A Letter to a Friend: How to Overcome Doubt and Discouragement

Dear Friend:

I see you have had a lot of trouble since you became a Christian. You have had great trouble and were wondering why God wasn’t helping you. You haven’t had an easy life, and the enemy of humanity has been greatly troubling you and trying to put you down, and to steal your new life away from you. You don’t know why you can’t have an easier time, and not have so many problems.

I would like to tell you about my special friend whom you are starting to get to know. His name is Jesus. He knows what you are going through, the problems you inherited, and knows the battles that you are fighting. But He has won the battle for you at the cross and has been given all power and authority. Matthew 28:18. Just let Him fight your battles for you and rest in His strength. He is pleading on your behalf to the Father.

Sometimes you have felt like you were ready to give up. Are you ready to give up yet? Then let God take care of you. Then allow Him to save you from your doubts and fears. Are you ready to let Him do this? Believe it or not your life will get better when you totally give up, and fall into the loving hands of God. Giving up is not such a bad thing, if you will just rest totally in God’s love. In fact, giving up is the best thing you could ever do! Providing you trust in God totally. There is no room for doubts or fears when you give up and fall into His hands! When you fall into His loving hands, He will then take care of you, no more fear.

Gather up the fragments that remain of the good things and blessings God has given you. John 6:12. Don’t talk through your doubts, fears and mistakes, or the mistakes of others. Don’t dwell on them either. If you mention them aloud your ears hear them, reinforcing them in your brain. Don’t gather up all of your problems, doubts and fears and dwell on them or present them to others. Instead, gather up what Jesus and His Father have done for you, and do not lose any of these blessings. Think about what God has done for you, and the joy you felt when you were baptized and gave your heart to the Lord. Think about how far God has taken you from where you were, and the battles He has helped you to win! Think of all the changes for the better that God has helped you to do. Think about all the blessings you have received, and all the knowledge about God and the truth that you have acquired. Instead of thinking of all of your troubles, trials and fears, think about what God wants to do for you and for all the blessings He is giving you and wants to give you. Gather all of these up and thank Him for it! Gather up all of these and praise Him to others of what He has done for you. The antidote to doubt is to praise God and thank Him for all of His marvelous works.

How do you get rid of doubt or discouragement you may ask? You must get faith. How? Do what Paul declares here: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 KJV. Where does faith come from? It comes from hearing. Hearing what? The word of God. What does it mean to hear the word of God? It means to read it, listen to it, receive it into your heart, and to do it by His grace. It means you don’t turn away from what God is telling you to do in the Bible. Is it really that simple to get faith? Is it really that simple to get rid of doubt? Yes! It really is that simple! There is power in the word of God. When God spoke and said, ‘Let there be light’, there was light. Genesis 1:3. And for each day of the week when God spoke and said something, His word created what He said. Genesis chapter 1. So how do you get faith? By hearing the words of God that He speaks, believing them and doing them. In God’s word is contained the power to perform what He asks, this is how you get faith.

But how this and how that? Stop asking how and start hearing His voice. Stop asking how, and start reading His word and believing. Stop asking how, and start really listening to His word and desire to keep it. I know that you want to keep His word, but listening to His word is the secret to how you can get rid of doubt and discouragement and to have faith! The power to get rid of all your doubts are contained in His words.

It is impossible for God to lie, therefore we have a strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. Hebrews 6:18. If you want to be happy and get rid of doubt study the many precious promises of God for you to claim, and ask Him to help you meet their requirements so that they become yours. Peter says, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:4 KJV. Peter ought to know about these things since he had walked and talked with Jesus, and been changed by His love. He had denied His Savior when Jesus was arrested and taken away to the priest’s house where Jesus was being accused, but Jesus forgave him. Luke 22:54-62. After the cross Jesus told him to feed His lambs, letting him know that he had been forgiven. John 21:15. Peter died as an overcomer. He personally knew of Jesus saving grace, and the many precious promises for the believer. Peter had had such a change from his impetuous and bragging nature before the cross, to the kind and humble evangelist, taking care of Jesus’ sheep. If Jesus can help the apostle Peter, He can help you too.

Keep reading and studying the faith building stories throughout the Bible and make them your own. These stories can be your life story in some ways too, did you know that? When you read these exciting stories of people who were faithful to God and served Him with joy and delight, this story of faithfulness can be yours too. The life of the faithful person in the Bible days doesn’t have to be something you just read about, it can be your story too! If you would want to take part in God’s plan of Salvation, He would be delighted to share a peace of the kingdom with you (Luke 12:32). When you give yourself to God, and hear His word and receive it into your heart, this will produce faith in your heart and help you get rid of doubt, because this is the power of God! Just believe it. It is not really as hard as many people want to make it, it is really quite easy! How can that be true? People say that it is hard. But it is not only hard, it is impossible for anyone to become a new creature, which is to live a righteous life, by themselves. But it is easy when you let God, who is mighty to save, do it for you! It is hard and impossible for you to do it, but easy if you let God do it for you.

Continue to yield yourself to your Heavenly Father, until you yield completely. Obey Him in all things; pray for the ability of obeying Him all the way. When this happens you will be given great joy, which will help you to win this battle against discouragement and doubt. When this happens you will know that He loves you and that your salvation is secure with Him, because you kept confessing your sins and have received His Spirit, who will help keep you from falling. And then your whole life will change for the better, and you will devote yourself to Him, the one you love.


The conclusion my dear friend:

Great and marvelous are the works of God! Make Him your focus, and give Him the praise of your voice and heart, and receive great joy in your heart, then you will not worry about discouragement anymore, because God will be your fortress and your strength, and enable you to become an overcomer. 

“And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, ‘Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.’” Revelation 15:2-4 NASB.

By John Foll, written between 8/11/2017 and 8/13/2017.
© Copyright 2017 John Foll
 

 

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Do you have faith? Do you have Assurance? Faith commeth by hearing the word of God!

By John Foll, Written between 04/03/2017 and 04/07/2017, and on 04/22/2017.
© Copyright 2017 John Foll

Do you have faith? Do you lack the faith to believe that God can save you, bad as you are? Do you have faith to claim God’s rich promises for you in the Bible and become an overcomer? Do you have faith that can move mountains, mountains of doubt?

Have no fear! If you have many doubts and struggles and do not yet have the assurance of your own salvation, you may yet gain this assurance! If you will just listen to God’s word in the Holy Bible and cooperate with Him, humbling your heart before Him, you will gain all the faith you need to believe His word, and claim His rich promises for you! This is God’s promise to you, as we will see in this mini study! This will enable you to get your rich reward in Heaven that Jesus and His Father have promised to all who love them. John 14:1-4. Because faith commeth by hearing: hearing the word of God. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 KJV. And as E. J. Waggoner taught in his book,“The Gospel in Creation”, Chapter 1: the First Day, p. 19-20, 33-37, 41-42, we have a rock solid foundation that we can build on: we can build on the word of God! It is impossible for God to lie. “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:  Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” Hebrews 6:18-20 KJV. Because Jesus is our mediator with the Father (1 Timothy 2:5) and paid the price for our sins (Romans 6:8-10), we have a strong refuge so that we can lay hold of the hope set before us, it is impossible for God to lie. So let us build upon ‘the rock’ of Christ, the solid rock of Jesus, the solid foundation! Matthew 7:24-27; Luke 6:47-49; Isaiah 28:16. For you can believe that God loves you, as Jesus declared in John 3:16, and there can be no stronger foundation than this, because it is impossible for God to lie, and because He is all powerful, loving and kind, and can never fail!

Let us therefore believe the word of God in the Bible, and not doubt Him or His love for us and all of humanity. In reading, studying and meditating on His words and His precepts in the Bible, and in the faith building stories contained therein, as well as the stories showing the consequences of sinning and falling away, we are warned and warmed, and our faith in God will grow: if we feed on and continue to feed on His word, and continue to ‘hear’ His word and want to obey. The same supernatural power that created the universe is contained in the word of God. When God speaks, what He says always comes to pass (unless it is a conditional promise and the conditions were not met), because He speaks not as a man speaks, but in His words are contained the creative power that created the Universe, and He is our God, who formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into him the breath of life! Genesis 2:9. When God speaks, and says let there be light (Genesis 1:3), there will always be light, because if it doesn’t exist, when He speaks, His word creates it. And in Jesus’ word, which is the word of His Father, there is life and life more abundantly! John 10:10. Yes, we have studied this in many of our Jones and Waggoner articles here, but continue to listen and hear these words of God, and they will take effect in your heart; if you cooperate with Him, they will produce faith in your heart. They cannot fail to produce these effects, because they are the words of God! This is how you get faith, so that you can please God! By reading, hearing and listening to the words of God contained in the Bible! It says in Hebrews, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 NASB. But as we have seen, since faith comes from the reading, listening to and hearing the word of God (and doing - implied), then it is plain enough that how we can please God is by reading, listening to and hearing the word of God, since this is how we gain faith! And as A. T. Jones would say: there can be no faith without the hearing and the listening to the word of God. It is evident therefore that this is the only way we can get real faith, because God and His Son are the only sure foundation that we can build on.

There is a wonderful power in the word of God regardless of where it is found in the scriptures! – The same power that created the heavens and the earth! This power will transform you and remake you, if you will just read and listen to it! It is not any work of yourself, but the work of God that will happen, if you listen to His words and let them produce their results in you. If you let these words preach to your soul, though you be weaker than the weakest, and the greatest of sinners, they will work their miraculous power in your life and change you, giving you life! “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:” Isaiah 1:18-19 KJV. God’s word has the power to help you believe that you are forgiven and white as wool, if you have confessed your sins, and just listen to it. 1 John 1:9. His words have the power to help you to believe in Jesus His Son, that you may have eternal life (John 3:16-17), and that you may claim all of God’s wonderful promises in the Bible for yourself, that you may have all your true needs and true desires met. You don’t have to be a mighty faith warrior in order to become a giant of faith, be happy, full of Joy, be an overcomer, and eventually gain eternal life! For if you will listen and continue to listen to and meditate on all His words of truth, His Law of Love, faith and promises in the scriptures, His word alone: His mighty power will do all of this for you! Amen!

And may the love of God, and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all! Amen. 2 Corinthians 13:14 NASB.

P.S. If you will just let God’s word do its work in your heart, He will work such a miracle of His grace in your heart, and mighty will be the results! Don’t resist His love for you! Why would you want to? When such peace, love, joy and faith and power to be good and to do good can be yours and you will become so happy! And your life will finally please God! Amen!

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Living by Faith Part 5 of 5: Christian Growth

By E. J. Waggoner

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The force of this is found in the fact that the Christian life, which is the result of faith, is progressive. The Christian life is a continual growth. Peter says: "Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 3:17, 18. The only way to keep from falling from that which we have, is to grow. David says of the righteous man that "he shall be like a tree [13]   planted by the rivers of water." Ps. 1:3. This means continual growth.

We read of the path of the just, that it "shall be as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Prov. 4:18. But "the just shall live by faith;" therefore it must be that their faith increases. 

Again: Paul says to the Corinthians, "Now He that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness." 2 Cor. 9:10. To the Thessalonians he wrote, "And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men." 1 Thess. 3:12. And again he said, "But we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more." 1 Thess. 4:10. But faith works by love (Gal. 5:6); that is, love is the outgrowth of true faith; therefore increasing love must be the result of increasing faith. 

To the Hebrews the apostle wrote: "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection." Heb. 6:1. And in the epistle to the Philippians Paul said: "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which I also am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:12-14. Here is set forth a continual reaching out for some higher attainment. The calling of God in Christ Jesus is a calling to holy or righteous living, for  [14]   we read, "But like as He which called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living; because as it is written, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:15, 16. Revised Version

This righteousness to which we are called, and for higher attainments in which we must constantly press, is obtained only by faith, as Paul expresses his desire to be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness, "but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Phil. 3:9. Therefore, since righteousness comes only by faith, and it must increase, it follows that faith must also increase. So it was not a vain prayer which the disciples uttered when they said, "Lord, increase our faith." Luke 17:5. 

That faith is susceptible of growth is plainly declared by the Scriptures. Paul had hope that when the faith of the Corinthian brethren was increased, he should be helped by them to preach the gospel in the regions beyond them. 2 Cor. 10:15, 16. To the Thessalonians he wrote that he prayed exceedingly night and day, that he might see them, and might perfect that which was lacking in their faith. 1 Thess. 3:10. And still later he wrote, "We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth." 2 Thess. 1:3. 

This last text contains the whole of the argument that we have made. Their faith grew, and as a consequence their charity abounded. Charity, or love, is the fulfilling of the law. Rom. 13:10; 1 John 5:3. It is the manifestation of the righteousness of God, and is a result of true faith, for faith works by love, and the only right-   [15]   eousness which will be accepted when the Lord comes is that which is by the faith of Christ, "the righteousness which is of God by faith." Such being the teaching of Scripture, there is no reason why we should not understand Rom. 1:17 just as it reads. The righteousness of God is revealed, or manifested, from faith to faith. 

One or two notable instances recorded in Scripture will illustrate this. The apostle records that "by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace." Heb. 11:31. This case has been a cause of stumbling to some who have not given careful thought to it. It is well known that Rahab lied to the men sent by the king of Jericho to seize the spies (see Josh. 2:2-6), and they imagine that in saving her God placed a premium on lying, and that it is right sometimes to lie. Neither is true. Rahab was saved, not because of her lie, but because of her faith. She, in common with all the people of Jericho, had heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea and how He had led the Israelites; but she alone, of all the inhabitants of Jericho, believed that the hand of the Lord was in the matter, and that He had given the land of Canaan to the Israelites. She had simple faith, but was totally ignorant of God's law. In the code of the heathen morality, lying was accounted a virtue, and she knew nothing better. But her faith made it possible for her to be saved, and brought her into a place where she could learn righteousness. As a natural consequence her faith in God would increase when she learned more of Him. In her case we have a clear instance of the revelation of the righteousness of God from faith to faith.

The same thing is true of Cornelius. He feared God   [16]  with all his house, and gave much alms, and "prayed to God alway." As a consequence, an angel was sent to him, directing him to send for Peter, who should tell him what he ought to do. 

The sum of the whole thing is that it is faith that brings God near to us. If we first believe that He is, He will reveal Himself to us more fully. If we rejoice in that light and walk in it, our faith will be increased, and that will bring more light. As with Rahab, so with all. God does not grant us a blessing because we are righteous, but in order that we may become righteous. When our faith brings us to Christ, it is that we may learn of Him. To our faith, we add virtue and knowledge. But as faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, it follows that the more we really know — accept — of the Word of God, the greater will be our faith. And so, increasing daily in faith, the just go on from strength to strength, until the dawning of the perfect day ushers them into the immediate presence of God.

~~~~~~~~~

From the book: “Living by Faith” The Bible Student’s Library, no. 75, Dec. 1, 1890, By E. J. Waggoner, Chapter: LIVING BY FAITH, in the Chapter: “Christian Growth”, p. 10-11.

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