Who Are You Feeding?

(photo courtesy of analyticalarmadillo.co.uk)

We feed our children.

We feed the birds that frequent our birdfeeders.

We feed the homeless through soup kitchens and outreach ministries.

We feed our minds. (Remember this: garbage in – garbage out!)

But, do we feed our doubts?

Our pastor tells us that when we feed our faith, we’ll starve our doubts to death.

Yes, we can feed our faith, but sometimes we’re too busy feeding our doubts.

This reminds me of the old Indian story about two wolves. I’ll paraphrase:

An old Indian chief taught his grandson, telling him of two wolves that fight for his soul. One is mean and greedy; the other is kind and gracious.  When the boy asked which would win, the grandfather wisely told him, “The one you feed the most.”

So, how do we feed our doubts?

We feed our doubts by rehearsing our fears over and over again, allowing them to paralyze us. We feed our doubts by worrying and complaining, by watching movies, videos and televisions shows that paint immorality, corruption, and sin in general, as acceptable, numbing our brains. We feed our doubts by reading that same type of material. We feed our doubts by hanging around people of little or no faith, people who applaud the things our God abhors.

One of our favorite ways to feed doubts and fears is through negative self-talk, which becomes so commonplace we fail to see it. Too often, we beat ourselves down with critical and condemning thoughts and wallowing in guilt and shame until we convince ourselves we’re worthless. We reinforce the lies of the enemy, the great deceiver, the one who hates us for nothing we’ve done, but simply because God loves us. Before long, we doubt that we’re loveable, then eventually, the doubt becomes the false-truth we believe about ourselves.

What a subtle enemy. What a patient enemy.

We become what we believe we are. Our god becomes small and helpless, even pathetic, as we believe one lie after another, feeding our doubts their favorite junk food.

But, remember the other wolf.

We can also feed our faith. By reading and studying God’s Word, our faith grows. When we praise God, when we refuse to gossip or curse, when we pray and think on the good things (Philippians 4:8) our faith gets stronger. We also feed our faith by hanging around faith-filled people who search out the Bible for every treasure hidden there for them.

Which plate will you fill today?

“…whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,

think on these things.”

~Philippians 4:8 (KJV)

Hanging on to Hope

What happens to hope when we let it go?

When I’ve hoped for something and I begin to see tell-tale signs that what I’m hoping for just isn’t going to happen, I admit, I sometimes let go.

Did I not want it badly enough? Or did letting go of hope result in the weakening of my faith to the point that I could no longer call it faith, therefore I stopped believing I’d receive?

Remember, Jesus said, “I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” – Mark 11:24 (NKJV)

Perhaps like in so many children’s stories brought to life before our eyes on the big screen, in surround sound and Technicolor, we just need to hang on a minute more.

The magic comes when it looks like the hero can’t hold out any longer, in the breathtaking, intensified moment that occurs just after the hero is emptied of himself, when defeat is upon him, and the sparkle of life in his soul looks like it’s extinguished.

But, as if hope itself has a hold on the hero – the light deep down inside of him that gave him hope in the first place is rekindled; now comes the breakthrough!

Some things we’ve hoped and believed for didn’t happen. Life’s events didn’t have the outcome we anticipated. Could it have gone the way we so wished it would if we’d have hung in there one minute more? We can’t relive it to find out.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” – Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)

The things we’re hoping for are made of a substance we can’t tangibly hold in our hands, but a real substance nonetheless, called faith; not mere plastic or cloth or stone or wood – but faith. Is faith an imaginary substance? No, but it’s not something we see with our eyes. There’s plenty we can’t see, and it’s all as real as anything we can.

“By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.” – Hebrews 11:3 (NRSV)

What we see around us didn’t come “from nothingness” – but what it was created from is hidden from our carnal eyes.

So by faith, we can cling to hope.

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” – Hebrews 10:23 (NIV)

Simply Put...

Cheating a little today, I’ll borrow from my recent attempt at writing a devotion.

 

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Philippians 4:4 (KJV)

 

We find ourselves at divine appointments without realizing we had one to show up for. In His infinite knowledge of past, present and future, God always shows up on time.

 

At the lowest point in my life, a night I considered suicide, God provided the divine connection to steer me into His Word and plant me on the living room floor with instructions to rejoice.

 

Looking back, it’s easy to see, at least in part, what God was doing in my life that night. From the turmoil of suicidal thoughts to the relentless peace and power that comes from rejoicing, only God could have pulled it off so effortlessly. With no biblical knowledge, I had to concede that He was there with me, not only to comfort me, but also to empower me.

 

Though circumstances didn’t change, God being in the midst of them changed me.

 

So began my journey into God Himself; or at least the part of the journey that rises to the conscious mind. He knew me before He formed me in my mother’s belly; He had been wooing me a long time.

 

When things look so bleak that there’s no seeable fork in the road, no place to turn around, no light to even follow the pavement, we can praise Him. We don’t even have to focus on the things we’re praising Him for; it’s enough to praise Him for Who He is.