Does your battery need a jump?

Not long ago I had a problem with my cellphone. For whatever reason, it wasn't holding a charge. I noticed that the little battery indicator icon showed my phone was just about out of power. As Christians, our faith is sometimes like that cellphone battery. When things are going well in our lives, our "faith battery" is fully charged. There are other times, however, when we face trials and troubles. It is during those seasons of suffering when our battery can be zapped if we do not stay connected to our power source, Jesus Christ.

Today, your battery may be weak. Don't think that you are a "less than" Christian if you are feeling that way. Some of the greatest names in the Bible went through periods of a power failure. In Matthew 11, we read about John who was placed in prison. At one point, he even questioned if Jesus was the real deal. John started to have doubts.

Doubts are thoughts put into our mind by the devil. We experience this when our mind is in a battle between what we want to believe and what we are willing to believe. In James 1:6-8, we are told a person who doubts is "double-minded and unstable in all they do." This is the constant thought of "Should I or shouldn't I do, say, or believe this or that?". James tells us that the doubter should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Now that is a wake-up call! I need all of the help from the Lord that I can get. If that is the case with you, then we better find a way to overcome doubt. Fortunately, there are some things we can do to defeat the devils power robbing strategy of doubt.

First of all, we need to question our doubts, not our faith. John sent people out to check some of his double-minded thoughts. He focused on where he was going wrong and not if Jesus was going wrong. The report that came back to him was that Jesus was indeed the Jesus he had been following. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

There are some other things we can do as well. God gave us His Word in book form to consult for guidance. Read your Bible! You can also remember what God has done in your past. Has He ever answered a prayer? Has He spoken to you in some way? Has He led you into a better life than when you were lost?

Today, you may be facing something that you are not sure about. I would encourage you to trust your heart instead of your head. Your head will say, "I don't see how this is going to work out.". Your heart, on the other hand, is saying "God is in control. He can do anything including the things I don't understand."

If your battery needs to be "jump started," there is no better charging station than your local church. Stay plugged into Jesus and your faith will be fully charged!