Faith vs Fear (part 2)

Last time we found the definitions of faith and fear in the Word. Now let’s get into how they operate!

Faith and fear are spiritual forces. Both need to develop inside you. Both need to be acted on. Both need permission to operate, through your words.

How are they developed then? Well, faith is from above and fear is from below, meaning one comes from the Kingdom of God and one from the kingdom of satan. We see exactly how we can develop our faith in Romans 10:17.

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

Sounds simple right? That’s because it is! There aren't any tricks, it’s very straight forward. We build our faith through hearing God’s Word. That’s why it is so critically important to read your Bible daily. Because if your faith isn't built up that’s when fear can creep in.

Faith and fear are exact opposites of each other. This means that fear also comes from hearing. The difference is that fear comes from hearing the words of the world. You must remember that our residence is in the kingdom of God. We are in the world but not of the world, and we need to remember that.

Now that’s not to say that you should close yourself off from the world and ignore what's happening around you. We as Christians are put on this earth to make a positive impact on others and lead people to Christ, and the only way to do that is to be involved.

Being in the world but not of the world means to stand on God’s Word, live in Christ, and REFUSE to fear. We do this by spending time with God in his word and in prayer. We don’t beat fear by retreating into a protective bubble and shutting out the world. We defeat fear by confronting it in faith with our feet firmly planted on the Word. When we do that, nothing can move us.

Think of the example we used before about Peter walking on water. In this instance Peter had the Word right in front of him, in Jesus, and the water represented fear. As soon as he took his eyes off of the Word and shifted focus to his fear, he sank. And just like Peter had the Word right in front of him, so do we. And we too can conquer our fears if we walk in the Word and keep a Kingdom mindset.

Come back next time for part three of this series where we will discuss how our words can either activate the law of fear and death or the law of faith and life.