3 Things to Do When Your Faith Feels Stuck
Sermon notes from Darius McClure at One Community Church on recovering faith: reposition yourself, receive peace, and respond in faith.
Lock In, Twin
Thomas, nicknamed Twin, was not with the other disciples when Jesus appeared. When they told him they had seen the Lord, he said he would not believe without seeing and touching Jesus’ wounds.
His experience raises the question: What do you do when your faith feels stuck?
25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands, and put my finger where the nails have been, and put my hand into His side, I will never believe.”
You Cannot Get Life Right if You Get Faith Wrong
Faith is essential to salvation, prayer, and pleasing God.
The enemy attacks your faith because he knows that once your faith starts coming together, other areas of your life can begin coming together.
This is a season to stop walking by frustration and feelings and begin walking by faith.
Faith Under Attack
The enemy thinks that attacking your money, family, or health will take your faith. But faith does not only believe God when you have something. It believes God when you do not.
Praise God not only for what he gives, but for who he is.
Take inventory of where you have been consistently attacked. Darius points to those areas as places where God wants to use you. People may see your breakthrough without understanding what you have been through.
From Saving Faith to Strong Faith
All faith is significant, but all faith is not the same. Moving from glory to glory involves moving from faith to faith.
- Saving faith: I believe in Jesus.
- Strong faith: I believe like Jesus.
Do not get saved and leave your faith at the altar. Take your faith home. Have faith not only for favor, but also for forgiveness.
Faith Requires Focus
Peter stepped out of the boat and walked on water, but he began to sink when the wind and waves distracted him.
Sometimes our faith is not showing up because our focus is lacking. Focus is what faith looks like showing up.
Many of us can start strong. Can we stay strong? What did you start that you did not stick with?
This may not be the greatest year of your life, but you can be determined to make it your most focused year.
29 “Come,” said Jesus. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus.
30 But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and took hold of Peter. “You of little faith,” He said, “why did you doubt?”
Distraction Can Pull You Away
Jesus completed the work on the cross. We do not pray for victory; we pray from victory.
The enemy, already defeated, attempts to distract you so that you defeat yourself. Sometimes what we blame on the devil is really our decisions.
Darius describes distraction as being dragged in different directions: away from God’s presence, purpose, and assignments. You can be in the right place without giving God your undivided attention.
Get Around People Who Will Bring You to Jesus
It is hard to stay focused around distracted people.
The paralyzed man had four friends who refused to let a crowded house keep him from Jesus. They opened the roof and lowered him down. Jesus saw their faith.
Darius calls this intercessory faith: when you do not have enough faith to believe for yourself, others stand in the gap and believe for you.
You need people who will do what needs to be done to get you to Jesus. Your destiny is too important for you to remain distracted.
2 they gathered in such large numbers that there was no more room, not even outside the door, as Jesus spoke the word to them.
3 Then a paralytic was brought to Him, carried by four men.
4 Since they were unable to get to Jesus through the crowd, they uncovered the roof above Him, made an opening, and lowered the paralytic on his mat.
5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
When Faith Gets Stuck in Disappointment
Darius describes Thomas as devastated by the crucifixion. After following Jesus for three years, he had watched the one he trusted suffer and die.
His faith had stopped at the crucifixion, and he could not believe in the resurrection.
Our faith can get stuck in a similar place when Jesus does not show up as we expected. Sometimes we have to let go of the Jesus in our heads to get to know the Jesus in the Bible.
Do Not Let a Season Become Your Label
Thomas is often called “Doubting Thomas,” but his story also shows loyalty and commitment. When others feared accompanying Jesus, Thomas was ready to go with him.
Be careful about labeling someone by a difficult season.
What if he was not simply doubting Thomas? What if he was honest Thomas, expressing what he was struggling to believe?
Be Honest With God
It is one thing to be a truth teller. It is another to be a truth hearer. Not everyone can handle an honest conversation.
Thomas expressed his frustration openly. Darius connects that vulnerability to prayer: we have learned to confess our sins, but we also need to confess our feelings.
David brought both his need for a clean heart and his anger toward enemies to God. He did not hide his issues.
God’s job is to fix it. Our job is to face it.
What if Doubt Is the Fruit and Distance Is the Root?
Thomas was not with the others when Jesus came.
When life hits, we can isolate ourselves from the people God has called us to be around. Distance creates an environment where doubt can grow unchecked, without wise counsel.
For some of us, the issue to address is not only doubt. It is distance.
If we win together, we must also be mature enough to experience loss together.
Eight Days Later
The disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them.
Darius connects the eighth day with new beginnings and points to Jesus receiving his name on the eighth day. The word again matters for anyone who feels they have missed an opportunity.
The doors were locked, but Jesus appeared among them. Their locked doors did not limit the resurrected Jesus.
There is a difference between being locked in with focus and being locked up by fear.
Jesus Met Thomas at His Wounds
Jesus invited Thomas to examine the very wounds he had spoken about eight days earlier. He met Thomas in the place of his expressed frustration.
Darius calls this the miracle of exception: people may face the same conditions without coming out with the same outcome.
His declaration is, “I’m proof.” What you have survived can become a testimony of what God has done.
God Can Use Your Scars
Jesus had discipled Thomas through what he did. Now he addressed Thomas’ faith through his scars.
There may be a season when God wants to use your scars more than your skills. He may introduce you to people who are where you used to be.
Darius shares that he did not begin talking until age five, yet now travels and speaks. He also recalls an anxiety attack on the freeway and the depression that followed a football injury and the loss of his dream.
He had built his identity around football, but God had bigger plans. During that painful season, his brother was beginning Rock City Church.
Sometimes you do not realize God is all you need until God is all you have.
You Survived, but What Did You Lose?
Sometimes we survive a hard season but lose something valuable in it. We may not realize it is missing until we reach for it in the next season.
Jesus came to the disciples with peace. Before instruction or correction, he gave them what their troubled souls needed.
You can sleep without getting rest. Peace is more valuable than a paycheck.
Sometimes our pain is so loud that we struggle to hear the Lord. You will lose focus whenever you lack peace.
1. Reposition Yourself
Thomas did not need a new word. He needed to get back in the old place.
When Jesus appeared again, Thomas was with the disciples. Recovering faith begins with addressing the distance and returning to the people and place you withdrew from.
2. Receive Peace
Just because Jesus gave peace does not mean it was received.
Receive what he is giving. Your soul needs peace, not merely more sleep or changed circumstances.
3. Respond in Faith
Pain can leave your faith feeling paralyzed.
Have you been in the Word as you once were? Have you been seeking the Lord, not just praying a little, but seeking him diligently?
It is time to lock in.
Speak to the Twin Within
The sermon does not identify Thomas’ biological twin. Darius notes that proposed explanations for his nickname are conjecture.
His closing illustration turns the nickname inward: there is a saved us and a sick us, a part that believes and a part that struggles.
When doubt is talking loudly, call your faith to attention: “Lock in, twin.”
Sometimes the struggle is not only with the enemy, but with the inner me.
Closing Prayer
Father, help those whose faith is tied to forgiveness. Help them forgive the people who hurt them, what happened to them, and even themselves.
As they forgive, revive their faith. Give them peace that surpasses understanding and joy unspeakable and full of glory.
We lift your name and give you glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.
