FAITH DISPELS FEAR AND DOUBT
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Introduction
In this article I take a look at two very different
traits, fear and faith.
It
is my hope to assist the reader to overcome any fears or worries they may have
by using the wonderful gift of faith that God willingly gives. Throughout the days of our lives we face many
forms of fear, some fleetingly, some over a long period of time. While it may be difficult to set aside a
lifetime of worldly worries and fears in favor of a spiritual life of faith,
peace and joy, the rewards now and in the future are well worth the effort. In this article, we will look at several
examples of both faith and fear outlined in the Bible. We will also examine several fears we may be
facing personally, then review several scriptures related to allowing God to
help us to overcome our fears by faith.
In
the February 2000 edition of Readers Digest, Doctor Edward M. Hallowell penned
an article called “When Worries Go Haywire.”
In that article Dr. Hallowell outlined several techniques to beat worry
including exercise, breathing exercises, and making connections with others to
enhance your social life among other suggestions. Dr. Hallowell also suggests that you talk to
God. About this he says “Studies have
found lower rates of depression among those who believe in God. As the saying
goes, ‘Let go and let God.’ Give over to
the Lord the power that is the Lord’s.
Let go of your impossible need for control. If you are not religious, meditate. Prayer and meditation help us keep things in
perspective. They calm our minds.”
Studies
point out that not only does faith in Our Father reduce the effects of stress
in our lives but it also is becoming an important part in the healing of our
physical bodies. Those who believe in
God heal faster and more frequently than those who do not. Those who attend church regularly have fewer
ailments than those who do not. A strong
faith is a contributing factor in both our mental and physical lives.
BIBLICAL FEARS
Beginning
in the old testament, in the book of Genesis, chapters 12 and 26, we read that
Abram and Isaac respectively, feared for their lives because they thought their
hosts would kill them in order to posses their beautiful wives. Abram persuaded Sari and Isaac persuaded
Rebekah to pretend to be their sisters instead of their wives in order to
preserve their own lives. Both of these
Biblical giants allowed their faith in the protection of God to falter. If these prime examples of faith allow fear
to control their actions, is it any wonder that those of us who are still
growing in the faith falter now and then?
Maybe
fear runs in families, the next account we read about is in Genesis, chapter 27. After Jacob has deceived his father Isaac
into giving him the blessing that should have gone to his older brother Esau,
Jacob ran in fear for his life.
Moving
on to the New Testament let’s look as some of the fears encountered by the
disciples of Jesus. Does it seem strange
that those who had the closest relationship with our Savior should experience
fear? Does it seem strange that their
faith should falter?
The
disciples of Jesus doubted their own abilities and rightfully so, they were
still living with an earthly attitude, their spiritual faith had not yet fully
developed in spite of their constant companionship with Jesus. Jesus cast out a demon they could not and the
disciples asked “Why could we not cast it out?”
Jesus replied “Because of
your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as
a grain of mustard seed, you will say to the mountain, ‘Move hence to yonder
place,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”
In
Matthew 8:23-27 we read that Jesus had had a long day and was tired. While the others remained awake, probably
recounting the events of the day, Jesus went to sleep. While he slept, a storm came upon the small
boat. It was being tossed around and was
in danger of being swamped by the waves generated by the great winds. The disciples panicked, their faith
wavered. They came rushing to Jesus
imploring him to help, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” They were fearful for their lives. Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid, O
men of little faith?”
Another
account of this same incident is recorded in Mark 35-41. Jesus asks “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” In both of these accounts, Jesus points out
the importance of faith in overcoming our fears. In the storms of our lives, faith in God
overcomes our fears because we are trusting in an all mighty God, not in
ourselves. If Jesus can calm the wind
and waves of a storm, he can calm the storms of our lives.
In
another boating incident, Jesus had sent his disciples ahead while he went up
on a mountain to pray. When he descended
to the bank of the lake the boat was far out into the water so Jesus simply
started to walk on the water to catch up.
When the disciples saw him, they thought it had to be a ghost, they had
never seen anyone walk on water before. Fear
enveloped them until they recognized him as Jesus. Then the leader, Peter, asks Jesus to command
him to walk to Jesus on the water. Jesus
says, “Come.” When Peter steps out of
the boat he too is walking on water, that is until he sees the waves and feels
the wind. Then, the faith of the rock on
whom the church was to be built began to falter, he became fearful, and he
began to sink. Jesus reached out his
hand to Peter and rescued him. Jesus
said, “You of little faith, why did you
doubt?” When we doubt, we sink into
fear and Jesus reaches out to us. Let us
put our trust in him, let us take his hand in faith and allow him to rescue us. He is our savior.
In the
hour of his arrest, the disciples deserted Jesus in fear. They all left him to face the authorities
alone. These are the same disciples who
had walked and talked, studied and loved Jesus.
These are the same disciples that Jesus called to be the embryonic
church. These were the first Christians. They allowed their fear to overcome their
faith, they faltered. If they can falter
in their faith, is it any wonder that the same happens to us?
Jesus
himself felt a sense of fear when he asked the Father to remove the cup from
him. According to the Bible, Jesus was
tormented to the point of sweating blood.
He knew the events that must transpire in the next few hours. In surrender to the Father, he allowed his
human side to become subservient to his spiritual nature and he submitted
himself to the will of his Father. In
order to defeat our fears and live a life of faith we too must submit ourselves
to the will of a loving Father.
OUR FEARS
Do
you carry a fear that you cannot overcome?
Do you worry about being caught over some past misdeed? Do you worry about your health or maybe about
your children? Welcome to the crowd, you certainly are not alone; you are in
the company of saints around the world.
There is a wide variety of topics we fear. There are professional fears we suffer such
as the loss of the job and with that the loss of financial security. We may fear our boss or maybe one of our
customers. There are personal fears we
harbor, like the loss of our health, loss of love, or perhaps loss of the
home. Some fears are centered on the
family such as the loss of a loved one.
Many today fear the break up of the family. There are fears which transcend the different
areas of life, such as failure or rejection or old age. There are an ocean of fears we can be
carrying, most of which will never transpire.
But we carry them none the less, they are a part of our upbringing, a part
of our psyche; they are a part of us.
When
you have a fear or worry (I use the two terms interchangeably) how do you
handle it? Do you keep it inside? Do you have a trusted confidant with whom you
can share it? Do you loose sleep over
it? Past fears have put knots in my
stomach, my mouth has gone dry, and my hands have sweated. Fear is not fun. It can affect us physically as well as
emotionally. It can be a wedge in our
relationships with family and friends.
It
has been said that fear is a sin. It is
sinful because it is an indication of a lack of trust, a lack of faith in
God. If it is indeed a sin, and I
believe it is, there is a lot of it going around. Many of us in the world have at least this
one sin to repent of.
I
recently saw on the sign in front of a local church this quote, “Feed your
faith and your fears will starve.” I
believe this to be true. Equally true is
the reciprocal, “Feed your fear and your faith will starve.” If we submit to our fears, our worries,
rather than submit to our faith we are defeated. Fear wins.
Why
do we fear? I am no psychologist,
psychiatrist, or any other kind of ist, just an old farm boy. But, I have to believe that fear is instilled
in us as a measure of self preservation.
God allows us to fear situations which would otherwise be detrimental to
our existence. Unfortunately, it is so
human, so easy, to allow fear and worry to dominate our lives to the point of
paralysis. We fear whatever our
imaginations can concoct. Imagination is
another wonderful gift from God.
Unfortunately we can also abuse this gift to frighten ourselves with the
worst that will probably never happen.
It seems to be human nature to think the worst. That is the key, fear is the human response
to our surroundings, not the spiritual response of faith. In order to live a life free of fear and
worry we must re-program ourselves to live in a spiritual nature with our
environment. As long as we cling to the
human nature, we are on the negative side of life. When we submit to the spiritual life and
surrender our lives to God we can start to live with courage and with peace in
the knowledge that God is our protector and provider. He will watch over us. We read in the book of Proverbs, chapter 29
verse 25 “The fear of man bringeth a
snare; but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.”
It’s
not unusual as we drive around any community to see cars belonging to young
people with a decal on the window that says “Fear This” or “No Fear.” I guess they are making a statement. I’m not sure what that statement is, maybe
they feel more powerful or more secure when surrounded by the metal and plastic
of an automobile. As Christians we can
feel secure in the faith that God provides.
This is infinitely more secure than any automobile, any human, any thing
this earth can provide. Our faith is
what can sustain us in times of trouble, help us through periods of mourning,
and guide us through the darkest of days.
When trouble abounds, faith rescues.
When fear entraps, faith sets us free.
When worry paralyzes, faith will release us.
Fear
is a very strong emotion. It is an
emotion which can affect a person emotionally, physically, professionally, and
in any other area of life. It puts a knot in your stomach. It can paralyze the activities of a
person. One can loose sleep, awaking in
the middle of the night in a cold sweat, tossing and turning for hours. The mind is racing from one topic to another
and sleep will not come.
BIBLICAL FAITH
Matthew
6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be
anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about
your body, what you shall put on. Is not
life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”
Abram
was a man of faith, Sari his wife was much the same. When God appeared to them in their old age
and told them that they would have a son, Abram immediately took God at His
word. Yes, the birth of a child seemed incredible
at their advanced ages but Abram never doubted Gods’ ability to produce
miracles. When God told Abram to climb
the mountain and sacrifice Isaac, he knew God had a plan. Abram had been told that from him would come
many nations and it could be only through Isaac that Gods’ plan could be
completed. That was the kind of faith
that Abraham had in our God.
Job
too was a giant of faith. No matter what
the devil took from him, he continued in his faith in God, he never
wavered. Job lost everything,
possessions, children, servants, everything.
How Job endured such a loss can only be explained by his incredible
faith in the Lord. Eventually God provided Job with additional children and
restored Jobs’ possessions many times over.
If anyone in the Bible ever had cause to doubt, Job is the man.
A
third great example of faith is Noah.
God told him to build a boat, not just any boat, but an ark, a huge
ark. According to the instructions
handed down to Noah by God, it was to be 45 feet high, taller than a four story
building. It was to be 75 feet wide and
450 feet long. That is longer than a
football field which is 300 feet. This
boat was huge! It must have taken Noah
and his family years to build the ark.
It had a lower, middle, and an upper deck. It had enough room for all the animals and
eight people, Noah and his wife and their three sons and their wives.
In
Mark 10:52 we read about the blind man begging Jesus for his sight. Jesus says “Thy faith has made thee whole.”
The man’s faith in God, that God could heal him, brought
him sight. Again in the
book of Mark 5:34 The woman who had been sick for twelve years. She touched his garment. Jesus said “Thy faith has made thee whole.” Again, the person’s faith in the healing
power of God had brought her health.
How
is it that these two relatively unknown persons of the Bible seemingly have
more faith in Jesus than his own disciples?
Why is it that with such faith they waited until Jesus just happened to
be passing by rather than to seek healing from God through prayer? One can only speculate as to why God had not
cured them prior to the passing by of Jesus.
Perhaps it was the will of God, in his good timing, to use them as
examples for the rest of us to attest to what faith can do when mixed with the
word of Jesus.
OUR FAITH
Faith
in oneself is insufficient to help most of us cope, we need help. There has been an ocean of literature written
over the years in the form of “Self Help” books. These sell by the millions just like the
latest fad diet. Their help is just
about as long lasting. Self help is no
help. This is called secular humanism,
it doesn’t work. Usually, we are
arrogant in our faith in ourselves; it is a part of our ego, especially us men,
to be self-reliant and independent. Self
confidence is a good thing until it gets in the way of our confidence in God.
We
can put our faith in other persons, parents, elders in the church, supervisors
at work but keep in mind that they too are humans subject to human frailties
and have an agenda of their own. They
can help but the help they provide in the spiritual realm is limited by their
own humanity.
Ultimately we must turn to
God. If we put our faith anywhere, it
must be in God. He is the sole and
ultimate help we can enjoy.
I
remember my first trip to Boston several years ago. I arrived at Logan International and got my
rental car. I knew that Logan was on the
east side of the city and where I wanted to go was on the west side. No problem I checked my maps and away I
went.
I
was there several days and the day of my departure came. I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get
to Logan and beat the morning rush hour traffic so I got up early. It was still dark and raining. I memorized the route I wanted to take as I
knew there would be no double checking of road maps as I drove. I had to go south a little ways then
east. When I turned north I started
looking for signs directing me to the airport.
I kept driving, and driving, and driving. Oops!
I never saw a sign for Logan but I did see a lot of the city that I had
never seen before. The road kept going
north and north and finally I realized that I had missed the airport all
together but there was no place that I was confident to pull off and try to
turn around. I eventually came to a
series of toll gates and knew I didn’t want to go past there; somehow I had to
get turned around and headed back to Logan.
As I
approached the toll gates I slowed and kept to the right. Ahead near the gates I saw a pickup parked
there that had an amber light on top.
Yahoo, there was someone who could help.
I approached the man in the pickup and asked about getting turned around
and headed south toward Logan. It was
very early and traffic was light. The
man said for me to stay near the left rear of his truck, drive parallel to him,
and he would get me turned around across several lanes of traffic. I did as he said and very soon he had me in
the southbound lanes headed back to the airport. As I cruised along I kept watching for a sign
for Logan. I looked in my rearview
mirror and saw the same white pickup coming up behind me. He passed me then pulled directly in front of
me. In the back of the pickup was a big
lighted sign. He flashed the sign as a
signal for me to follow him which I did.
A few minutes later his sign flashed again only this time he flashed it
is a big arrow to the left. Blink,
blink, blink. He was telling me the exit
was coming up to the left and sure enough, as I looked ahead to the left was
the exit sign I had been looking for. I
flashed my headlights in gratitude and took the exit which leads directly into
the airport. I wish I knew that
gentleman’s name, he was my guardian angel that day and I will always be
grateful to him. But I know that God put
him there and God had him take me almost by the hand to not only get across the
lanes of traffic and headed in the right direction but also to lead me to the
proper exit to Logan.
That
experience told me that God was there watching out for me, even when I messed
up, He was there to get me going in the right direction.
WHERE DOES FAITH COME FROM?
Romans
10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is
heard through the word of Christ.
Sounds
simple doesn’t it. Well guess what, it
is. Every day we eat. Every day we get some rest. Each of us has a routine we follow most
days. A part of that every day routine
is to read from the Bible. Right? We do, don’t we? Read from the Bible? Every day?
Well, most every day? Sure, we go
to church on Sunday and listen to the sermon for a few minutes and sing a few
hymns. That is enough isn’t it? Nope.
Every day it needs to be a priority to be in the Word. God is our only priority isn’t he? No? Well,
why not? What is more important than
God? What is more important than where
you will spend eternity? What is more
important to your life right now, today, than a solid faith that God is with
you every minute, helping you through every moment, guiding your every move,
and protecting you from every evil? It’s
true you know. When evil comes around
and you fear, get into the Word. When
things don’t quite go right and you want to panic, get into the Word. Strengthen your faith every day in
preparation of those times when your world seems to be falling apart. A healthy faith makes for a strong
believer.
There
is nothing complicated about hearing God’s message. We hear it from the sermons, from reading the
Word, and from prayer. There is nothing
complicated about that. You may find it
helpful to visit the Christian bookstore.
There is a wide variety of good reading material from a variety of
authors. Ask a friend what author they
prefer.
In
regards to spiritual gifts we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, “To one is
given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance
of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same
Spirit...... Does this mean that
one is given wisdom but no knowledge or faith?
Does one receive knowledge but no wisdom or faith? Faith but no wisdom or knowledge? I don’t think so. These are gifts, spiritual gifts, given by
the Holy Spirit to each of us in varying amounts. Maybe one has more knowledge, one more
wisdom, and one more faith. But, we are
given knowledge through study of the Word, wisdom in knowing the Father and His
will, and we are given faith as the Father deems.
If it is your prayer to be
given more faith, I promise that God will hear and answer that prayer. It may be in the form of adversity, it may be
in the form of anxiety or fear. Whatever
the form, once you have experienced the deliverance of God from that situation,
you will walk away with more faith.
Oswald
Chambers in his book My Utmost For His
Highest wrote, “All of our fears are sinful, and we create our own fears by
refusing to nourish ourselves in our faith.
How can anyone who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or
fear!”
It
is true that even those blessed with a great deal of faith face fears from time
to time. But, with a strong, reinforced
faith life, one should be able to handle most any situation that God brings
into or allows to be brought into one’s life.
When
our kids were in school I told them to always study for a test until they
knew that they knew the material.
That way they could go to class with the assurance that all would go
well. They could approach their classes
with the assurance that they were prepared.
Faith, strong, solid faith, reduces anxiety. When
you know that you know, there is no room for doubt, no room for questions,
no room for worry or fear.
When
our faith is strong, we can approach the activities of the day with the
assurance that God will see us through. We can take on the responsibilities
that God has put before us with confidence, knowing
that we know that God will be with us and lead us. All will turn out well according to the will
of God. Faith gives you courage, not an
arrogant sort of attitude of over confidence in self, but an attitude of quiet
confidence in the Almighty that all will go well.
In
the book of Ephesians, chapter six, Paul writes; “In addition to all this, take
up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of
the evil one.” Did he say arrows, all
the arrows, all the flaming arrows?
Would that include verbal abuse, sarcasm, insults and belittling? Would that include anything that can cause us
harm from the evil one? Yes! There is so much evil in the world, but, with
faith in the Father, we can go about our day in the knowledge that He will help
us to overcome that evil which comes our way.
When
you are on a journey you don’t go part of the way and just stop before you
reach your destination. In faith, you
are on a journey, don’t stop and get off before you reach a total and complete
committed faith in God. Corrie Ten Boom
once said, “FAITH is a Fantastic Adventure In Trusting Him.” How wonderful it is that we can turn the
issues of our lives over to the Father in the knowledge that He will provide,
protect, and guide us through the issues.
He will use other people in our lives to help resolve these issues
frequently without our knowledge until the resolution finally comes to light.
If
you have faith in another person, you believe that person will fulfill his
obligations. Faith is not automatically
bestowed on another person any more than is respect. Faith in another person grows with experience
and time. Faith in God is a lot like
this, it grows with time. Our faith in
God is not automatic, it is a gift from God that He bestows on us over
time. We receive it as a result of our
study of the Word and meditation. We
also receive faith through prayer. If
you should be so determined to ask God for increased faith, and I encourage that
prayer, be prepared for Him to bring events into your life that will challenge
you. Remember how God tested the faith
of Abraham by telling him to take Isaac up on the mountain and make a living
sacrifice of him? Events that will make
you question your own abilities, talents, and strength will be brought before
you. Faith will come out of these events
as you come to realize that God has brought you through, not by your own
efforts or strength, but by the divine intervention of the Father.
“Oh,
ye of little faith.” How often this
phrase spoken by Jesus comes to mind.
God is working in us trying to increase our faith in Him. He will present us with challenges, we call
them problems. We have the option of
trying to resolve these issues ourselves, usually with frustrating results, or
we can have faith in The Father, turn the problem over to Him and watch Him
divinely resolve it for us. This has
happened in my own life more times than I can remember. At work we are faced with difficult
situations. At home we are faced with
conflicts. In all of life’s situations we need to develop the faith that God
will help us to resolve the issues.
Why
should we trust in the Lord? God is our
protector. He watches out for us
24/7. When we are awake, when we
slumber, God is watching over us. He
protects us in the shadow of His mighty arm.
Look
at Philippians 4:6-7. “Do not be anxious
about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with
thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
This
is an incredible passage. “Do not be
anxious about anything....” That means
don’t worry about anything, all things, whatever the situation God can
handle it. I recently saw something on
my daughter’s paper which said “God is not afraid, why should I be.”
Sometimes faith is like an
ice covered lake. The ice is as wide as
the lake but only an inch thick. When
the times get tough the faith cracks and we revert to our old human self.
“...but in everything by prayer and supplication.....”
Talk with God about everything, all the issues that you are concerned
about. Tell him your concerns, He is
aware of them already but it may help you to express them to God.
“.....with thanksgiving....” Give Him thanks for the blessings He has
already provided and then thank Him for taking on this project and helping you
to resolve it.
“..present your requests to God.” Lay the issue at the foot of the cross and
allow The Father to bring it to a resolution.
Then watch. Prior to my
retirement, each morning shortly after I arrived at work, I would escape from
the office for a few minutes to organize my day. With my planner in front of me I made a list
of all the known projects that needed my attention during the day or in the
near future. I then prayed to God that
He would take over the list. Some issues
I pointed out to him and prayed that He would help me resolve a particular
issue. It is incredible how He would,
perhaps that very day, working through myself and others, resolve the problem. I can only sit back and give Him praise and
thanks for resolving the issues. What a
wonderful God we have.
How
do we come to faith? In the book of
Romans, chapter ten, verse17 we read “Consequently, faith comes from hearing
the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” We come to faith by studying the Word of God,
the Bible. So many times we can pick up
a Bible, read a few passages, then after only a few minutes what we have read
is gone, like erasing the black board in school. We kind of know what we read but it gets very
fuzzy very quickly. That is where
meditation becomes useful. When we read
the Bible, we should read a little. Set
the Book aside. Then meditate on what we
have just read. It may be helpful if you
rewrite the passage, paraphrase it, to help the meaning emerge for you. Relate the passage to your life and
circumstances. Memorize the passage if
possible for future reference.
Faith is a gift of
God. Not that He must provide it but
rather He gives us the spiritual gift of faith so we may set our worldly
concerns aside and trust in Him.
1 Cor. 16:13
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.
In
the King James Version of Hebrews, chapter eleven, verse one; “Now faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” We put our hope, our faith in God the Father;
He is our Provider, our Protector. He
has promised His creation that He will look after us according to His holy
will. Our faith is for the future as
well as for the present. It is the
evidence of things we know will transpire, for example, we know that because we
are Christians, believing Christians, not just Christians in name only, but
active, praying, practicing Christians, we will have the opportunity to kneel
at the throne one day when God calls us home.
Wow!
Paul
wrote in the book of Hebrews 13:6 “The Lord is my helper; I will not be
afraid. What can man do to me?” Paul knew, and you as a believer can be
assured that God is at your side. Didn’t
Jesus promise, “I will never leave your nor forsake you.” Has God ever broken a promise to man?
NO!
In
the Old Testament, we read these words of assurance in Isaiah 41:10. “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be
dismayed, for I am your God. I will
strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right
hand.” This is a promise made to the
nation of Israel. The same promise is
made to you as well.
When
you are feeling fear, chances are that the old devil is nearby spreading his
evil. When you sense fear, pray to God
that He will take the fear away and give you His peace. Ask God to tell the devil, in the name of
Jesus Christ, to depart far from you and not come back. This too is a prayer He will answer for His
saints.
