In the picture is Bleu, he is a rescue, my daughter Rachael fell in love and had to adopt. He has a slow strong bark kind of like a hound dog.  She keeps him in an area with an underground fence. If you are familiar with those kinds of fences you know that he has a collar that shocks him if he tries to go out of the boundary. After getting shocked a few times he did not try to cross it anymore. After a few weeks went by Rachael, decided to take Bleu to pelicans to get a pup-cup. So, she removed his collar and started leading him towards the boundary line. He froze in his tracks, so she pulls and pulls, and he is fighting her the whole time.

Think about this, the dog is set free, no collar, but he still scared and still feels bound. His memories of the collar are haunting him, causing him not to enjoy the freedom he has been given. She even shows Blue the collar letting him know it is no longer on his neck. She does everything she can to let him know he is free. Bleu did not trust her.

You can probably see where I am going with this, the Bible teaches us “whom the son sets free is free indeed” yet some of us let our past keep us bound. The collar has been removed, yet your mind is the only thing holding you back from complete freedom. Holding you back from your destiny.

It is time that you take charge of your mind and quit doubting the freedom God has given you. From the moment you start questioning God, Why, What, or How, you open up the door for doubt to sneak in and still your freedom.

Can doubt and faith co-exist? Faith and doubt are simply the opposite of each other.

Let’s look at the facts;

Faith: complete trust or confidence in something or someone. A firm belief in something for which there is no proof.                        Synonyms: trust, belief, hope, optimism, confidence, assurance, faith, certainty

Doubt: one does not know the truth, lack of conviction, lack of faith, lack of trust, questioning the truth of fact about something.            Synonyms: uncertainty, unsureness, indecision, hesitation, confusion, disbelieve, distrust, mistrust, question,

Look at the definitions how can they co-exist in your mind?

The Bible teaches us repeatedly, about doubt. James 1 explains; “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”  God taught about this for a reason, because He knew it was something we were going to face.

As you continue to read James chapter one, he even says a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Trying to hold on to both makes us double minded?

This all makes me think of the old Cherokee story of the two wolves.

An old Cherokee Chief was teaching his grandson about life:

“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

”It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil–he is anger, envy, sorrow, depression, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, lies, false pride, superiority, doubt, and ego.”

He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you–and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Let’s just say the two wolves are Faith and Doubt, and this battle is in your mind. Since Faith gives you the power to move mountains, doubt will do everything possible to take over. Doubt does not want you in control, because he knows what will happen when you learn to overcome.

Doubt questions, “Why did God do this to me?”

Doubt wonders, “What if it doesn’t work? What if I fail?”

Doubt accusingly asks, “Why does God allow this tragedy to occur?

Doubt incriminates God by saying, “Where was He when I needed him?

Doubt skeptically disputes, “Who do you think you are?  You can’t do it?

Doubt creeps in your mind and tells you that you are not good enough, not strong enough, not worthy enough.

The answers are simple Faith and Doubt cannot co-exist, whatever you dwell on the most will always win. You must starve those thoughts, quit entertaining them. Fight this battle with the truth of God’s Word.

No matter what questions doubt has put in your mind God’s Word has the answers.

If you feel like everything thing is going wrong, James 1 teaches us to, “Consider it a joy, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.

Human nature wants you to ask, “why me”, it wants you to doubt God’s plan. We must look at life through Spiritual eyes. Always knowing, in faith, God has a reason for everything he does.

To see through Spiritual eyes, you must first change the way you think. Maybe you have cancer, and surgery followed by chemo are in your future. God may be letting this happen so you can witness to someone. That man in the chemo chair beside you that don’t know Christ.

Set your mind on building a trusting relationship with Christ. The kind you have with your, wife, husband, dad, mom, or whoever that person is that you talk to every day.

Trust might seem hard, but you trust people around you every day. Think about it, if you drive a car you trust the traffic lights will work or that people will stop at them, if you fly in a plane you trust the pilot to get you there safe, if you shop at a grocery store you trust the food is not contaminated, if you go to a doctor you trust that he gives you the right treatment, if you go to a restaurant that they wash everything. If you would trust God then you would never have to trust anything else because your best interest would always be in his heart. Trust is the key to complete freedom, trust is having faith.

If Satan can break your mind, he can control your life. He does not want us to try to find the good in what we may be going through, and he does not want you to trust God.

Science has proven that we have 30 sec before a thought become emotion. All of our doubts start with the thought that Satan puts in our mind.

Your mind can convince your body anything. Let me give you an example of how our mind can affect someone’s whole body. Have you heard the term psychosomatic? It is the connection between your mind and body, that cause you to experience physical changes due to your thoughts. For example, when a woman wants so badly to be pregnant her brain creates changes in her body. It’s very difficult for patients to accept that the pregnancy is not real, because of the physical sign. Almost 98% of these women will stop having a menstrual cycle. If you think that is crazy, 75% of these women experience the sensation of fetal movements known as quickening, even though there is no fetus present. That’s not all, their abdomen actually swells. Some of the other symptoms they experience are labor pains and softening of the cervix. A pregnancy created in their mind.

Your mind is very powerful! So, you must keep it focused on the right things. Even just a little doubt can change your whole way of thinking. Start battling your thoughts with scripture.

My favorite mind battle scripture is II Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

Any time Satan tries to cloud my head I quote that scripture.

God gave us His Word as a weapon to fight anything that comes our way. We must make the effort to spent time studying and building a relationship with Him.

Yes! “who the son sets free is free indeed” But you must believe in that freedom. You must trust God wholeheartedly, with EVERY aspect of your life. Don’t hold onto anything. “Submit they ways unto God Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

Let God guard your mind and heart, “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7

It is not the thought that comes and goes that impacts your future it is the thought that stays.

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9