When it Comes to God, Should We “Fake it Till We Make It?” Though David Tells God That He Is “My Refuge,” I Doubt David Feels It Psalm 142 is a prayer of lament. David’s hiding in a cave, likely fearing for his life. He feels alone with no one...
How to Deal with the Faith Versus Doubt Problem Struggling with Doubt Isn’t a Sin, But We Must Avoid Letting Doubt Squash Our Faith I once listened as a friend wrestled with the issue of faith versus doubt. She groaned in anguish over her...
God Speaks to Job—and to Us When God speaks to us, we need to be ready to listen Job’s friends come to comfort him. At least that’s how it appears, but in actuality they’re not much help. Their words assault Job and his character. In exasperation...
Can an Actionless Faith Save You? There are some people who try to earn their way into heaven. They do good and obey God’s commands—at least most of them anyway. They work hard their entire life to get God’s attention. Surely when their time...
Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Demonstrating Our Faith by What We Do I enjoy the writing and teaching of James. His words offer concise, practical teaching about being a follower of Jesus. James talks about the great faith of Abraham...
How to Hear from God For most of my life I was taught that God speaks to us through the Bible, and we speak to him through prayer. Together, these two one-way communication channels can result in a dialogue of sorts. While this is correct, it’s...
When some people pray, they pray expecting God will answer their prayers and good things will happen. When other people pray, they pray expecting there’s only an outside chance God will come through; bad things are bound to happen. When you...
At a church I recently visited, members shared prayer requests as part of the service. One lady raised her hand and simply said she had an “unspoken request.” Though I’ve not heard that phrase in a long time, it was a common...
A good friend was all excited. He had something he couldn’t wait to share. “God revealed something to me,” he announced. “I’ve not yet found it in the Bible, but I know it’s there somewhere.” I completely missed what...
Ultimately, Gideon, the Judge, obeys God and realizes a great victory, but he first needs a lot of confirmation to deal with his doubts: 1) Gideon first asks for a sign that the angel had really spoken God’s words. God acquiesces; when the...
