Fear or Faith

Chuckle: Diner: “Waiter! You have your finger on my steak!” Waiter: “Well, I don’t want it to fall on the floor again.”

Quote: “God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ increase us in faith and truth and gentleness, and grant us part and lot among His Saints.” --St Polycarp

“God is able to do superabundantly, for over and above, all that we dare ask or think. Infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams” (Ephesians 3:20 AMP). “According to your faith, it will be done to you” (Matthew 9:29 NIV).

We can approach life in one of two ways – by fear or by faith. If we live by fear, we will view every circumstance with pessimism, and concentrate on what we’re afraid will happen rather than what we want and expect to happen. Even Job, the great man of faith, found himself living by fear. “What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me” (Job 3:25 NIV). Or you can live by faith and view every circumstance with optimism. If we live by faith, we expect God’s promised presence and power to be available to us in every situation and will not allow ourselves to live with fear and dread.

Unfortunately, many Christians never tap into God’s abundant resources He has made available to us. We know, intellectually, that God is all powerful and can distribute that power whenever and wherever He chooses. However, because of our lack of faith, we miss seeing the evidence of God’s power. There have been times in my life when I prayed but didn’t really expect God to do what I asked. My expectations translated into a lack of faith. The key that unlocks God’s power in your life is really simple: It’s faith.

The law of expectations says, basically, we get what we expect in life. We see what we expect to see; feel what we expect to feel; act the way we expect to act; and eventually, achieve what we expect to achieve. Your expectations influence your happiness, your relationships, and even your health. Because of our faith, or lack of faith, our expectations as to what God will do influence what God actually does. This is because “according to your faith, it will be done to you.”

The words of Jesus, in our text, tell us Jesus did not immediately respond to the pleas of some blind men to have their sight restored. Jesus waited to see if they had faith. There may have been times in your life when you thought God wouldn’t answer your prayers, or was much to slow in answering. It could be that God was testing your faith as Jesus did with the blind men. Do you desire and expect God’s help in dealing with your problems?

Fear and faith are demonstrated in the story of David and Goliath. In fear, everyone but David saw the giant as too big and powerful for them to defeat. But, by faith, David saw him as a target much too big for him to miss with his deadly slingshot. What are your goliaths in life and how do you approach them – by fear or by faith?

Love, Jerry & Dotse