In short, the way to overcome HARD TIMES is by faith and the greatest hindrance to the full release of our faith is DOUBT. DOUBT is actually UNBELIEF and it's the principal thing that causes us to become indecisive and to forget about the promises we're waiting for God to bring about. The word DOUBT actually means to waver or stagger in one's belief or to be unstable. In other words, TO DOUBT means to be double- minded (James 1:8). In fact, both of these words come from the same root. DOUBT (double-mindedness) is what your enemy uses to weaken your faith, to separate you from God's promises and to delay their full and timely manifestation in the natural. What the Bible actually says is that if you DOUBT, in other words if you're double-minded, you shouldn't expect to receive anything from God (James 1:7). Therefore, it ought to be apparent that in order to overcome HARD TIMES Believers need to awaken to the principle that casual DOUBT that's not resisted impedes the Lord's ability to deliver His promises and extricate us from the midst of our trials.

Looking at this from another perspective, we've already noted that the Bible says you can have what you say if you believe (release your faith) and don't DOUBT in your heart (Mark 11:23). Most Christians read this verse and gloss over it as something that's impossible to perform; but why would Jesus have spoken it and encouraged us to do something that's not possible? No, this is an invitation to move mountains with the force of one's faith! What's required is to speak out what we believe, be sure that what we say is in agreement with the Word of God and then make a diligent effort to NOT doubt that God will deliver what He has promised in His Word. HARD TIMES are a mountain for many Christian families these days; so speak to the mountain, tell it to remove itself from your life and then release your faith without doubting in your heart, without being double-minded about your authority to move that mountain by the force of your faith.

The truth is most Believers frequently forget or disregard or ignore that resisting and overcoming DOUBT is a big part of faith and that faith is required for overcoming life's trials and tribulations. The result is that we routinely fall FAR short of our potential so that biblical prosperity is not fully manifesting in our lives and beating back the HARD TIMES. Therefore, we need to recognize that DOUBT is actually an ongoing problem that we must work diligently and continuously to overcome. The battle never ends and once we've reached that level of awareness, there're some actions we can begin to take that will lead us eventually to overcoming DOUBT .

1. Ask Christ to help you with your doubt - To start with you're going to need some help. You can't overcome something as big as unbelief in your own strength. On one occasion a certain father brought his demon possessed son to Jesus and asked Him if He could do something to help him. Jesus responded that "all things are possible to him who believes." And the boy's father cried out and said, "I do believe; HELP MY UNBELIEF" after which Jesus delivered the boy from the oppressing spirits (Mark 9:14-29). The point is this: Jesus will help us with our unbelief. All we have to do is ASK HIM and then release our faith that He'll give us what we ask for.

2. Study the Word to make your faith grow and strengthen - The development of strong faith requires that we immerse ourselves continually in the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17) and strong faith is essential for resisting doubt. If we're negligent in studying the Word, our faith will be weak and our ignorance will cause us to act in unbelief (1Timothy 1:13). Even if it's been strong at times in the past, if we stop studying, our faith will regress and return to weakness. Strong faith requires a steady diet of God's Word as well as our commitment to obey and live by what we find there. Soon you can come to the point where your faith becomes a force that moves God's promises from the supernatural to the natural.

3. Confess the promises of God - In order to resist doubt, what you speak must agree with the Word of God and with your understanding of what He has promised to do on your behalf. When doubt presents itself, speaking is your first line of defense. If you're believing for debt freedom for example, then your speech should agree with it even though your circumstances appear to be entirely to the contrary. It's not denial to agree with the Word instead of your circumstances because you're agreeing with what God already has done for you in the supernatural. Your job is to let the power of your confession draw the promise by faith from the supernatural into the natural. When you decide to let your speaking agree with your faith instead of with your doubt, you'll be resisting that doubt and you'll soon see the promises of God manifesting in your life.

4. Speak directly to your problems - Once you've asked the Lord to solve a particular problem in your life, you should believe that He's heard and answered your request. That means you don't have to ask Him anymore to take care of the same problem. Rather, by faith you should begin to speak directly to the problem (Mark 11:23); command it to get in agreement with the promises of God and get out of your life. You can also speak directly to the good things you've asked for and command them to manifest. If your faith is strong in the Word, your commands will move the promises of God into the natural.

5. Cast down negative thoughts - When thoughts of doubt come to you, instead of passively entertaining them and allowing them to weaken your faith, cast them down. Cast them out and away from you. The Bible tells us to cast down every reasoning that is raised up against the knowledge of God and to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). By casting down wrong thoughts, you'll be resisting doubt.

6. Rest, don't worry - Once you've heard from God, begin to rest on His promises instead of worrying about how and when they're going to manifest. Worry is the outward evidence of a lack of faith (Mark 4:40). In fact, it's one of the primary things that chokes the Word and causes it to be unfruitful in your life (Matthew 13:22). When you start to worry you need to get yourself into the Word so you can transfer your focus from the thing(s) you're worrying about over to Jesus. If you focus on Christ, you won't be worrying. Rather you'll be enjoying the peace that passes all understanding where the force of a mature faith can move mountains.

7. Walk in love - Finally, the essential requirement for overcoming anything in the Kingdom of God is walking in "agape" love. Your faith won't work without love (1 Corinthians 13:2) and the result of faithlessness is doubt and fear. God is love (1 John 4:8) and perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). Since fear is the opposite of faith, the logical and correct conclusion is that perfect love RELEASES your faith. You can't be in strife or unforgiveness and walk in either love or faith. You also can't be rude, quarrelsome or easily offended. Lack of love will always produce doubt. Every principle and law of biblical prosperity depends on love (Matthew 22:37-40) because God IS love.

In sum, resisting DOUBT is an ongoing requirement. As time goes on it might get easier to resist your DOUBTS but you can't ever stop resisting. HARD TIMES will flee if you NEVER stop resisting your DOUBTS about the Lord.

Having thoughts that contradict our faith or the Word doesn't necessarily mean that we're in DOUBT; but we DO need to speak to those thoughts, actively take control of them and then kick them out of our minds. It's all about what we do with those thoughts that defines whether or not we've actually entered into DOUBT. Friend, the truth is you just can't be passive about DOUBT. If you can aggressively resist it and make it a high priority to walk in love, you'll come to the point that you receive what you say without delay and without fail. Indeed, if you can overcome DOUBT and walk in love, your faith can become a force that will move mountains and convert your HARD TIMES into Heaven on earth.

Thanks for reading PLN today and we'll be looking for you again in three weeks on Friday, September 18. In the meantime, may God overwhelm you with the fullness of His love and spiritual blessing! Enjoy your victory over HARD TIMES!

If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you can do so today just by saying the following simple prayer:

Jesus I believe in you and I believe that God raised you from the dead. I receive forgiveness for my sins and I ask you to come into my life today. I receive you as my Lord and Savior.

If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

� Make A Way Ministries, Inc. 10621 North Kendall Drive - Suite 120 Miami, Florida 33176