I will divert from the topic of self-discipline and focus on faith this week. Apparently, the east coast of the United States is in a tizzy over Hurricane Irma. A storm. Who’s afraid of this storm? Many, it seems. I understand why people who don’t have the hope of eternal life would. But why would a child of God be afraid? Jesus said to his disciples “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” (Matt. 8:26) when they were freaking out about a storm. Do you think that he would say any differently of you? Paul told Timothy that God didn’t give the SPIRIT of fear but the SPIRIT power, love and a sound mind.( 2 TIm. 1:7) Any spirit that is not of God cannot dwell inside the same space that the Holy Spirit dwells. Allowing fear means the rejection of love.
These three remain: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.
1 Cor. 13:13
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 1John 4:18
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8
Not to be dramatic, but the truth is clearly defined by scripture that fear is not the way to go. Fear does attempt to disguise itself with other names, so that is something we must also be aware of. Wisdom. “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” James 3:17 When you are claiming that your choices are ‘just using wisdom’, do those choices exemplify any of the qualities listed in the verse above? Be careful that you aren’t allowing fear to rename itself as wisdom. I was listening to Believer’s Voice of Victory, a podcast by Kenneth Copeland Ministries and his daughter, Kellie, was sharing on just that. To identify what exactly you are allowing in your life that is fear, but is being disguised with other labels like wisdom. Another thing that has been very prominent this week in our area is being prepared. The first thing you must do to be prepared for anything is to get in the Word. Next, determine where your faith is at and take a stand. The thing NOT to do is claim your authority in Christ, the power of the blood of Jesus, then act like none of that works and take matters into your own hands. “Just in case,” or “you just never know” are not a part of a faith vocabulary.
So what exactly is faith?Faith is the substance of things hoped for (Heb. 11:1). It is believing without seeing. It is seeing the unseen God and knowing that he is the beginning and the end and that his words are absolute truth. Fear is the absence of faith. Fear is believing what you see and what you think over what you know the truth is. Fear is faith in Satan. Jesus gave us “the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”(Luke 10:19) So it’s time to get up and use it. Speak to the storm, in the natural and spiritual. Jesus promised that we would do the same works that he did and even greater (John 14:12). Do you believe that he was telling the truth? He calmed the storms. Why aren’t we acting in the authority he gave us to do the same? The process in living by faith is simple: Believe, speak, do. Believe what the Word of God tells us, because it is his living words spoken directly to us. Speak, proclaim, declare those words because his words are creative and bring life to the circumstance when spoken. Then, do. Act on the promises of God so that what you’re believing and saying match what you’re acting on.
It seems like it’s really easy for people to apply the principles of faith on things in the unseen world, but much have a much harder time believing it to be true for the natural world. The reality is that the spirit realm is what created the natural realm and everything in the natural is affected by the spiritual.
Stand in faith today. Go against the flow of the masses and march to the beat of Jesus’ drum and you will see his faithfulness in action on your behalf.
The W.O.R.D. 