A fire will not continue to burn strongly unless it’s stoked. Similarly, a believer’s fervor, if left untended, can diminish.
New Christians often share their faith passionately and sense God’s joy and peace. Yet this zeal can fade unintentionally. From today’s passage, we gather that Timothy had let his flame of faith cool slightly (2 Timothy 1:6-7).
Believers can experience “cooling” for several reasons. When tragedy strikes, a person may feel that his prayers went unanswered and that God doesn’t care. If he then prays less, it’s easy to drift away from the Lord. At other times, Christians can be sidetracked by the world’s priorities—Timothy’s enthusiasm wavered because of false teaching and fear. Whatever the apparent trigger may be, Satan is the underlying cause; he lures believers away from single-minded devotion to Jesus.
Drifting can be subtle and hard to detect. Six questions can help you assess whether your enthusiasm for God remains strong:
1. Do you have joy in the Lord and a desire to serve Him, share the gospel, and help others in need?
2. Do you spend time in the Word daily?
3. Do you pray, knowing that God is listening and working in your life?
4. Do you faithfully attend church and tithe?
5. Do you experience joy, peace, contentment, and hope in Jesus?
6. Do you stand firm in your godly convictions?
If some of your answers recently changed from “yes” to “no,” your fire may be diminishing. Acknowledge this to the Lord. Ask for His help to fuel your passion.
False guilt can be an intolerable weight for the believer to bear. The nagging sense of shame can lead us to doubt the Lord’s love and goodness; we might even start to wonder if our salvation is real. Thankfully, though, we can have relief.
First of all, it’s helpful to identify the root cause of our guilt. (Check yesterday’s devotion for a description of several potential causes.) Next, we must affirm three truths:
I am special. Any reason we give to “prove” otherwise is a lie from Satan. We are each a one-of-a-kind creation. The Lord chose to create us and endow us with specific talents and abilities meant to be used for His glory (Ephesians 2:10).
I am loved. The heavenly Father sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins so we could live with Him eternally. We don’t have to do anything to earn His love; it is already ours for the receiving. All we must do is believe that He died in our place, was buried, and rose again.
I am forgiven. If we confess our sins, the Lord forgives. The Bible promises the process is as simple as that (1 John 1:9).
Since it’s Satan who stimulates false guilt, the final step is to renounce his lies. Make a declaration to this effect: “In the name of Jesus Christ, I reject these feelings of guilt, because they have absolutely no scriptural basis. They are false, and I refuse to acknowledge them.” The result will be that the heavy weight of guilt lifts from the heart.
When God looked at the world He’d made, He declared it good. Genesis 1:27 summarizes the crowning achievement of His creative work: “God created man in His own image . . . male and female He created them.” Psalm 139 reminds us that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.”
The Lord has given each of His children great potential for service in His kingdom. However, some of us have serious doubts that this is true. When we compare ourselves to other people, we notice the things we lack. At other times, we repeatedly criticize ourselves for mistakes we’ve made. How can we have awesome potential when we see so many ways in which we fall short? Consider these biblical examples:
Moses appeared to have many advantages while he was growing up in Pharaoh’s household. Then he killed an Egyptian and fled the country. No longer did he seem a likely candidate to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. But God looked beyond what Moses had done and saw who he could become.
Paul, prior to salvation, had vehemently persecuted those who believed in Jesus. Yet through God’s mercy, the apostle became a mighty evangelist and author of nearly a third of the New Testament.
Peter was a simple fisherman who denied—not once but three times—that he knew Jesus. Still, the Lord chose him to become the leader of the Jerusalem church.
Our Father sees beyond our human frailties to the potential we have in Christ. Because we were made in God’s image and His Spirit dwells in us, we have a greater capacity for spiritual transformation and service than we could imagine. Seek to become the person God has equipped you to be.
One of the main obstacles to effective prayer is lack of trust. If we believe God is who He says He is and will do what He has promised, why do so many of us habitually waver in our prayers? Instead of exercising bold faith, we come to the Lord “hoping” He will hear us and answer our requests, but we’re just not sure He will. With this kind of thinking, we cannot expect to receive anything from Him.
One reason we are so prone to doubt is that we fail to see God at work in our circumstances. We asked, and nothing happened. But the Lord is not some cosmic bellhop who jumps in response to our requests. He sees past, present, and future and knows the right time for every answer. His invisible hand is already at work on our behalf—arranging situations to accomplish His will, opening hearts, and preparing us to receive what He wants to give.
Another cause for uncertainty is ignorance. If we don’t know God’s ways, we will be disappointed in His response. All too often our prayers are accompanied by expectations of how He will work. When He fails to intervene according to our anticipated method, we start to doubt. But placing our faith in the Lord and trusting in His good and perfect ways gives us stability as we wait for His answer.
To overcome doubts, spend time in the Word to learn God’s principles and ways. Then you’ll begin to grasp what He wants to achieve in your life and how He goes about it. Examine your past from a biblical perspective—faith will grow as you see the unexpected ways He’s answered your prayers.
Yesterday we learned several reasons why a prayer may seem to go unanswered. Let’s consider more possibilities.
One is unconfessed sin. God promises to forgive us once we admit our action is wrong and turn away from it (1 John 1:9). But if our confession is mere lip service or we persist in ungodly ways, petitions won’t be granted. An unrepentant heart always hinders our prayer life.
What about those times when our heart is right and what we ask is in line with God’s will, but He remains silent? Sometimes He waits because our longing for Him is in danger of being replaced by our desire for something else. Certain petitions—such as a request for a spouse, a baby, or a loved one’s healing—generate strong emotions in us. Unless we are careful, these desires could divert our attention from God. He will not share first place with anyone or anything. So sometimes He patiently waits for our focus to return to Him before He answers.
At other times, God uses delays to prepare us for future service or greater blessing. He could be protecting us from consequences we fail to see, or He may want to strengthen our trust. Strong faith means believing Him even in trials, persevering while awaiting an answer, and being confident that He always keeps His promises.
Prayer is the communication link between us and our loving Father. Instead of letting “static” block His message to us, we must confess and turn from all known sin. Then we’ll be able to hear God’s voice and obediently carry out whatever He asks.
