Can we feel the fear, but walk in faith?
How often do lies come to our minds and we give them more weight than they deserve:
My child will always struggle.
I’m not good enough.
This situation will never get better.
My life is a mess. I can’t do anything right.
They are better than me, prettier than me, smarter than me.
If only I had more money.
If only I had that husband.
If only I hadn’t married him.
I never make the right decisions.
I’ll never amount to anything.
This is as good as it’ll get for me.
These lies may be real to our emotions, but they aren’t truth. They are whispered in our ear by a lying spirit that comes to steal, kill and destroy.
They aren’t based in fact, but rather they are speculations fueled by imagination. We build a foundation for them and give them substance through fear.
To speculate means to form a theory about a subject without firm evidence.
Fear leads us to build our homes on sandy and unstable foundations. When we give into negative emotions, we’ve walked away from truth.
Fear used to be my constant companion. Now it’s an unwelcome visitor I practice not letting in.
I have teenage drivers. Treasures that take my heart with them whenever they walk out the door, keys jangling in their hands. One particular night I lay in bed wondering if my son was okay. He was out of cell range. It was after midnight. He was late and I was glaring daggers at TDH who lay next to me snoring through my fear-infested imaginations.
I was mad at my son for being late, mad at my husband for sleeping peacefully and mad at God for not fixing it for me. For not taking away my fear. For not telling me EVERYTHING WAS OKAY!
I had a choice to make: give into the anxiety-inducing fear, or place my son in God’s hands. It was a wrestling match. Me against the enemy, with God cheering me on.
To stand on truth, we have to know the truth-Giver.
What does He say about you? How does He feel about you? How does He want to help you?
Fear is a substance, just as faith is. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1 NASB, my emphasis).
Or we could say, “Anxiety is the substance of things greatly feared, the evidence of where we’ve placed our trust.”
Fear is just faith in the wrong kingdom.
If we want to start living out our faith, we need to look into the eyes of the faith-Giver and listen to what He’s saying. We need a hand to hold in order to step off that cliff.
Nothing about walking with Jesus is “blind faith” when you know He has you.
Prayer
Father, I repent for letting my mind and imagination run with fearful thoughts and pictures. I want a mind that is set on you (Phil. 4:8). Teach me how to bring my mind into alignment with Your thoughts and with how Your kingdom operates. Teach me to love others and give the benefit of the doubt, to think the best of them, to think the best of myself. To walk in the grace that You give me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Photo By Kevin B 3 via StockPholio.com
Photo By Alice Popkorn via StockPholio.com
Excellent post, Sher! Wish I didn’t need these words so much, but I do. Work in progress!
Just the message I needed to hear today. Thank you for saying “fear is faith in the wrong kingdom.” There are so many other words I could replace fear with. But I will choose to walk in the grace God has given me