Let Go of Doubt—And Let God In
“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
(Mark 9:24b)
Have you ever prayed words like this?
Do you doubt God to come through on His word?
If so, you’re not alone. Christians throughout the centuries have grappled with faith, belief and doubt. But I’d love to teach you something new—a revelation in my own life—that you can use to not only revolutionize your faith but lead you into a deeper, closer relationship with Jesus (and ultimately heal).
It’s this—give God the benefit of the doubt.
What do I mean by that?
Before I go any further, let’s refresh our memory about the story in Mark 9.
A Father’s Desperate Plea
In the New Testament, Mark tells of a distressed father asking to heal his son from a seemingly incurable illness, likely epilepsy, causing seizures, foaming at the mouth and being thrown on the ground, fire and water. This situation is clearly serious.
The father had taken his son to Jesus’ disciples, the same men who had already performed miracles like casting out demons, giving sight to the blind, healing the crippled and more. But despite this, they could not heal the boy. As you can imagine, this father must have felt his own doubt growing. Jesus was his last hope.
The story continues in verses 21-24:
Jesus asked this father to believe at a time when his situation was loud and messy—and honestly scary for any parent.
If you or a loved one are facing similar challenges with illness, I know you understand belief can run in short supply. So how do you have faith when your circumstances are screaming at you? How can you amplify even small faith so that your doubts melt away?
A Page out of Lee Strobel’s Book
The other night, I was reading Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ out loud to my kids at the dinner table. If you’re not familiar with the book, it tells the true story of Lee, an investigative journalist and staunch atheist, who decides to interrogate experts in various fields of study to disprove Jesus really rose from the dead—because if you can debunk the resurrection, Christianity is a sham (or so Lee reasoned).
During his interview with Dr. Craig Blomberg, a leading authority on the biographies of Jesus, Lee questioned the reliability of the gospel accounts, especially the contradictions across the four writers Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. To be fair, I had these same questions—and the same doubts—as Lee. Why are there inconsistencies with the stories? What really happened? Are these flaws in the truth and reality of Christ? If I was to stake my life on the fact that scripture is the living, breathing word of God, I needed to be sure all of it was reliable.
In response to the contradictions presented by Lee, Blomberg replied, “Both [accounts] can be true at the same time” and “there are multiple possibilities.” He even gives viable options that could account for the seeming disparities.
Then Blomberg ends with this: “There are occasions when we may need to hold judgment in abeyance [suspension] and simply say that since we’ve made sense out of the vast majority of the texts and determined them to be trustworthy, we can then give them [the gospel writers] the benefit of the doubt when we’re not sure on some of the other details.” (emphasis mine)
An Invitation to Remember God’s Score Card
The next morning during my alone time with God, I sat with Him to process things going on in my own life. That’s when I heard the message repeated: “give God the benefit of the doubt.” It was an invitation to believe the promises of Jesus versus what I see and have in my hand.
If we, as believers in Jesus Christ, are willing to give these gospel-writing men the benefit of the doubt because we can see most of the texts pass our tests of accuracy, and we know that their track records speak volumes about their virtue and morality, then why can’t we do the same thing with God?
With this in mind, I decided to look at God’s track record in my life—and I was astounded. If I stacked up sheets of paper one by one as proof of His love and faithfulness to me, the pile would be higher than Mount Everest and deeper than the deepest ocean! It hit me how easily I forgot what He had done for me, my history with Him and the ways He’s come through. I was willing to give all of that up simply because something was not lining up in my heart or mind perfectly.
A Link to Our Brains and Health
Amazingly, the journey of healing with God as He calms and quiets our unbeliefs lines up with the practical scientific understanding of an “impaired” nervous system, or limbic system impairment. When the brain is stuck in fight-or-flight and stressed out, the prefrontal cortex (aka CEO of your brain) cannot function properly. It goes offline, and instead you have a limbic system—aka your “preschooler” brain—running the show. And guess what? That preschooler acts like a preschooler. She doesn’t want to listen to reason or sound advice, like the fact she needs to go to bed at bedtime. Instead, the limbic system throws a temper tantrum.
Taking this a step further, I recognized on my own journey that not only was my brain CEO not working well, but my perception about God, myself, my past, my future, the world and my life was also impaired. My limbic system preschooler would keep trying to find reasons to stay awake—to self protect—in an attempt to avoid letting go and believing and receiving what God has for me.
A Call to Believe God—and let go of over-analyzing
No matter what you may think or believe, if God says it, it’s true. Period. God’s words don’t become true the moment you believe; they have been and will always be the truth now and forever. An atheist’s unbelief in God doesn’t make God non-existent. So your unbelief in some or all of God’s promises doesn’t make His promises null and void.
But in order to get that sticky and persistent unbelief to go, we must choose to let Him renew our minds to the truth. Over-analyzing and overthinking are just ways of wrestling with the truth, and God wants to help us relax.
The Lord has given me promises that I have been stewarding in my heart since I first came to know Him. While the journey has been filled with pain, fear, confusion and second-guessing, I’ve chosen to accept that Jesus has proven Himself to me. I know my Shepherd’s voice. If you were to put a gun to my head and tell me I have to answer this question correctly—“is this really of God?”—I have more confidence than doubt that YES, this is what the Lord says. And that is enough for me to go on!
An Invitation to You
Can you give God the benefit of the doubt today?
Can you recognize that your brain will continue looking for evidence to doubt God if you continue searching for reasons to doubt?
It will never end. You have to decide.
Is God really telling you the truth when He promises you abundant life?
Will God’s plans really be done here on earth as it is in heaven?
Is God trustworthy when He promises to take care of every detail in your life because He can? Because he wants to give you good gifts?
He is the way, the truth and the life.
Jesus Christ flipped the world upside down through His death, burial and resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit to live inside of us. You were dead and are now alive, full of God Himself! You can come out of any situation you are facing as an overcomer and a victor!
Today, I challenge you to say no to those nagging doubts. Instead, look at the miraculous works of God around you, in the Bible and in your own life. And CHOOSE that the cross of Jesus Christ is provision for you to have all you could ever ask, think or imagine—and MORE!
That is my God!
Are doubts or other challenges clouding your brain rewiring practice? Whether you’re brand new to brain retraining or just need to get a few questions answered, I’d be honored to come alongside you. You can get in touch with a member of my team at info@BreaKatrin.com to get started.