Dealing with Doubts

Throughout my Christian life, the demons of doubt have frequently hampered my walk with God. As I mentioned in an earlier post, when Satan cannot disqualify a believer by misconduct, he will seek to debilitate him or her through doubt. Satan’s railing accusations often prey upon the hearts and minds of the redeemed, thus paralyzing the effective witness and ministry. In a recent skirmish, he sought, once more, to discredit God before me and me before God. Here’s what happened:
In another sleepless Sunday night (too much caffeine and a fair amount of physical pain), the devil preyed on my mind, and led me down a road that is all too familiar – doubting my salvation. I discovered that I can be induced to do stupid things in the middle of the night. Therefore, I reviewed the plan of Salvation and prayed to receive Christ. After I was done, I felt like a fool. It seemed as though the Lord was saying, “Why are you asking for this, it’s already yours!”

However, the reproof and chastening for this mindset was not yet complete. On Monday, as I went about my work, the Lord brought to mind the verse in Ephesians 4:30, “And grieve not the Holy Spirit by whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.” Immediately I was convicted and moved to repentance. Now, I realize in the immediate context, the verse is most likely referring to the lists of sins that included before and after the verse, but I believe the Lord would be pleased to for me to think of the verse in the following light. The Holy Spirit is the One who has sealed us, thus guaranteeing our safe delivery to Heaven. When I doubt I am casting aspersions on His veracity before the seen and unseen worlds. I believe that such an action deeply grieves Him. When I realized that God was grieved by that aspect of my behavior, I was deeply moved and confessed it as sin. You see, when I have perceived God as being angry with me, I have chosen to be afraid and to stay out His way. When I think He is disgusted, I want to give up. However, when I perceive that He is grieved, I am moved to repentance. Now that I know that such doubts are sin, I can in the words of James 4:6-7, “Submit to God, resist the devil, [so that] he will flee.”

It is the Word of God that affords assurance of salvation. When I seek assurance by attempting to remember a prayer or experience, I find myself spiritually and emotionally debilitated. When I turn to the Word of God, I find peace, solace, and from Scripture. It is only as I immerse myself in His Word that I can achieve emotional and mental victory when confronted with these demons of doubt. My salvation is all about God and His promises that cannot be broken,

God is good . . . all the time. I can trust Him with my eternity,