Faith v. Fear

2 Tim. 4:7 - I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith… How would we say it? I had to fight in order to finish the race, and while I was here on the earth I had to hang on to my faith and not let the devil steal it.

There are two overwhelmingly opposing forces in the universe - faith and fear. We receive from God through faith and we receive from the devil through fear. Not only does the Lord have a plan for our life, but the devil has a plan as well, and we need to take fear more seriously. He is the master spirit from hell using fear to try to get us to not believe in God that it is never right or enough, fears about ourself, that we don’t have the faith that we need.

1 John 4 - states that “fear hath torment”. Fear of lack, fear that we will never overcome our past, fear of loneliness, fears about the people we know, fears about the future, fears about retirement instead of trusting in God… all fear is to get you to not trust in God, and the only answer is through faith in God to every fear that will ever come to you. Ask the Lord to make you aware of these fearful thoughts so you can go forward in the opposite direction and walk by faith and not by sight, intentionally, to get you to where God wants you… knowing that every time you take a step that the enemy will try to get you to take a step back through fear. Alll of the “what if’s” are threats and trying to make us think that they will happen. When we give in and think it will happen, then as we are in our mind, so shall it be. Stand against the lies, against the negative emotions, against being bitter, resentful and angry, and fight the good fight of faith. If you want to live and not be offended all of the time, you are going to have to fight against offense.

Paul said I have fought the fight, finished the race and kept the faith… if we stay in faith, we will finish. If we get in fear, somewhere along the line we are going to go backwards or part, or if you part, you will go backwards. God is progressive, and you are always moving. You can’t stay in one place, and if you try to, then you will automatically go backwards. Our God is a God of increase, as He told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. Press on, Paul says, you’ve got to press on to take hold of those things in which Jesus died to give you. You are not the only one who gets tired of standing and resisting the lies of satan, resisting feelings, but the enemy wants to make you think that you are the only one, isolate you in your thinking and make you think that you are the only one who is going through what you are going through. We all have to fight the good fight of faith.

The Bible says with opportunity comes opposition. Paul said “a wide door of opportunity opened up unto me, and along with it came many adversaries.“ We are not realistic sometimes, because we pray for opportunity and don’t realize we are going to get opposition with it. Faith is so important, the bible says it is a conviction in our heart of a reality that we don’t see. Faith is not seeing with your eyes, but seeing with your heart. You believe something in your heart that doesn’t make sense to your mind. We can talk to the Lord all morning, but not see Him one time. Sometimes we feel His presence, and other times we don’t, but when we do, it’s really nice.

Fear is putting faith in what you do see, putting a perverted kind of faith in what you feel, and believing our feelings over the bible. 2 Cor. 5:7 says “we walk by faith and not by sight”. We need to encourage one another in faith, and come together and say “you’re not the only one going through these things”. Heb. 11:6 says “without faith, it is impossible to please God”. Faith, trust, relying on God; believing that He can do what we can’t do; believing His promises over the lies of Satan; if there is anything that needs to come out of our mouth more than anything else, it is “I believe God” because it’s impossible to please God without faith. God is everywhere we go, and we need to believe that He is working on our behalf in our lives in order to allow Him to do what He wants to do in our lives. It is comforting to know that He is always there, but you have to believe it by faith because you can’t see it.

What a great testimony, to tell the devil “I’m still here!” I didn’t give up, I am fighting the fight of faith, and I’m still here! Here I am, devil, I am still here!

Rom. 14:23 - says that “whatever is not of faith is sin”… think about that. That means that fear is something that we need to repent over, if we get into it and start following it instead of following what God says about the situation or inquiring of Him. Christ says “fear not” and He doesn’t mean not to “feel” fear, it means not to follow those feelings. God says even if you have to, do it afraid, but don’t let fear defeat you, you do what I told you and not what the enemy is telling you. If you feel fear, then that should be a double indication that you are on the right track because fear always tells you the opposite of what God told you. Whatever is not of faith, is a sin.

John 6:28 - they were inquiring “what are we to do to carry out what God requires of us and please God?” Christ responded “this is the work that God requires of you, that you believe in the One Whom He has sent”. It’s not all of our good works, because you can do good works and have no faith at all. It is what we do by faith. Sometimes people think that they don’t have faith, but Romans 12 says unto every man is given the measure of faith. How much faith do you have? You have however much you need to do whatever you are called to do. Some things we don’t have the faith for right now, but don’t worry about it because you will if you are called to do it.

Too many people are going around feeling guilty about something they are not doing that God never told them to do to start with. Some people pray for four hours per day, and others feel guilty because they don’t do that. But they weren’t called to do it. Stop persecuting yourself because you are not what someone else is. God has an awesome plan for your life and He wants you to cooperate with Him by thinking big and speaking in agreement with His Word.

We receive from God through faith, and we receive from the enemy through fear. Fear opens the door for the enemy to work in our lives. The only acceptable attitude that a Christian can have is “I will not fear”. God rewards those who diligently seek Him. Make the decision today to fight the fight of faith, and finish the race, and seek God with your whole heart.