resurrections. What’s the difference?

We get a hint in Matthew 13:58, which says Jesus—even Jesus—was limited in what supernatural wonders he could perform, because of the people’s lack of faith.

So if we’re not seeing people rise from the dead, it might not be God’s doing, but our lack of faith.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Acts 26-28, and today’s post is on Acts 26:8.]

Read more about the book of Acts in Tongues of Fire: 40 Devotional Insights for Today’s Church from the Book of Acts, available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags believe, Jesus, omnipotent, Paul, supernatural

Christian Living

Accepting Those Who Believe Differently

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 26, 2018

From my research for 52 Churches I learned a great deal about the larger faith community I’m part of. This includes having charismatic experiences at some of the churches.

Perhaps the most significant so far is courtesy of the United Methodist Church and their document “Guidelines: The United Methodist Church and the Charismatic Movement.”

It’s a bit formal, but contains some profound principles that when followed will allow charismatic and non-charismatic believers to peacefully coexist, realizing the unity that Jesus prayed for and desires from his followers.

Though it was written by the denomination for itself, the truths it contains are applicable to any Christian group.

Consider some of the document’s headings:

“Guidelines for All”
“For Pastors Who Have Had Charismatic Experiences”
“For Pastors Who Have Not Had Charismatic Experiences”
“For Laity Who Have Had Charismatic Experiences”
“For Laity Who Have Not Had Charismatic Experiences”

Some observations:

The first guideline is foundational: “Be open and accepting of those whose Christian experiences differ from your own.”
The two sections for pastors are virtually identical.
The two sections for laity are quite instructive and helpful,
These principles are applicable to just about any polarizing disagreement in the church over doctrine or practice.

The main point of all this is we need to be ready and willing to accept those who may have different faith perspectives and experiences.

That’s unity; that’s what Jesus wants.

Read more in How Big is Your Tent? A Call for Christian Unity, Tolerance, and Love and discover what the Bible says about following Jesus. Available in e-book and paperback.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags believe, denominations, doctrine, How Big Is Your Tent?, unity

Christian Living

Do You Believe in Unicorns? Maybe it’s Time to Start

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 6, 2015

Let’s say a friend is reading a book. The opening draws him in. The characters are compelling. A fascinating plot unfolds. This is a great read, but then a unicorn walks into the scene.

What? A unicorn? Unicorns don’t exist. They’re pretend, right? He’s never seen one and doesn’t know anyone who claims to. He reads the unicorn passages with suspicion.

Another friend reads the same book. She believes in unicorns. She’s seen glimpses of them for years and knows several people who interact with them regularly. Reading about a unicorn is not fantasy to her, it’s normal. She reads in anticipation.

Why do these friends react so differently? They read using the lens of their experiences. The one having no involvement with unicorns dismisses the sections about them.

The one familiar with unicorns accepts their appearance without alarm. Their personal experiences inform how they read the book.

The same is true with the Bible. We understand its words through the lens of our experiences. For example, if we regularly encounter the power of the Holy Spirit, then we see him throughout the Bible, especially in the New Testament.

The accounts of him are normal to us, and the Bible reinforces our experience as being applicable today.

However, if we have no experience with the Holy Spirit’s power, then reports of him in the Bible seem nonsensical. We either dismiss him or explain him away as we skip to the next section.

Our experience or lack of experience with the Holy Spirit influences how we read the Bible and the conclusions we make.

Part of my life I went to traditional churches that diminished the Holy Spirit. Yes, he was in their creed but not their lives. We treated him like that eccentric relative most of us have, the one we try to ignore and talk about in embarrassed whispers.

I also went to evangelical churches that had much the same perspective. They sought to explain away the Holy Spirit.

They acknowledged that Holy Spirit power existed in the early church but claimed that once the disciples died, most of his power ended.

They understood scripture through the lens of their experience. Then they concocted a theology to support their experience, irrespective of what the Bible said.

I remember one preacher mocking Christians who supernaturally spoke in other languages, healed others through God’s power, and moved in faith at the Holy Spirit’s prompting. He laughed at their claims and called them deluded.

Another preacher labeled all charismatics as heretics. These men vilified what they didn’t understand because their experiences limited what they could see in the Bible. They forgot that God doesn’t change and is all-powerful.

Though I have never seen a unicorn, I have seen the power of the Holy Spirit. I like reading about him in the Bible and experiencing his presence.

I believe in the Holy Spirit. I hope you do, too. However, if your experiences have pushed the Holy Spirit aside or you’ve been taught to diminish him, please ask God to open your mind to new possibilities.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags believe, early church, Holy Spirit, minister, read the Bible, supernatural