Day 15
Saturday, March 20
The Way Through Doubt
What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? So many times people don’t attempt something because they doubt their ability to do it, or they doubt if it is even possible to accomplish it. Who knows how many great ideas or inventions were never brought to completion because the one who thought of it was filled with doubt about its reality? Doubt has not only stopped many people from trying, but it is also one of the main tactics that our enemy satan uses to keep us from obeying God. It is how he convinced Adam and Eve to sin in the first place, when he asked Eve, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”(Genesis 3:1, NIV)
He continues to use doubt to this day, trying to confuse and bewilder believers, or getting them to question God’s Word and what He has spoken to them. Satan convinces us to question things like our salvation, God’s faithfulness, and God’s ability to keep us through tough times, all by placing thoughts of doubt in front of us. He gets us to believe that we are not good enough or that we could never live a life that is pleasing to God. But we have this amazing promise of assurance from Romans 8:1—“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (NIV). With this one statement, those of us who believe in and have accepted Jesus no longer have to doubt—instead, we can live in the freedom of the Spirit of Christ, which is life and peace.
-Curt Snyder
Bible Reading for the Day:
Think and Act:
1. In what areas of your life do you struggle with doubt? How does knowing what this passage says give you assurance?
2. What are some practical steps you can take to live in the assurance of Jesus’ forgiveness, rather than in the condemnation of doubt?