Do Not Doubt!

I will start off by telling you...this is going to be long, but I just need to post it and get it all out.

It started last week...on Wednesday, my pastor's daily blog was titled Speak to Things? and although, I am very familiar with this teaching, I chose to allow it to penetrate my thinking that day. Later that afternoon, I had the opportunity to put it into practice.

You see, although I'm at home most of the day, I stay very busy and do not watch daytime television, not even the news. Anytime I ever decide to turn on the news it is nothing but bad reports, so I prefer to just stay "out of the know" on things than sit there for 30 minutes to an hour listening to things that leave me feeling yuk! But on this particular afternoon, I turned on the news. I did not know why, I just did. After two days of flooding rain, there was blue sky and sunshine out my windows. However, when I turned on the television I found out that less than 40 miles away, the sky was a different story. As I sat there watching live video from a news helicopter, I watched tornadoes (yes, more than one) drop out of the clouds and touch down on Dallas ground. The reporters were yelling, "Oh no, it's in densely populated neighborhoods!" Having meditated on Mark 11 all day, I immediately began to yell at the storm clouds! (now it does not say you have to yell, only speak, but I'm just telling you what I did) "I command you to go back up into the sky, in Jesus' name! Dissipate and go away! You will NOT touch down, in Jesus' name. You will not take any lives, in Jesus' name!"

It was really quite comical - for one, my little dog thought I had lost it. She was running and hiding, then coming back to check on me and then take off again. But the other thing that made it comical was the fact that as I spoke, the funnels would go back up. I was watching this LIVE! It would go up and then the news reporter would say something like, "well, it's going to form again, here it comes..." and sure enough, the funnel would form and touch down again. Again, I would speak (shout, whatever) and command it to go back up! And again it would go back up. This lasted off and on for about an hour. Later that night as we watched the 10:00 news, they were giving the report of the tornadoes and were talking about how it could have been so much worse, how the tornadoes skipped around, there wasn't much damage and no lives lost!

Now, I am quite certain I was not the only one speaking to that storm, however, even if I was...it would have the same results.

Fast forward to Sunday at church. Pastor Nick continued teaching from Mark 11:22 and 23 on Speaking to Things. If you are not familiar with this passage of scripture, here it is:

22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 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. 

He shared how in this passage, Jesus is referring to a physical mountain. The reality that by faith, we can literally speak mountains to move, hit me.

This morning as I was in my time with the Lord, I began to pray, read and study. Pray because I needed clarification, read so that I could make sure I knew exactly what it said, and study to do my own digging in the Word. And this is why...you see, I was thinking about doubt. It is doubt that keeps mountains from moving. Let's get real...how many people truly have faith to move mountains...physical mountains? I do not ever see reports that go like this..."Well, today another mountain was moved into the ocean. Yes folks, this time it was Mount Everest. Just another one cast into the sea. For live video footage, tune in at 10."

No, that is not a report we see or hear, and why not? Because of doubt! Myself included...I can imagine standing in front of Mount Everest and commanding it to jump into the ocean and what would proceed my words? Doubt. I would doubt that it would really obey my words. I'm just being honest. And I am quite certain that you would be the same way. So I began to study the word doubt. The second definition that was listed in my dictionary was one word, very simple, to the point. It was distrust. DIS - TRUST! No trust! No trust in what? Well, let's look at the entire passage and I will show you what I saw at 5:30 this morning.

²² So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. ²³ 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. ²⁴ Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.²⁵ “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. ²⁶ But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

Verse 22 says, "Have faith in God." Or could also be said, "Have the faith of God." So if there is distrust, it is a lack of trust in God to be able to perform His Word. When I allow doubt, it is the same as admitting that I don't trust God. I immediately was reminded of an example of this doubt. Just a day or two ago, I noticed a knot on my little dog's back. So I immediately spoke to it and commanded it to go away, dissolve, dry up, whatever needed to happen for it to be gone. Then I looked at my husband and told him that I was going to measure it and if it got any larger, I would take her in to the vet. WHAT?????? What did I just do? I had doubt! Now, I KNOW better and I still followed my statement of faith with doubt.

When I realized this, I had to repent. And how many of us need to do the same thing? Repent because of our doubt, even though we profess to be men or women of faith?

I continued reading this passage and really liked what I read in verse 24, "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." 


Ah, I like that! Because as I combine the faith of God with no doubt, I can have all my prayers answered. Selah! Then I continued...

“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. ²⁶ But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

There is one more thing that MUST be done in order for all of the above to happen...and that is to forgive! Forgive who? Anyone who has offended you, done you wrong, looked at you the wrong way, said something about you that was untrue, mistreated you, (I could go on and on, but I'm sure you get the picture.) And this must be done! M.U.S.T.!!!

In order to move mountains - we cannot doubt and we must forgive! What God is saying in this passage is this...

v 22: You have to have this...faith
v 23: You have to speak this...words
          and you can't have this...doubt
v 24: Then you will get this...answer to prayers
v 25: If you do this...forgive

So no matter what the mountain is that you are faced with today...take the Words of Jesus! Have the faith of God and DO NOT DOUBT!

Until next time...

Let Your Light Shine,
Debbi

Carbs and Protein: Do the Body Good (first thing in the morning)!

I have found throughout my weight-loss journey, that I tend to eat the same things over and over. Not because I have to, but because when I find something that I like and I know it's good for me, it's convenient to have it time and time again. I will typically do this for a number of days, weeks, even months until I move on to something else.

My last great find is a wonderful breakfast that has exactly what I need for working out, is quick and easy to make, is low cal, low fat and nutritious. And the best part...it is delicious.

I figured if I'm enjoying it, you may too! So here it is:

Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt - 4oz. My faves are Blueberry and Strawberry (can be found at Walmart as well as many other grocery stores)
1/4 Cup of Kellogg's All Bran cereal
1/4 Cup of fresh Blueberries or cut up Strawberries.

The added cereal gives crunch, fiber, additional protein and makes it filling. This very nutrition breakfast has only 150 calories, 29 grams of (good) carbohydrates, 0 fat, 6 grams of fiber and 12 grams of protein. The combination of good carbs and the protein makes it an excellent choice for any day or time of the week, but especially when working out.

I have also combined the blueberries and strawberries with half of a small banana for even more substance.

Enjoy this nutritious breakfast first thing in the morning and I believe you will find that it will...do your body good!

Until next time...

Let Your Light Shine,
Debbi