The most common 'doubt trap' that we fall into as Christians, is to judge the will of God for us by the things that happen to us. Does this sound confusing? Yeah, it did to me at first, but let's take a look at the life of Jesus Christ.
Prejudice and religious politics kept Jesus from be accepted and appreciated. You know, it just doesn't make good sense for the religious geeks of Jesus' day to treat Him like they did. In John the ninth chapter, we find the story of Jesus healing a man that was blind from birth. I'm on the side of the ex-blind man. He jumped into the Pharisees' grits by telling them that since the world began no one has ever healed a man that was born blind. He finished by saying "If this man were not of God He could do nothing." So, with those convincing words and actions the 'powers that be' heaped praises on the Son of God, right? Wrong!!! They not only refused to give any credit to Jesus, they also kicked the ex-blind man out of the synagogue. Boy, howdy. Now that was a great big 'gotcha' against that blind man, wasn't it. We're gonna kick you AND your Jesus out of our religious hog pen. You won't be able to wallow around with us any more. It's like the ex-blind man really cared. You gotta understand. They could do anything in the world to him that they wanted---BUT THEY COULD NOT MAKE HIM BLIND AGAIN. Jesus gave that man something that the religious ding-dongs couldn't take away.
All through Jesus' life it was that way. No matter how much compassion He showed, the only thing He got from the mucketty-mucks was a turned up nose. However, Jesus' eyes were not on how He was being treated. That is the biggest 'doubt trap' that we could ever fall into. You CANNOT pay attention to the negative way people treat you as you serve a Risen Savior.
If you want to be a good hitter in baseball, what do you do? You KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL.
If you want to keep from having a wreck on the highway, what do you do? You KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE ROAD.
If you want to be a good baseball pitcher, what do you do? You KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE SPOT YOU WANT THE BALL TO GO.
Phil 3:14--I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. This verse describes what Jesus did when He faced rejection and prejudice from the people. He kept His eyes on the prize. Heb 12:2-Who for the JOY that was SET before Him. He was surrounded by doubters and haters of God. The high priest and all of his cronies NEVER, NEVER accepted Jesus. Did that make Jesus a loser? No. Jesus DID NOT focus on what they 'said' or 'did.' He kept His eyes focused on His prize for being obedient to the will of God. He KNEW He was destined to suffer and die. However, His focus went PAST the crucifixion. His gaze, His meditation, His hopes and everything within Him was focused on the Resurrection. He actually went 2,000 years farther than that. His focus was on what His Resurrection could do for us, right now, today. His focus was on what the outpouring of the Holy Spirit could bring us into today, tomorrow and all next week. Not only that but for every today, every tomorrow and every next week that we will ever see.
Folks, Jesus saw the Resurrection as a historical fact that just had not occurred yet. That is the way we need to accept every promise in the Word of God. The revival, the healings, the deliverance for us and our children, the financial blessings, the turn around of this country, the safety of our troops are all historical facts that haven't been manifested if we do two things. Believe His Word and keep our eyes on that prize. Don't let your gaze, your meditation or your heart be centered on the ugly things you and I have to go through at this very moment. Psalm 23 says that even though I WALK THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death. The Psalmist said that the valley might be where I am now but, pardon the analogy but it's a truth, I AM GOING TO BE THROUGH WITH THIS VALLEY BECAUSE I AM GOING TO KEEP ON WALKING. Amen and Amen. Shout somebody.
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