Faith or Fear?
In a prior post which can be found here, I talked about faith and choosing faith to see God work miracles in and through us. Faith is a powerhouse in the spirit!
My daughter has a shirt that says faith over fear, and yes, that’s true. We need to choose faith over our fear. But we also need to hold onto it through the fear. So I like to think of it as faith over fear and faith through the fear, because when we determine to choose faith, it’s can’t just be a one-time thing. It’s not something that we do one minute and then let go of the next. I mean…it can be…but we won’t see the mind-blowing miraculous supernatural lifestyle promised us in the Bible. If we want that, then faith needs to not just be chosen instead of fear, we may have to hold onto it through the screen of fear until we get to the other side.
My experience is that when I choose faith, fear begins to SCREAM at me, doing everything it can to get me to stop. Why? Because it knows that if I hold onto faith, it’s lost. It cannot win if I continue to hold onto faith. It knows that if I keep holding onto faith that God will do something AMAZING that will only make fear lose power in me and also possibly in the other person. That’s why I said the “screen” of fear, it seems so real, so powerful, so impenetrable, yet the reality is, it’s a thin, flimsy barrier that melts away in the presence of faith. As fear loses power in our lives, faith gains power, and we are able to operate at a higher level in the spirit. I’ve also learned that I can use fear as a barometer. If it’s going to show up, I can use it to my advantage instead of allowing it to cripple me. Let me explain.
When we choose faith, we are choosing to focus on God. Fear is not of God. Ever. Therefore, if I am experiencing fear, somewhere, my focus is off. Perhaps I’m too concerned with what other people are thinking and saying about me. Maybe I’m worried I won’t be perfect enough, good enough, whatever enough. Maybe I’m worried about failure (yet God NEVER fails, so if I’m worried about failure, I’m operating in my own strength and abilities). Either way, if there is fear, the focus isn’t on faith in what God is doing, it’s on me or on others. This means if I’m experiencing fear, I can use it as a way to navigate back to faith. I can ask myself, What am I afraid of? and take the answer to that question and refocus that area onto God.
Years ago, I experienced some acute trauma that threw me into daily panic attacks. God used the power of His Word and releasing revelation in my heart to set me free. First Timothy 1:7 says, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” This verse was instrumental in my healing process and will forever be treasured in my heart as a result. But recently, God took me back to this passage with a new purpose.
I was training in different aspects of ministry through my local church and struggling with TONS of insecurities and new layers of fear. I had conquered many insecurities and fears in various areas of my life, but up front, public ministry was something newer to me, so there were new levels of freedom God had to walk me through. As part of that process He took me back to 1 Timothy, He said, Look at the verse that comes before the spirit of fear verse. So I did.
The second part of verse six says, “Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.” When I connected that back to the “not giving us a spirit of fear” bit…WOW! Talk about new levels of freedom! Fear squelches the power of the gifts of God within me! If I allow fear to operate in me when I am attempting to say, pray for healing or release a prophetic word—there goes the power, up in smoke. But if instead, I hold onto faith and maintain a focus of faith—WHOOSH! That’s the sound of that flame becoming a raging fire within me, a raging fire that can touch and transform with supernatural power. After that day, rather than focusing on avoiding fear when it came to stepping out in ministry, I focused instead on fanning the flame with faith. What a difference!
I want to pose this challenge to you too. Don’t just avoid the negative, lean in to the positive. Don’t just try to push fear away or struggle against it. Turn your focus instead to faith and watch it fan the fire of God in you and watch what He does! It’s miraculous!