Faith vs. Fear
If you haven’t noticed our world seems a little unhinged lately. It feels like it gets a little more wonky with every passing day. First a virus, then murder, mayhem, riots and political unrest like a cherry on the top of it all. But it’s my belief all of these things are only symptoms to cause us to fear which has become the real problem we now face.
Paul taught us in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”Fear is defined as a destressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain etc., whether the threat is real or imagined.” It’s not just a feeling but a spirit. The Spiritual realm is very real although unseen. The spirit of fear comes to us to get us to act in fear instead of walking in power, love and a sound mind.
Fear is the opposite of faith. Faith is defined as confidence or trust in a person or thing.
strong or unshakeable belief in something. Jesus often got frustrated with his disciples when they were fearful. Matthew 8:26 “But Jesus reprimanded them. “Why are you gripped with fear? Where is your faith?” Then he stood up and rebuked the storm and said, “Be still!” And instantly it became perfectly calm.” When the storm rose up to destroy them and the spirit of fear came, they gave into it instead of rebuking it and staying in faith.
This is the perfect example of Jesus showing us how to react to situations where the enemy is attempting to derail our faith. Being a believer doesn’t exempt us from hard things. Overcoming doesn’t always mean getting it the way we want it, but it means using our faith and knowledge to stand up against the attack and not give into the fear we feel all around us.
As believer’s we are to recognize the enemy in every situation, know the Word of God, and be able to apply it to the situation. Our emotions stemming from the craziness all around us should not be what we believe or respond to. Faith says I believe God is bigger no matter how it looks or feels. As I wrote last week, we have authority to stand up against any and all attacks whether emotional, physical or spiritual. Jesus took authority over sickness, death, the elements and temptation to show us how to do the same in our everyday lives.
In every situation we have a choice. We get to choose what we will believe. We can give into the fear of this virus or we can choose to take the precautions we can and trust God we will be safe. What we must understand is when we give into fear that spirit then takes control of our minds. The enemy’s authority over people and this planet was stripped from him on the Cross. It was given to him when Adam and Eve sinned. Jesus took it back and gave it to us. It’s our responsibility to exercise it over him and defeat him.
If I break into your house and try to steal your possessions, I am a thief. Why? Because they don’t belong to me, they are yours. You would have every right to fight against me stealing from you. In the same way, whatever Jesus blood paid for I have a right and authority to fight for. Fear attempts to steal our peace of mind, our health and our freedom. We either let him or we fight. Plain and simple. Jesus will not do it for us, we must learn to fight.
So how do we fight? I’m so glad you asked! Our example is of course Jesus. When the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness to be tempted, He fought Satan with the Word of God. Every time the enemy offered him something the Word tells us he SAID and then quoted scripture. He used the Word of God as his sword in that battle. Hebrews 4:12a “For we have the living Word of God, which is full of energy, and it pierces more sharply than a two-edged sword…” Our enemy does not respond to anything except us standing in our authority quoting the Word of God. John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Vs. 14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus the Word was with God from the beginning and became flesh. Scripture is our weapon just like it was when Jesus spoke it against the enemy. It’s our job to use it as a sword coming out of our mouths straight at our enemy to defeat him. When we do that, he has no defense against us. At times the enemy doesn’t retreat immediately. What should we do?
1. Stand. Ephesians 6:13 says, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” When nothing changes, we stand. We stand our ground in faith knowing God is working on our behalf.
2. We trust. Trust that all things are being worked together for our good because we believe.
We may feel fearful, but we do not have to give into that feeling. We can fight and we can win.
Holy Spirit we need your help every day to fight our enemy who is trying to kill, steal and destroy us. When we forget to fight remind us, prompt us to take up our swords and go to battle against the darkness that seeks to envelope us. Help us to choose to stand against anything that is against God’s perfect plans for us. Be our comforter and our strength when we are weak… In Jesus name.