WITHOUT A DOUBT

I was recently thinking about what it means to know something and to know it with as little doubt as possible. As I prayed about this, what I wanted is to believe in faith about things “without any doubting” as James says (1:16). To have this kind of unflappable knowing takes some strong experiences and testing of ones ‘belief system.’ To know ‘without a doubt’ is pure faith.

After the withering of the fig tree, Jesus said to Peter, “Have faith in God. Truly, I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘be lifted up and thrown into the sea!’ And does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place; it will be done for him. For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that it is granted to you, and you will get it” (Mark 11:22-24). This takes a great deal of thought and understanding to process or it takes no thought and understanding. To over-analyze faith is to destroy faith. Faith is to believe something and not to think about it in the sense of calculation and premeditation. Jesus started this text by simply saying, “Have faith in God,” and that is the greatest challenge of faith: to have faith in God instead of faith in our own abilities and being our own god.

“If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” Jesus