Choosing to Believe: Finding Faith in Jesus When Doubt Creeps In

Read the blog post for this podcast here: Choosing to Believe: Finding Faith in Jesus When Doubt Creeps In

What does it really mean to believe in Jesus? In this episode, I share my own journey of faith—through doubt, questions, and God’s steady presence. Whether you’re struggling to believe or wanting to grow deeper, this message will encourage your heart.

Chapters

• 2:25 Welcome & Today’s Focus: Belief
• 3:32 From Knowing About Jesus to Knowing Him
• 4:32 Free Will and the Choice to Believe
• 5:32 Why Jesus Reveals Himself to Believers
• 7:12 Miracles, Proof, and Mature Faith
• 9:19 Personal Turning Point: Choosing Jesus
• 11:22 Growing Faith Through Small “Breadcrumbs”
• 13:07 Help My Unbelief: Honest Prayers
• 14:12 Faith Under Pressure in a Hostile World
• 16:17 Encouragement, Prayer, and Next Steps

Transcript

Audrey: 1:12

Hi friends, welcome back to Grace for My Home. I'm Audrey McCracken and I'm so glad to be back with you again this week. I hope that you're doing well. We have had an eventful week, lots going on. Right now I'm waiting for my son Caleb. He's in drum lessons and I'm in the van waiting on him, and I thought this would be a great time to do the podcast. Today I wanted to talk with you about believing in Jesus. Last week I shared a little bit about the gospel and what the gospel means. And this week I want to share a little bit with you about believing in Jesus, because that's the crux, that's the root, that is the center of the gospel, is that we believe in Jesus. And not just that we believe that he lived or that there was a man named Jesus that lived, but that he is who he said he is, because that's what our hope rests on. I grew up in church and I learned the gospel story, and I learned the Bible stories, and I could tell you all the things. I could tell you who Jesus was and where he was born and how all that went about, and you know, all of the basic Christian doctrines I could tell you from probably a pretty young age, because I grew up in church. But that there comes a time when we have to believe for ourselves, not because we were taught that way, not because we grew up in a Christian home, not because we somebody told us about it, but because we choose to believe. Belief is is very important to God. I did a whole podcast on that, how God is looking for someone to believe. We hear the gospel, the gospel is presented to us, but there comes a time when we must choose the gospel for ourselves. Believing in Jesus is always a choice. You know, there's a saying that that says, you know, I believe it when I see it. But Christianity is a little different. With being a believer, we believe and then we see. You know, all we have we are presented with a choice, and we get to choose. One of the the most awesome things that God has given us is our free will, and it's very precious, it's very unique. We have been given by God the ability to choose for ourselves, and that ability is so awesome and so complete that we can even choose not to choose him, we can even choose not to believe. But he gives us opportunity to believe. When when I became a Christian, I remember reading through the gospels, and one of the things that frustrated me, and I'm just being honest here, maybe this was just, you know, being an immature Christian. But when I when I read through the Gospels about how Jesus died and all he was crucified, he was tortured, he was humiliated, and he was falsely accused, he was betrayed by those that he loved. You know, he did so much good. Jesus went about doing good. It says that in the Bible. He went about doing good, he went about healing people and setting people free, and and for all of that good, he was crucified. He was he was killed, and he was sentenced to a sinner's death. And on the third day, he rose again. And so many times I thought, why didn't he go to those who put him on that cross? I wanted him to show himself to those who had put him there, those who had betrayed him. I want I wanted him to set things right. And he is gonna set things right, but not my way. And when I read through that gospel, when I read through the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and you know, he did not do that the way I wanted him to do that. He did present himself to people. You know, there were he he's actually presented himself to large crowds, but those were crowds of believers. Because, see, when you believe in Jesus, that's when you get to see him. He manifests himself to believers, and as we believe, we get to see him more and more and more, but it's always a choice. As a young Christian, I remember wanting so much to see miracles, and I have seen miracles. Um, God's done miracles in my own life. Actually, just me being a Christian to me is a miracle because I know how I was before and I see who I am now, and I see that my life is a miracle. But I remember so wanting God to do big things because I wanted to see his power. I wanted to see, you know, that justification that my God is real. And when I think back sometimes of, you know, my those early years when I so wanted to see great miracles, and I still love great miracles, don't get me wrong. I would love to see great miracles, and I believe one day we will see great miracles. But sometimes my reason for wanting to see those things was so that it would help me to believe. I thought if I could see God do something huge, something big, then you know there'd be proof. You know, my faith is not in vain because here is God doing big things. And I there's nothing wrong with loving miracles and seeing miracles and praying for a miracle. But God is honored when we believe, when we just take him at his word and believe. That is when he is glorified. You know, he told Thomas, Thomas, Thomas said, I will not believe until I see him, until I put my hand in his side, until I see the nail prints in his hand. I will not believe. And Jesus appeared to him and he showed him those things. And then he said, You believe because you see, but blessed are those who do not see yet still believe. And that's us. You know, we have not seen Jesus with our natural eyes, we have not touched him with our earthly hands, and but we are blessed now because we believe without seeing. And like I said, that is a choice, and it's a leap of faith. There was a time in my life when I did not believe. I grew up in church, but I wanted to get away from everything I knew, and I had a hard family life, and I wanted to get away from my family and everybody I knew. And so I went away to college as far away as I could afford. And at that, that was a point in my life where I really wasn't sure what I believed. I was running from God, I was running from myself, I was running from everybody. And during that time, I really did not know if I believed in God anymore and if I believed in Jesus. But I remember my last year at college being presented with the gospel in such a very clear and direct way. God was pulling me and He was giving me the opportunity not just to know the gospel, but to put my faith in it. Not just to know about Jesus, but to believe in Jesus. And I remember very distinctly that this was my choice. That God was giving me the opportunity, but I was the one who was gonna have to make that choice to believe. And I'm so glad I did. You know, I I put my trust in Jesus. I said, Jesus, I believe. I don't understand everything, I don't, you know, I don't have it all figured out. I have a lot of questions, but I choose this day to put my trust in you. And it was a turning point for my life. And during that time, he would give me little breadcrumbs. You know, there would be things I would need, and I hadn't even really prayed about them, but they would be there when I needed them. And there were other times that I would really pray for things that I needed, and God would seem to do miracles, you know, to bring those things that I needed about, sometimes in the most unusual ways. But he was he was increasing my faith, he was strengthening my prayer life, he was showing me that I'm here, and you know, and he doesn't do those things all the time or they wouldn't be special, but he was building my faith. And when I look back now, I think, Lord, thank you. Thank you that you took my little seed of faith and you helped it grow. And and the more I prayed and the more I saw God move in my life, the more I believed. But he appears, he manifests himself to those who believe. And he even you know gives us this prayer in the Bible of Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. A father prayed that prayer for his son. He brought his son to Jesus for him to be healed, and he said, Lord, if you can heal my son, and Jesus said, if, and he said, Lord, I do believe, help my unbelief. And so we have to make that choice, that that choice to believe. But we as Christians, we do not live in a world surrounded by those who believe. Quite the contrary, we live in a world surrounded by those who do not believe. And so it is a challenge. It's a challenge to our faith. And not only are we in a world where many don't believe, but we're in a world where people are actually hostile to the towards the gospel and towards us who do believe. And Jesus said that would happen. He said, you know, in this world you will have you will have trouble, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. And he also said, as they have hated me, so the world, as the world has hated me, so it will hate you. And he also told us, love your enemies, pray for those who despitefully use you. We do not have the luxury of hating those who hate us or doing wrong to those who have wronged us. God asks us to live on a higher plane. And in this world, we will have trouble, we will have doubts, we will have people who try to take our faith away, but we have to choose to believe. And there is a grace for that. There is a special grace for those who want to believe but are surrounded by doubt, who hold on even when it's hard. And if you're one of those people, if you're struggling with faith, if you're trying to hold on to your faith in a season where it just feels almost impossible, I want to encourage you that you're not alone, that it's okay to go to God and say, Lord, help me. Help my Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Actually, I think that makes us stronger when we can just be honest and say, Lord, I'm struggling. And I want to pray for you today. And I just want you to know that we all go through seasons of doubt, but Jesus wants you to make him yours personally. He wants you to believe, not just because you've been taught, not just because everybody around you at church believes. He wants you to believe because he's real and because you have made that choice to believe in him. And he will show himself to you as you take a step towards him. He has promised to take a step towards you. Let's pray. Father, I pray for these precious ones today who are listening. I pray, God, that you would help us, Lord, in the areas where we doubt. Even if it's doubting you, Lord, I pray that you would strengthen us in our faith. I pray, God, that you would help us, Lord, in whatever areas, Lord God, where we it's just hard to believe sometimes that you're on our side, that you know what's best for us, that you have a plan. Lord, help us to put our trust in you. Lord, help us to put our faith in you. We love you, Lord. And Lord, I just thank you for your goodness in Jesus' name. Amen. I hope you have a great week. If you have not done so, please go to my blog, graceformyhome.com, and sign up for my weekly newsletter. I send out a weekly newsletter with information about my blog and my podcast and places where I'll be speaking, and also photos of my family, things I don't like to share on the internet or on social media. I send those to my email subscribers because those are mostly the people who I think care about those kind of things. So um, I hope you have a great week and God bless. Bye bye.