When
Faith Overcomes Fear
“For God has not given us a spirit
of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7
Reading in Psalms I
thought to myself, how David, a great King of Israel, had so many fears. I looked it up in the Psalms and ‘fear’ was
mentioned 59 or 60 times. Some of the
times were positive and some were negative, they were all surrounding the word
‘FEAR’.
One phone call can strike
‘fear’ in your heart. It may be
something you heard or saw on the news.
Fear is not just a word; it is a thing.
It’s a thing you cannot see coming at you, but you feel the impact
nevertheless. I will use myself for an
example. About six years ago, I went to the doctor because I had a lump in my
breast. When he said to me, “You have cancer”, I felt the hair rise up on my
arms and fear descended on me. I
imagined the worse things possible. Then
in a quiet time I began to talk to God/
“Father,
I am a believer and I have chosen to follow you. I know this fear I feel is not from you [and
I quoted 2 Timothy 1:7]. I had to have faith to believe who you said
you are and I did. Now, Lord, I am going
to rely on you to see me through whatever I must do. Let faith in you rise up in me to trust you
with the outcome.” At that time God gave
me strength to go on. Suddenly, Faith
overcame my Fear!
From then on, I had no
more fear and sailed through a double mastectomy and then doing what I had to
do. Here I am today, changed both
physically and spiritually, with greater faith than ever before. God is an awesome God and I cannot live
without Him. Praise God!
Do I still struggle with
faith? Yes, every day. Fear is a powerful thing that wants to attach
its self to you and hang on tight, but our God is more powerful and He can
break that hold quickly. We can either
allow fear to ruin our lives, or allow God to fill us with faith that is strong
enough to break any bondage. I could
relate to you many stories in my lifetime when I had no faith, but God didn’t
give up on me. Instead, let me share a truth
in the Living Bible, Psalm 84:5-7, “Happy are those who are strong in the Lord,
who want above all to follow your steps. When they walk through the Valley of
Weeping, it will become a place of springs where pools of blessing and
refreshment collect after rains. They
will grow constantly in strength and each of them is invited to meet with the
Lord in Zion.”
There is so much wisdom in these verses that I must go in a
little deeper for you. When we have
given our heart to the Lord, we want to do what he has shown us and that is to
follow his steps. Throughout our
lifetime, we will face sorrow, fear, tragedy and pain and that is just
life. We often face despair and
depression, and this verse warns us that we will go through those Valleys of
Weeping. However, we will immerge from
that valley through when our Faith overcomes our fears and there will be pools
of refreshment and blessings waiting for us.
The Blessing is this; we will be stronger; stronger in faith, stronger
to come against the enemy of our soul and strong in our relationship with God.
These words have comforted me so many times when I have
wandered into the Valley. You may argue
that science has many helps for you and you should follow that direction and
pray too. Many years ago when I was a
young woman, I was barely surviving in a life filled with fears. I was afraid to live and afraid to die. I was filled with all kinds of pills and
drugs and struggled with severe treatments; they told me I had ‘manic
depression’. Nothing worked and life had
no meaning.
Then one day God spoke silently to my heart and told me this
was my last chance to serve him and that was the most fear I ever had in my
life. I knew if I didn’t give my heart
and soul to him, I would never see heaven; I felt such rejection, it was
unbelievable. That day was a day that
turned my sadness into joy and hope took root in my heart. I said ‘yes’ and I
have never looked back and continue to serve the Lord with joy and gladness
every day.
Never discount the fact that God can set you free from fear
and give you hope instead of hopelessness.
What do you want from God today?
Do you want your mind and your thoughts renewed? Believe what the Bible tells you what God can
do for you; he can “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within
me.” Psalm 51:10
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