Doubt, the Blessings Thief

KatieLyn, our fleeting bride, was subjected to about seven months during which her mother was actively sowing doubts and spouting off her "misgivings" about the wedding.  Two of those months were before the Lord revealed his will to KatieLyn, so they can be written off as reasonable searching and questioning.  But once you have a word from the Lord, everything changes. At that point, doubting God becomes an insulting lack of faith.

Anything that is doubt or discouragement is of the enemy. Any words that produce doubt or discouragement are the speech of the enemy. In Matthew 16:22 we have an example of Peter reproving Jesus. The original Greek word is epitimaō, which means to tax with fault, rate, chide, rebuke, admonish, censure severely. The KJV uses rebuke. Peter's words held doubt and discouragement. In the next verse, 16:23, Jesus says, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."

Yes, Jesus was addressing the true source of those words. Peter had let himself become the devil's mouthpiece. And in the same manner, KatieLyn's mother had become a stumbling block to her. Her mother was not setting her mind on the things of God, but on her own human interests. (As this blog progresses more light will be shed on that, and a little info is found in the Parenting 101 post, but for now, I want to illustrate how doubt is a thief of blessings because it is a robber of faith.)

Perhaps the best known Gospel example is in Matthew 14:22-31. This is where Peter walks on water until he stumbles. The disciples are crossing the Sea of Galilee in a boat. Sometime after 4:00 in the morning, they see a figure walking toward them. They were familiar with the folklore of the lake and tales of sightings of drowned sailors from the past, and they thought they were seeing a ghost. But Jesus calls out, "It's me. Don't be afraid." Peters calls out, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” And Jesus says, "Come."

Peter got his word from the Lord. It was "Come." It gave him all the power and ability he needed to walk it out in faith—we're talking literal walk here. He started out just fine, until he looked at the intensity of the wind. That is when he started to sink. Do you see how thinking about the world robbed him of his blessing? If it had been a perfectly calm sunny afternoon instead of a dark windy night, he still would have needed faith in Jesus' bidding to walk on water.

The Gospel of Mark, 4:35-40, tells of another occasion when the disciples were in ships crossing the sea because Jesus had said, "Let us go over to the other side." This time, Jesus was with them and He fell asleep. And there was another wind storm that whipped up the waves until they spilled onto the deck and the disciples were in fear of being swamped. It's also evident that they had no faith about going over to the other side because when they woke up Jesus, they said about the most discouraging thing possible, "Master, don't you care that we perish?" Jesus got up and spoke to the sea, "Peace, be still." And the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then Jesus turned to the disciples, asking, "Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?" For you see, they already had His word on it that they were going to the other side. With great faith, they could have stopped the tempest themselves. With average faith, they could have trusted God to assist their sailing skills.  With just a little faith, it still would have been a journey, perhaps uncomfortable without Dramamine, but still highly survivable. They could have sailed to the other side; now they had to row.

The Lesson
When you look up the references to compare the two different accounts, you will notice that Jesus said Peter had "little faith." He did start out okay. Jesus told the sailors in Mark they had "no faith." In both cases, doubt kept the disciples from receiving God’s best for them. His plan for their lives was for them to receive by their faith.

No faith was present in KatieLyn's decision to run out on God's plan. She could have asked Jesus to stop her from sinking, but she didn't. She could have sailed to the other side of her wedding vows and entered her promised land, but she did not. She listened to windbag voices until her faith was gone, and then she ran off. Doubt robbed her of her divine destiny.