[Faith-talk] FW: [tbcf] to believe not to believe

[Eric Calhoun]

Original Message: 
From: Andrew Edgcumbe <andrewjedg at gmail.com>
To: tbcfamilyroom <tbcfamilyroom at yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [tbcf] to believe not to believe
Date: 
Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:31:47 -0400

To Believe Or Not To Believe

By
Dr. Charles F. Stanley

This week's topic:
Answered Prayer

I have a friend whose heart was broken when his son decided he no
longer wanted to be married. The father prayed that God would
reconcile that broken relationship,
but soon the divorce was final. My friend felt as though the Lord had
let him down.

After Christ's death, Thomas struggled with a similar issue. He had
envisioned his Messiah ruling as King of the whole earth-but now Jesus
was dead, and
Thomas's hopes were buried with Him. Had he believed a lie? Why had
his Lord not done what the biblical prophecies said He would do?

When the other disciples reported that the Lord had risen from the
dead, Thomas refused to believe unless he could actually see Christ's
wounds of crucifixion
(John 20:25). Having been disappointed after putting faith in Jesus
before, he hesitated to do so again without tangible proof.

Our trust in God can take a nosedive when expectations of what He will
do are unfulfilled. Perhaps you can think of a time you asked the Lord
for something
and believed with all your heart that He would do it-but then He
didn't. What are we to do when it looks as if God has failed us? Keep
believing! Jesus
said, "Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed" (v. 29).

Thomas's huge disappointment-Christ's death-ultimately led to the
greatest hope for mankind. When we feel that the Lord has let us down,
we need to realize
that in His great wisdom, He is doing something even greater than we
asked.

Scripture Of The Day: "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet
have believed." - John 20:29 (KJV)


------------------------------------

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