Doubt in the rocky places

 Lessons from the seed falling on rocky ground

 "...the soil was so shallow and held so little nourishment and moisture, the heat of the sun soon withered the sprouting seed so that it died. It is always easier to begin a thing than it is to finish it." Barclay commentary on Mark 4:5-6  1  
Such it is with writing, including blogs, discipling new believers in fact anything of importance started.

What is the key that keeps us from finishing? ( I have many unfinished, unpublished blogs this year)

"Others, like the seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root they last only a short time and when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away." Mark 4:16-17 NIV 
Why does "joy fall away?"

 “If for any cause whatsoever we doubt His (unconditional) love, then our joy be darkened….” 2

The "rocky place", where "trouble and persecution come", has to do with doubt and doubt takes away joy.
"Don't doubt that love, know that He loves us unconditional. You just need to bring worries, sins, inabilities, anxiety and guilt to Him"  The Lord Prays for His Own, p. 242

 Do you believe:

1. That  God is sovereign in dark, troubled and persecuted places.
2. That God has a plan to bring you and I through any difficulty.
3. That He can give us the ability to meet His calling.
4. That God might not abandon us when we most need Him. 

In what circumstances of your life do you need to have Jesus turn doubt into joy?

Listen to what he has to say to you, let Him heal you and set you free.

 

1. William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series, The Gospel of Mark, (Philadelphia: The
Westminster Press) p.92
2   Marcus Rainsford, The Lord Prays for His Own, (Chicago: Moody Bible Institute, 1978), p.240-241