Believe Again!!

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain hitting the window and a cool breeze on my feet. I rolled over in the bed and felt my husband resting. I got out the bed and walked into the next room and looked in on my daughter fast asleep. Then I heard a small noise that frightened me. I stepped into the living room to notice it was just the refrigerator. But the fear I felt was so real. I took a deep breath of fresh air but my mind kept thinking about it. What if someone was in the living room? Why do we have to live so close to the highway? What if someone took Mary? My mind was filled with fear.

This is exactly how the enemy works in our life. We can see that everything is okay, but we are always looking for something to go wrong. He drops suggestions in our mind, and we allow them to grow into what seems to be reality.

I want to encourage us to TRUST in the LORD with ALL our HEART! (Prov 3:5a)

Fear is mindset we can walk in. Fear can control the way we think and move. The definition of fear is to have an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. Fear can paralyze us. According to studies Fear is an emotion induced by a threat perceived by living entities, which causes a change in brain and organ function and ultimately a change in behavior, such as running away, hiding or freezing from traumatic events. Fear may occur in response to a specific stimulus happening in the present, or to a future situation, which is perceived as risk to health or life, status, power, or security. 

If we allow fear to take root in our emotions, it will change our behavior. This is why fear is one of the enemy’s greatest weapons. The enemy uses circumstances in life to plant seeds of fear. He uses hurts and disappointments to cause us to fear relationships. Many of us live from the place of fear and we do not realize it. When was the last time you said the words “What if”? The words “what if” are evidence of fear controlling our behavior and decisions.

I want to challenge us to walk by faith and not by fear. Fear can cause many things but I want to focus on two. When we lack faith and allow fear to lead us, we can become discouraged and dismayed.

1-      Fear leads to discouragement:

Discouragement is a loss of confidence or enthusiasm. Gal 3:1-5 reads “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”

What has caused you to lose confidence is Christ Jesus? What has caused you to doubt His power in your life? What has caused you to back away from your purpose? What has caused you to stop going to church? What has caused you to desire the pleasures of the world greater than the pleasures of God? Have you forgotten what The Lord has already done in your life? The enemy uses people and circumstances to make us feel discouraged. STOP right now and list five times you have seen God working in your life. NOBODY can take away the hand of God moving in your life!!! Ps 139:7-8 is very clear, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” If the enemy is telling you "you are too far gone for the Father to forgive you", shake off discouragement!!! The Spirit of the living God is with you and waiting for you to surrender your will and desires to Him.

2-      Fear can cause you to become dismayed:

To be dismayed is to feel distress. It is the feeling of extreme anxiety, sorrow or pain. Death of a love one is one of the weapons the enemy uses to cause many people to stop believing. “If God was real…..” people say. If God was real I would not have been molested. If God was real my Father would not have beat my mother. If God was real I would not be feeling this oppression. God is REAL and so is the enemy. It is the enemy’s job to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10) The enemy is a thief. He comes to steal our joy, peace, and faith in Christ Jesus. 

2 Cor 4:7-12 is one of my favorite scriptures. It reads, “but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you.” Then it goes on to read in verses 16- 18, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Activate FAITH!! The meaning of faith is to have complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Activate the word of God. The more you hear the word of God, the more your faith will grow. Rick Warren said “It’s the difference between the Bible and self-help books. Self-help books often give you helpful insight. They can tell you the right thing to do, but they just don’t give you the power to do it. Self-help books tell you that you should stop worrying or you should give up all your bad habits. Helpful, yes, but you don’t have the power to keep the advice. Those books aren't alive. But God’s Word not only tells you what to do; it gives you the power to do it. And it increases your faith as you do it.”

It’s time for us to get back to the bible. I love reading books but the word of God must be the final authority in our lives. It is through the word faith will be activated again. Fear is just false evidence appearing real. It’s just vain imaginations. Cast down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge (the word) of God, and bring the doubt, the fear, the anger, the hurt, the disappointment, the offense into captivity & every thought to the obedience of Christ. (2 Cor 10:5)

I want to encourage you today to know the feeling of fear has come to stop you, BUT GOD IS GREATER! Activate the word of God in your live. Start with the book of John and then the rest of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, & Luke). John had a great revelation that He was the one that Jesus loved. WE all need that revelation. HE LOVES YOU! Everything Jesus did was because of Love. Believe again!

Romans 15:13, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope