Offended In Jesus

When you have doubts about Jesus because things aren’t going the way you think they should or when your prayers seem to be put on hold; don’t allow the evil one to deceive you into thinking the Lord has forsaken you and He isn’t listening to you.  There are many reasons why you may feel that way and it has nothing to do with the Lord leaving you or forsaking you if you are a child of God unless you are living in sin and have not repented and confessed it and are not sorry for it.

If you are living in sin then your sin will separate you from God.  Just like when Adam and Eve sinned and they hid themselves from God because of their sin, sin will always cause us to hide from God, but take note of this, God still came to them, He knew they sinned but He still showed up in the garden like He always did.  The difference was that Adam and Eve didn’t greet Him like they would have if they hadn’t sinned; their sin caused them to be ashamed so they hid from God out of fear and, I think, humiliation.

I think a problem with many new believers in this area is when they receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior the enemy attacks them forcefully since he doesn’t want to lose them because if they become grounded in the faith they will be much harder to control and they will cause havoc to his kingdom.  Keeping this in mind, sometimes it seems at first that everything goes wrong and doubts start rising within their minds which can cause them to have doubts about the Lord.  

Here is another example, sometimes fear and doubt happen because our expectations are not met.   Think about John the Baptist who was the forerunner of Jesus.  Read what John said about Jesus in Matthew 3:11-12, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

John knew who Jesus was but, when he was thrown in prison, John seemed to have doubts about Jesus, it says this in Matthew 11:1-6, “Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.  And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’  Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.  And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.’”

Many things happen to believers that they don’t expect which can cause doubt to overtake their minds and cause them to be disillusioned.  Then they can become offended in Jesus, so we all, as believers, have to be careful how we react to our circumstances and situations.  Our enemy will be right there to try to convince us that the Lord doesn’t care about where we are or what we are going through and try to cause doubt to overtake our minds.  We need to stand on the promises of God, no matter what happens or how long it takes for things to turn around in our lives knowing that God has everything in control and that He will never leave us or forsake us.  He will always work out all things for our good.  

So don’t let anything shake you and cause doubt, just make up your mind that you will always serve and trust the Lord.  Remember this; nothing can happen to one of God’s people without Him allowing it to.  And don’t forget you are in good hands in the Lord.  God bless you and have a great day!! PS don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord.