Faith or Fear!

 "And since we have the same spirit of faith, according



to what is written, 'I believed and therefore I spoke,' we also


believe and therefore speak," (2 Corinthians 4:13)

Now this verse mentions that there is a "spirit of faith" that indwells in us, the


fact that we believe that, is the source of where our actions will


come from. Then in 2 Timothy 1:7 scripture says "For God has not given


us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."


Now here the Bible mention "God has not given us a spirit of fear"


that implies that there is a spirit of fear out in our world today,


but we as believers are empowered by the Holy Spirit to show God's


love with a sound mind or in other words "self-control" what that


means is that our spiritual gifts should only be exercised at the


appropriate time. Now what I want to point out between these two


verses is "spirit of faith" and "spirit of fear" we know that to get


to a persons heart we got to go through their mind. With that being


said that's exactly what the "spirit of fear" tries to do, but the


"spirit of faith" is not fighting for your mind He has already won


your mind over when you gave your life to God, instead He is fighting


to keep you with a sound mind, to have self-control and fend off


temptation. That's why in Ephesians 4:30 scripture declares "do not


grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of


redemption." that verse shows that our hearts and minds are already


"sealed" with Christ, but when we allow fear to enter our minds, we


grieve and sometimes vex the Holy Spirit. Now there are three


gradations that the spirit of fear tries to attempt upon a believer:


(1)he tries to make a believer lose sight of the power of God, (2)then


if he completes that he then tries to make the believer wonder if God


is even listening to him, (3)then if he's able to get that far he


brings the person to a state were they don't even acknowledge God


anymore. All three of those are dangerous, that is why the Lords


Spirit is so adamant about keep His believers with a sound mind. You


see the first one was that we allow the pressures of this world to get


to us, then we lose sight on the Holy power that is working in us.


Just like the disciples did in Mark 9:14-29 they lost sight of the


Lords power and were not able to cast out a demon, we understand in


that passage that they lost sight by the Lords response in Mark 9:19


"O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?" Then if we


continue to feed that spirit of fear he tries to make us think, if God


is even listening to us, now that shows that fear is starting to


overcome a persons body for the Bible professes in Isaiah 59:1


"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor

His ear heavy, That it cannot hear." But unfortunately people continue

to feed that fear and they get to where Satan wants them. They get to

a station in life were they don't even acknowledge God anymore, now

I've never quite understood what the Bible ment in Proverbs 3:6 until

I understood the affects of fear, Proverbs 3:6 says "In all your ways

acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." that verse implies

that sometimes we won't feel the presence of God, but if we always

hold in our heart and mind and confess with are mouth the existence of

the truth, we'll find that time and time again God will calm all our

troubles. The biggest problem with us believers is when we sin we

think that God is disappointed with us, and we start to judge

ourselves, and forget that our Judge is gracious and mericful. We

start to come down on ourselves and make ourselves almost depressed,

but that's not what our eternal King wants, Yes, He wants you to

understand what you did was wrong but through His mercy, grace, and

forgiveness He wants you to bounce back on track with Him. But when we

do get down on ourselves we stop reading the Bible, because the bible

is only for the righteous and only certain gifted people can

comprehend it. I don't know where people get this idea from, the bible

itself states in 1 Timothy 1:9-10 "that the law is not made for a

righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the

ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of


fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for


sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is

any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine." So if it's for

all those people, how much more does God want to use it to encourage

His people. So when faced with fear in your mind don't stop reading

your bible, start reading it even more than you did before.