Daily Treasure

“And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.” Luke 17:5

Having the kind of faith that will help to dispel doubt takes practice and experience. I remember the first time I went to a gym to exercise. I came home tired and sore. I found when I exercised on a regularly, I got stronger and had more energy. Think of your faith as a muscle, if you never exercise it, it will stay weak and lethargic. When doubts arise, exercise your faith and it will only get stronger.

You also need to nurture your faith. 2 Peter 1:5-8 gives a prescription for feeding your faith. You may have to remove some things to add these, but your faith will be energized when you do.

I’ve already mentioned the importance of prayer, but in order to have complete communion with God, you must read and hide His Word in your heart. Memorizing scripture will help you do battle when Satan hurls his fiery darts of doubt your way. This principle not only helps with doubt but for other problem areas in your lives.

Lastly, visualize your strength in God when you are going through times of anxiety and uncertainty, this will increase your faith. Never forget Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” There is no sign of doubt in that verse. If you draw from His strength, you will win the battle, no matter how many battles you must fight. Give those battles to God, He will fight for you and you WILL win!

Sue Winchester
Missouri

PRAY TOGETHER:  The Hanna Project optical and dental team will be in Central Asia in October. Pray for travel logistics and team members’ health.

“And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Matthew 17:20

Doubt dilutes your faith so you must find ways to eliminate it in your life. That is not to say you will never doubt, but it won’t control your being. Jesus talked about having the faith of a mustard seed. A mustard seed is very small but cultivated it can produce a large tree. You must have a faith that goes beyond just believing the Lord for salvation. He must be Lord of your life. That means trusting Him in all things.

What ‘mountains’ are you facing? You will never move them with doubt and uncertainty. For those you are finding a great amount of problem tunneling through, the Bible suggests prayer and fasting. Throughout the Bible this principle worked. People drew closer to God, prayed in earnest that God would give them strength to overcome, and spent time in His Word. God has the power to help you turn your ‘mountains’ into molehills, if you get rid of the doubt and trust in Him.

“And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, and said unto him, ‘O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?’” Matthew 14:31

Matthew14:26-31 gives us another example of doubting. Peter saw Jesus walking on the water and started the doubt process. He even questioned if it was God or a spirit. He did have the faith to get out of the boat. We may have that much faith and even think it’s strong, but what happens when things go wrong? We find ourselves, just like Peter, wavering because the wind is raging and we and our faith are starting to sink. The moment we take our eyes off Jesus the problems will only get worse. When we fail to see how sufficient His grace is no matter what we face, we will start to sink. However, a long-suffering Savior stands ready to “stretch forth his hand” and pull us up to safety. We may have trusted Him for special needs in the past, but we forget that and give in to doubt. God is faithful and what He’s done before, He will do again. He will meet our needs if we will simply trust Him to do so. None of us may ever walk on water, but we can certainly trust in the One Who did. 

Sue Winchester
Missouri

PRAY TOGETHER:  Pray for Dr. Neil Gilliland as he cares for emotional needs of missionaries.

“….Except I shall see the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” John 20:25b

Probably the greatest example in the New Testament of a doubter was Thomas. He was one of the disciples who walked with Jesus. Like Thomas, many of us have to be shown something to believe. We look for signs and wonders.

Jesus will make His presence known if we will free ourselves from sin and doubt. He is waiting with mercy and patience to help us while we are looking for proof. Often we are distracted by our circumstances and a lack of faith. Don’t wait for some miraculous and dramatic event to occur before trusting God for the answers we need daily. Be calm in His presence and do as Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” We need to fine-tune our prayer life, and spend extra time with Him. He will guide and direct and we will see Him as Thomas did, “my Lord and my God.” (John 20:28)

“But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”  (James 1:6)

How strong is our faith? As we live from day to day, we face circumstances and choices. If our faith is strong, we can withstand almost anything the devil hurls at us. However, there are times when our faith is weak, we doubt. That uncertainty makes us forget the One Who is our “refuge and strength.” If our relationship with God is what it ought to be, we should learn to trust Him more. We want to reason things out so what doesn’t seem logical; we start to doubt God can fix the problem or need. In times past, God has answered prayer and even worked miracles in our lives but, we forget and we “waver.” We forget God is only a prayer away and stands ready to help.

We must take whatever we are facing to Him. Whether we think it too great or small, God can handle it all. He’s proven His faithfulness many times. Even when we are facing a crisis or tragedy, God is there with us. We may feel the storm rage, but to doubt whether God can calm it only makes the storm worse. Stop wavering. Don’t let doubt be the obstacle that blocks Him from view.  We should turn our doubts over to Him any time of the day or night as He gently whispers to us, “peace be still.”

PRAY TOGETHER: The International Fellowship of FWB convenes in Nantes, France, October 8-12. Pray for this triennial event.

I Peter 5:2
“Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;”

I know many, many pastors. And I do not know one who is where he is for any other reason than he was called by the Great Shepherd. We need to take good care of our pastors, because they are not pastoring for any kind of financial gain. If we see a need, the church or WAC should jump to aid and help them. God will bless us with great blessings for taking care of our pastors.

Bless you, pastor, ministering because God has called you and not for any gain.

LaCrecia McFaddin
Tennessee

PRAY TOGETHER: Always bring deacons and church leaders to the throne in prayer.

James 1:5

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraided not; and it shall be given him.”

Things have changed so much since I was saved. Today there is so much to hinder Christians. We all need the wisdom God gives, to help our new converts grow and to help them overcome the complex web Satan weaves for all of us. If we lack wisdom all we have to do is ask.

LaCrecia McFaddin
Tennessee

PRAY TOGETHER:  Pray concerning nominations for WNAC Executive Secretary-Treasurer.