Faith vs. Fear, Who will win?
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
If your life where a basketball court, two teams are competing: Faith and Fear. Can faith and fear co-exist? In many lives they are but ideally only one should prevail, thus to answer the question, they cannot. The fact that they will be competing for dominance in your mind tells you. Just like COVID-19, for it to survive, it needs a host, you! To whom do you want to be a good host to, faith or fear? Fear is very well alive during this situation but how about faith. If you were to check their pulses, who has the stronger one? Who is winning? How do we let our faith in God prevail?
Biblical Defintion
Biblical Defintion
Faith in is:
Faith in is:
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
“CONVICTION” - being certain!
The lifeblood of our relationship with God, the reason why God accepts us as His children is because of our FAITH in HIM - His triune existence. You must believe in the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
It pleases God to have faith in Him, to believe in Him!
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Faith is a gift from God. It is not something that you came up with. It is a response that is available to us from God, as an option, like choosing from, a menu. If you look at it from an implication perspective, faith is the same as salvation. (See Ephe 2:8-9).
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Usually, when we read this verse we focus on salvation as the gift but let’s not miss faith also. The word “that” refers to faith which should then be interpreted as “the act of believing.”
Everything about salvation which includes our faith, our response is from God. Responding in faith is not a work, it’s a decision. A decision about “the gift that was given to you.” A decision to believe is not a physical response but spiritual in nature that takes place in your heart. There was no drop of sweat when you made that decision, a drop of tear, perhaps?
TWO TYPES OF FEAR
TWO TYPES OF FEAR
1. Fear of the Lord
1. Fear of the Lord
This is a healthy kind of fear. The kind that is drawn from respect.
This type of fear does not necessarily mean to be afraid of something. Rather, it is a reverential awe of God, a reverence for His power and glory.
This type of fear does not necessarily mean to be afraid of something. Rather, it is a reverential awe of God, a reverence for His power and glory.
the fear of the Lord is a total acknowledgement of all that God is, which comes through knowing Him and His attributes.
The fear of the Lord is a total acknowledgment of all that God is, which comes through knowing Him and His attributes by the revelation of His Word.
The fear of the Lord results in many blessings and benefits, like wisdom leading to salvation.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
23 The fear of the Lord leads to life, So that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil.
2. Spirit of Fear
2. Spirit of Fear
This is the second type, one that is not beneficial. It is the opposite faith, anti-faith.
This is the kind mentioned in
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
There is no fear in love. See
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
So when you are afraid, it is the “spirit of fear” trying to overcome our faith. To thwart this fear, we need to overcome it by trusting God completely.
1 John
Follow the reasoning:
Fear is the absence of faith and unbelief is a sin. Without you cannot do anything.
In , the reason why the disciples were not able to drive out the demons is because of un belief. Read Jesus response to them when he was asked about it.
20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
In the illustration of the vine and branches describing our relationship with Jesus, He said.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Focus on the last part: “apart from me you can do nothing.”
It’s like saying without faith you can’t do anything.
So what is required of us to overcome faith? Mustard seed faith, (see again)
20 And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.
Mustard seed faith, even faith as small as a mustard said...
Simple faith is powerful but the true power comes from God who is the ONE who will move mountains for you to honor your faith. Without faith is impossible to please Him.
WARNING: Our faith in God brings about many blessings, especially when used for His glory and not ours. This gift that He gave us must be spent on Him to honor the giver and if this what’s in your heart as reflected by your decisions leading to action then all other things will be added unto you.
Application
Application
Today’s COVID-19 pandemic is a test of our faith. Consider it as midterms, not Final. If midterms there is time to improve your grade, but final, it’s final.
Every trial we face is an opportunity to develop our God-given faith, flex it, exercise it, work it out.
When team FAITH begins to rattle, go for a time out, a time with God for renewal, a time to be reminded who is in control, who supplies us according to His riches, who has healed every disease. With
To the one who truly believes, either answer to our prayer, a YES or a NO, is a win-win situation. Through our need, our poverty, our illness, God can demonstrate His power and His richness. Through the abundance that He provides, we can use it to give all the glory to Him.
Today is an opportunity to teach what faith in God is to our children by talking to them about it and especially by showing them that you have it. With the social distancing we are ordered today, look to your family, your children as the harvest field that you need to work on.
With the social
COVID-19 is God’s powerful way of telling us to take a break by focusing on other things that’s been long neglected, our family. Do we have to wait for God to pull the plug of our internet connections? We have a few more days left, some of our children will be back to school via online but never have they been home for this length of time.
God bless and let team FAITH win this battle!