In the late night quiet of our minds, how many of us go through the following emotional and mental back flips? Jesus said “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Yet, in our thoughts we roll our thoughts around like debris tossing around in the edge of the surf. We think, “But what if i don’t believe like i think i do, afterall i’ve prayed about things, important things and nothing happened.” “What if all this isn’t what i thought. What if i’m not who God says i am? i know Jesus said Trust In God. i think i’m firm that i do, but…but what if i’m not where i’m supposed to be and i don’t know it?” “What if i’m out of God’s will and He doesn’t tell me and i find out too late that i’ve been completely off base?” “Ohh, what if God has told me and i’m just too deaf to hear and too dumb to understand? Jesus also said to Have Faith In God. i know i have faith, i’ve seen it. But if i’ve got faith like i think i do, why am i no further in life than i am and always struggling? i just don’t get it.” “Why is being a Christian so confusing sometimes. My church preaches that we all sin, all the time, but 1John says my daddy is the devil if i sin, and if i love Jesus i won’t sin, but they regularly tell me that i do sin, so what if i don’t know Jesus like i think i do and my daddy really is not God at all?”
It seems so much of scripture is like a pendulum, it slams one direction and then slams in the other. Love your neighbor, hate your mother and father, pray for and bless your enemies, hate the world, be IN the world but not OF the world. What do you think all that’s about anyway, you know? And don’t be telling me you’ve never thought those things, ‘cause if you wear skin and breath, you certainly have.
i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, a late evening broadcast from the easy flowing, casual banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge, and every evening is pleasant. This is acoustic jazz night, one week late, and Faith vs. Fear is our topic this evening. Can you relate to any of the following dramatic presentation concerning the back and forth bounce that happens in all believers who struggle with faith and fear at the same time. Confusing isnt’ it? Maybe that’s the point, huh? Hold your place, consider the topic, and i’ll be right back.
Fear and faith can not exist together. Fear has a family just like faith has a family. The family of faith has common behaviors like strength, trust, rest, and confidence to name a few; fear’s family of behaviors include disbelief, worry, anxiety, stress, and depression…. We don’t have to keep participating in the Chicken Little family, who was too afraid to cross the road. The family members of fear CAN be replaced with faith, you know. We don’t HAVE to live with them. We CAN move out of the house of fear and into faith’s covering…..the house of faith always has an open door to us all, faith always has a room ready for us to come and stay. i don’t want just a visitation, i want a full habitation of faith, and i’ll bet you do to.
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind.” Nowadays, i consider a sound mind to be one of my best assets, and mind you, i haven’t always had a mind which, in hindsight, was all too sound. If we allow fear to stay lodged in us, it will eventually nibble away at our faith until madness begins to grip us and sends us spinning into the abyss of insanity. i knew a tough guy, and i mean he truly was THAT guy nobody messed with. Even in prison he carried the title of monster. Finally, after many years of drug addiction he checked into an addiction recovery center, and he said one of the most important things he realized was that he was afraid. Once he dealt with his fear, the need for drugs began to ebb away and trusting the Lord became so much easier.
All along, Jesus is with us in our trials, ready to help if we would only call on Him, and persist to call on His name. How often do we choose to live with a spirit of fear instead of faithfully calling on Jesus? Let me add this thought: if we choose to live WITH fear, eventually, we’ll come into agreement with fear, and then, all of fears favorite friends will come to live with us. Oooo! That’s ugly, isn’t it?
Faith and fear are complete opposites. They cannot reign in the same heart. While fear cowers, faith stands. While fear frets, faith prays. While fear looks within, faith looks to Jesus. Fear despairs, faith hopes.
How do we get more faith then? We can’t go to the store and get more faith. It doesn’t come in sacks, boxes, spray cans, and we can’t go to WalMart and by instant “just add water” faith. Romans 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” We cannot, by our own effort or willpower, drum up more faith, somehow, to become more effective. God gives gifts to his church, and among those gifts, He gives faith and power as he wills. Is the statement “you don’t have enough faith”, or, “If you’re poor, sick, or sad it’s your own fault because you don’t have enough faith.”, is that saying God’s gift to each of us is insufficient? There is never a time anything of the Lord is in anyway, ever insufficient. Ever.
What is our greatest position of increase and strength, offsetting the fears that seem to easily accompany living this life?
Here’s four points:
Our greatest strength is coming into the likeness of the Son.
Our greatest increase in faith is learning to participate with God.
Our greatest increase in belief is by learning endurance through the
testing of our faith.
Our greatest character is when our endurance is fully developed.
James 1:2-4 “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
i’ll say it again: Faith and fear cannot exist together. i think many of us are in far more of a daily battle in our head and heart largely because we are a mix of faith and fear.
Faith is described in Hebrews 11:1 as being “certain of what we do not see.” Belief means to “stand firm, to be certain and unmoveable”. Faith is the noun and belief is the action verb derivative of faith. i find in myself that i have an absolute belief that God is constantly working behind the scenes in every area of my life, even when there is no tangible evidence to support that. Faith says “Though i see no tangible evidence, i am certain of what i do not see ”, and belief says, “I am sure of His working, and actively stand firm on His faithfulness to work righteousness in my life.”
On the other hand, fear, simply stated, is unbelief or weak belief. As unbelief gains the upper hand in our thoughts, fear takes hold of our emotions, nibbling and eating at the edges of our faith. Our deliverance from fear and worry is based on faith, which is the very opposite of unbelief. Let us understand that faith is not something we can produce in ourselves.
Ephesians 2:8-9, “Faith is a gift, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Faith is described as a fruit, or a characteristic, which is produced in our lives by the Holy Spirit according to Galatians 5:22. The believer’s faith is a confident assurance in God who loves us, who knows our thoughts, and cares about our deepest needs. That faith continues to grow as we study the Bible and learn the attributes of His amazing character. The more we learn about God, the more we can see Him working in our lives and the stronger our faith grows.
A growing faith is what we should desire and what God is looking to produce in us.
Another point of greatest increase is when our desires and God’s desires are the same. But how, in day-to-day life, can we develop a faith that conquers our fears? Well, for sure our fears are not overcome by becoming indifferent, that doesn’t cause strangling anxious concern to subside, it just puts it off and gives fear a chance to morph into something else to cut our feet from under us. Put your finger, specifically, on what it is which grips you so tightly. Name it. An un-named fear always looks like looming doom.
The Bible says in Romans 10:17, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God”.
The careful study of God’s Word is of primary importance in developing a strong faith. God wants us to know Him and completely rely on His direction in our lives. It’s through the hearing, reading and meditation in the Scriptures that we begin to experience a strong, confident faith which excludes worry and fear. In Matthew, four times Jesus distinctly said, “Don’t worry”.
Spending time in prayer and worship develops a relationship with our Father that sees us through even the darkest of nights. You may say that is such a cliche sounding thing to say, but, i’m tellin’ ya’, it’s the truth, and you don’t realize the magnitude or value of that truth until you’re in the dark, alone, and in trouble. In the Psalms we see a picture of David, who, like us, experienced times of fear. Psalm 56:3 reveals his faith with these words: “When I am afraid, I will trust in you.” i’m reminded of an old song with some of the lyrics being, “When the darkness is closing in, and i’m running against the wind, i will trust in You and i will not be afraid.” Psalm 119 is filled with verses expressing the way in which David treasured God’s Word: “I seek you with all my heart” (v. 10); “I have hidden your word in my heart” (v. 11); “I meditate on your precepts” (v. 15);.
These are revealing words which speak wisdom to us even now. The following words are key to developing faith, “I seek you”, “I meditate on your word”, “I trust in You”, and “I will not be afraid”.
God is kind and understanding toward our weaknesses, but He does truly desire us to go forward in faith.
The Bible is clear that faith does not mature and strengthen without trials, and, as much as we are uncomfortable with it, as much as i don’t like it or close my ears to not hear this, adversity is God’s most effective tool to develop a strong faith. That pattern is evident in Scripture. God takes each one of us through fearful situations, and as we learn to obey God’s Word and allow it to saturate our thoughts, we find each trial becomes a stepping stone to a stronger and deeper faith. Each trial is like a step and we can either step up or stumble down, but in the end, each trial gives us that ability to say, “He sustained me yesterday, He’ll carry me through today, and He’ll uphold me tomorrow!” i believe at the core of our fears and overwhelming anxieties, is unbelief and lack of trust in God.
In 1Sam17:37, when David volunteered to fight against Goliath, he said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine”. That is faith! David knew that God who had sustained him through dangerous situations in the past, would sustain him in, what appeared to the rest of Israel’s army, as a completely terrifying situation. From the perspective of other soldiers, they were all going to die under the blazing sun of the battle field. But David saw the providence and strength of the Lord. He had seen and experienced God’s power and protection in his life, and this developed within him a fearless faith.
The Word of God is filled with promises for us to take hold of and claim for ourselves. When we face financial trouble, Philippians 4:19 is a faith builder, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” If we are anxious about a future decision, Psalm 32:8 is a faith builder, the Lord says “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye.” In sickness faithfully remember Romans 5:3, “Tribulation works patience.” If someone murmurs against us, remember Romans 8:31, “If God is for us who can be against us!”
i think it worthy of being said that just because we recite those scriptures to ourselves doesn’t mean they are like magic words which will someone change the intrusion of vicious circumstances. The Lord gives us those words for us to be able to stand strong in the midst of the storm. Make no mistake, storms will come, and the Lord does indeed command the storms of our life to dissipate, but by far and large His intent is for us to trust in Him as overcomers, to stand strong in faith as a lighthouse for others who are also in a terrible storm.
Throughout life we will always face various trials that would cause us fear, but God assures us that we can know faith and peace through every situation. Jesus said, in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Think about it.
Colossians 1:11 “…being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may, joyfully, have great endurance and patience.”
(Philippians 4:7) “ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” The Lord has promised His peace will “guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus”.
i’m Social Porter and this program has been brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, Area 22 Guitars, Leona’s Dress Shop, the Mebane Freedom League, Mrs. Elsie Freeman at Superior Laundry, Florence Drake, John Deaver of Deaver Cab Company, [world famous Paul Powers of White Knuckle Studios], and, of course, the consistent and enduring, Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven.
What fears nibble at the edges of your faith? We all have little fears here and there, but we don’t have to allow them to manage and direct our lives, much less dictate to our faith. Lean more towards willingly participating with God, read your Bible and think about it. Let’s build the bridges of faith over the fears of this world. Amen? Yea, Amen.