What Should You Do with Doubt? Do you ever experience doubt? Do you ever feel an uncertainty or lack of conviction when it comes to your faith? If you’re being honest, you do. Doubt affects the lives of many, if not all, believers at some stage. Perhaps especially during times of uncertainty such as we are navigating at the moment. Indeed, the journey of faith is not a straight-line trending upwards, it is a journey marked by peaks and valleys, seasons of joy and struggle. The reasons for our doubt are multi-faceted. Doubt can be brought on by a personal crisis, a painful experience, a traumatic memory, a medical diagnosis, a difficult question, a theological misunderstanding, a sinful compromise, or more. Similarly, the nature of our doubt can vary.

Will God Always Protect Us from Harm? 7 The LORD will protect you from all harm; he will protect your life. 8 The LORD will protect your coming and going both now and forever. (Psalm 121:7-8) It’s a beautiful promise! But… some might wonder whether we are supposed to take this promise seriously…. I mean, can we expect to avoid all harm and pain in this life because we are God’s people? Is that what this verse is promising? We only need to take a look at our social media feeds to see that our world is full of pain and anger, and Christians aren’t excluded from it. In fact, Open Doors Australia estimates that ‘in the top 50 countries alone, 260 million Christians face intimidation, prison, or even

Does trust in God remove anxiety? “Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.” Psalm 62:8 Have you ever felt bad for feeling bad? Have you ever felt ungodly for feeling uncertain about the future? For feeling anxious or depressed? Have you ever thought to yourself: “If only I trusted God more, I wouldn’t be feeling this way”? If you have, you’re certainly not alone, but you’re also not entirely correct. Of course, our fears and anxieties can be, and often are, driven by a lack of trust in God; by our failure to properly and deeply apply the promises of God to our hearts. But it’s not exclusively or always the case. And the assumption that if

Musings from the Middle East: Bethlehem Modern day Bethlehem is not a particularly pleasant place to be. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of fascinating history to see there. But the town is an overcrowded, bustling, unattractive tourist magnet. On every corner are the same overpriced souvenirs, and the town itself is poorly maintained and built on top of itself. It is nothing like the nativity postcard pictures of Bethlehem. Even the Church of the Nativity, possibly the most famous church in the world, built over the traditional site of Jesus’ birth, is a bit underwhelming. It is a series of structures built on top of each other, covering some rock caves with carvings and shrines created over the last 2,000 years. Perhaps the most spiritually attractive part

Jesus is Building His Church Jesus once said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18). I don’t know about you but I used to think ‘the gates of hell’ represented Satan’s kingdom. I thought that Jesus was saying that he would build his church and that Satan’s kingdom could not stop it. I can remember hearing preachers talk about how gates weren’t weapons – and getting excited about how that meant Satan was on the defence! However, I don’t think that is what this verse is actually saying. The Greek phrase behind ‘gates of hell’ literally reads ‘gates of Hades’. Actually, this is how many other English versions translate it (NIV, NASB, CSB). Basically, ‘Hades’ represents the realm or