Faith over Fear, Truth 3 for Thursday

a thought from Jen Miller
(Truth 1 & 2 reviewed at the bottom.)I don’t know about you, but FAITH, in and of itself, is tough for me.  Adding fear moves faith to a new level of tough.  Faith over fear IS tough, necessitating a steady stream of truth-talk – to God, to other believers, from other believers, and to myself.  Self-talking truth.I’ve fought my way through oceans of fears and, dog-gone-it, the waves just keep on swelling above me and pounding down hard on me, determined to keep me under and drown me.  But God, in His love and faithfulness, through His Word and through others (like my sister, Aundi), brings to my mind HIS definition of Faith:

“Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 (ASV, NASB)

The Apostle Paul declared with conviction and determination about his own faith over fear, “I KNOW whom I have believed, and am PERSUADED that HE is ABLE to KEEP what I have committed [entrusted] to HIM against that day.”  2 Timothy 1:12 (NIV, KJV)

Now that’s some powerful truth-talkin’ Paul is doin’! I want what HE’S havin’!

Truth 3 in gaining and maintaining faith over fear is down-right determination. Conviction. Will. A mind set that I AM going to believe and depend on God’s truths through the swells and the plummeting of fear that surges through my life as surely as the tide.

Truth 3 is that I must choose a determined mind set to think as God thinks rather than allowing my thoughts to be swept toward my human tendency to think the worst, fear the worst.  (“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7)

This determined mind set is what Romans 12:2 is all about:  “Be TRANSFORMED by the RENEWING of your MIND.”

Truth 3 is sheer determination to believe God’s truths, such as:

1. The devil doesn’t get to win in the end – not with me!  He doesn’t get to control my thoughts because my Father, God, who is “greater in me than he that is within the world,” says that I get to “choose this day whom I will serve.”  (John 4:4; Joshua 24:15)

2. I will choose God this day by “taking captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”  I will choose, by sheer determination in my thinking to have faith over fear.  (2 Corinthians 10:5)

3. I have the Creator of the universe Himself standing beside me, and His full armor at hand to protect me against the devil’s schemes to manipulate my thoughts toward fear.  I have the empowerment of His Spirit living within me, and I have other believers, to remind me to “put on the full armor of God,” and to push me as Paul pushes believers in Ephesians 6: “And when you have done EVERYTHING [within your ability and God’s empowering] to [be able to] stand. Stand firm then….”

When I’ve done everything to be ABLE to stand in the face of fear, God tells me to be down-right determined to “STAND firm then,” claiming faith over fear.

Truth 3 is the determination of my mind to believe in, stand in, stand on, the Word of God that I’m self-talking, such as:

1. God’s truths are tougher than my fears, and He who lives within me is tougher than me and my fears. (I Corinthians 4:20; 1 John 4:4)

2. He who resides in me has already given me EVERYTHING I need to defeat the evil one who is the author of fear. (2 Timothy 1:7; 2 Corinthians 9:8)

3. Fear is not from God; it’s another effective tactic of the evil one that I don’t have to take. I get to choose.  God’s Word states that the devil is the author of lies.  Many of my fears have been birthed, based in (and basted in) lies. (John 8:44)  You see, when I’m down, in fear or in anger, or in other emotions, I’m not an effective vessel of God with Christ for others.  I’m a weak link.  A weak strand.

One of my favorite truth quotes has been stuck on my refrigerator and embedded in my mind for years.  It’s a quote by Mark Twain: “I’ve known many worries in my life but few have come to pass.”

Isn’t THAT the truth?!!  How many illegitimate fears have I allowed the evil one to birth and grow inside my head, then allow his gnarly fingers to reach down into my heart and into my gut – sucking me into a dark hole, consuming me?  A bundle. I admit!  But as I’ve practiced Romans 12:2 and God’s other principles of transformation and faith through years of fears, I now better understand that I must choose to stand up against the fear (the evil one), and say “No more!”  I’m learning to take ownership with the Apostle Paul in his declaration of determination to “entrust” the unseen, the unknown, to my Father as I pray His Word into my mind and my heart daily:  “You [Oh God] will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.”  Isaiah 26:3  YES!

Sometimes, in the peak of the swell of those waves of fear, it’s necessary for me to reach out to a human being as well – “my strand” – and have her REMIND me of God’s truths and about truth-talking to myself. Throughout my life, my other “strand” has been my sister, Aundi.  This e-Inspiration is dedicated to her.  She knows the swells well, and she’s a power swimmer in FAITH.  Hats off to you, my sister…

Thank you, Father, for Your empowering Spirit who dwells in me every second of every day, in every circumstance, and gives me strength, will, determination, TRUTH, and other people, to combat fear (the evil one).  Thank You for handing me Your full armor (freely), and teaching me “how to” put it on and wear it, piece by piece.  Peace by peace.

Thank You for sheer determination of will that comes from knowing You and Your Word, and from choosing to braid myself (a single strand), with You and with strong believers in Christ, creating a “cord of three strands” that is “not quickly [easily] broken.”

God, when my son deploys to Afghanistan, and other circumstances swells fear in me, I know You’re gonna remind me about this e-Inspriation; so I thank you for my sister, Aundi, and for her steadfast faith in You – and with me, and for all those in my life who steadfastly hold me up.  Richly bless them all in the name of Jesus.

Thank You that ALL good things come from Your hand, because You love us deeper than the ocean, higher than the Heavens, wider than the universe…

Thank You for who You are and who I’m becoming because of You. Amen.

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Short Review: Faith Over Fear – Truths 1 & 2

1: We can’t do it alone.  We can’t embrace faith over fear by ourselves, alone.  Ecclesiastes 4:12 “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

2: We must Truth-Talk, to God, to that significant other in whom we can confide and be accountable, and we must Self-Talk GOD’s truths through our fears. Here’s just a sampling of many scriptures to self-talk through fear:
“The truth will make you FREE.”  (John 8:32)  State truth about my fears, and state God’s truths to combat those fears.

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