Fear or Faith?? Are they the same.
Newsletter Article
November 2003
Fear or Faith?
They really are the same thing, you know. They are both the expectation of things not seen. Which do you have? Fear? Faith? Both?
Two verses that I found show the results of fear and faith. Read these and consider them.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
Hebrews 2:14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death–that is, the devil– 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
The idea that fear and faith are the same thing seems wrong but it is true. The results are different but the beginning of each is the same. The result of fear is slavery. To be unable to free yourself from the bonds that hold you. God knows that we have fear and He as done the work to free us but it requires us to have faith. To accept the work of Christ is to move from fear to faith. The result of faith is for us to be commended. To live out in freedom what God has for us even if we do not see it or feel it or taste it. We know that it is real because of the results, not the tangible evidence of it.
Proverbs 3:3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
The focus on fear is broken when we take what is not seen and begin to focus on the one whom we can trust. The one who loves us and cares for us even when we don’t deserve it. Just because we don’t understand something is no reason to fear it. God understands it and He understands us. If we trust Him, He will make our paths straight. He will remove the obstacles we fear and bring us closer to Him in the process. And isn’t that what we all want? To be closer to God.
Fear will paralyze us but we can move to faith is we will simply begin to move. As we leave the place of fear it’s grip on us weakens and we begin to move toward faith. Faith is always combined with action or it is useless.
James 2:17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action , is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith ; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that–and shudder. 20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
So if you have fear, GET UP AND START MOVING. Stop being paralyzed by what might happen and step out in faith by finding where God is and going there to be a part of what He is making happen.
In His Grip,
Jerry Robertson
Chaplain