Fear is a universal disease. It has crippled millions
from reaching their full potential. When we entertain fear more than our faith,
we make ourselves “grasshoppers” in
our own sight. Faith pleases God. Faith is rewarded. Faith inspires!
Every one of us is afraid of something. Fear and faith
work in exactly the same way. Faith produces life while fear brings death. If
we don’t face our fears and overcome them, then we’ll live our lives like a
bird with her wings clipped off. Fear is driving a Nascar with brakes on. Fear
robs us of our future. Faith on the other hand liberates people. Faith inspires
others to believe God for more. Faith changes circumstances around.
When we choose faith instead of fear, like a magnet we
attract the blessings of God to overtake us. Faith glorifies God while fear
activates the work of the enemy.
Nick was a strong, hard-working young man who worked on a
train crew. One summer evening, he was left behind by his co-workers when they
were let off work an hour early to celebrate a foreman’s birthday. Nick was
locked in a refrigerator boxcar. Nick panicked and began to shout for help and
bang on the walls until his fists were bloody. He was a chronic worrier.
Fear gripped Nick’s heart. He thought to himself, “If I can’t get out, I’ll freeze to death
here.” With every passing hour, every ounce of hope began to drain from
Nick. Certain of his impending death, he began to carve on the wooden floor
with a pocket knife. He wrote, “It’s so
cold here. Body is getting numb. I can’t sleep. These may be my last words.”
The next morning Nick’s co-workers found him dead in the
boxcar. They read Nick’s last words on the floor. The autopsy results revealed
that Nick had died of hypothermia.
A little investigation proved that the
refrigeration unit wasn’t even operative. The temperature in the boxcar never dropped below fifty degrees. Nick had
allowed fear to rob his life. This may be an extreme case of fear but people
lose their families, jobs, businesses, and health based on fear.
I know people who are afraid of dying of some sickness.
They know so much about their sickness that they can write an encyclopedia
about it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about getting information and being
educated on the subject. However, if we research more about our sickness than
the promises of God to heal us, then we’re allowing the sickness to linger.
Fear is a real thing but faith can move mountains! You can chose fear or you
can chose faith. Faith is going to get you out of jail.
In the Bible, there’s a story of a widow (1 Kings
17:1-16). There was a great famine in the land and God commanded Prophet Elijah
to move to Zarephath where the widow was supposed to take care of him. The only
problem was the widow didn’t get the memo. When Elijah asked the widow for some
water and bread to eat, the woman panicked. Elijah said to her, “Do not fear.” The widow obeyed God’s
command and fed His servant. True to His Word, God provided not only for
Elijah, but also the widow’s bin of flour never exhausted and the jar of oil
never ran dry. What happened? Like all of us, this widow started off with fear
but she put more faith in God’s Word than her fears. We too must do the same
thing.
Here’s how I overcome fear. After flying around the
world for decades, I still get a little fearful every time I step into an
airplane. I have thoughts running in my mind of how there have been planes
crashed in collision or some sort of other midair disaster. The images of
burning planes begin to take over my mind, just then I realize what’s going on.
I change the channel on what I’m thinking about. Our mind is like a TV and our
will is like the remote control. You can chose what’s playing on your mind by
simply changing the channel. Instead of fear, I change it to a victory channel. Every time you’re confronted with
fears, replace them with faith. Fear says, “You’ll
never have enough.” Faith says, “You’ll
have more than enough.” Fear knocks, “You’ll
die of your sickness.” Answer with faith saying, “I’ll live and not die and proclaim the works of the Lord.” Fear
will tell you that your business is going under but choose faith and say, “Thanks be unto God, who always causes me to
triumph in Christ.” A Nepalese proverb says, “The tiger in our mind is bigger than the tiger in the jungle.”
Don’t let your imaginary tiger rob your treasures. F E A R is False Education About Reality.
Friend, you can have fear or faith. I’m praying that you will choose faith!
“Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be
discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold
you up with my victorious right hand” (Isaiah
41:10 NLT).
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