January 13, 2004 Teusday
Fearful Faith

"Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?" - Mark 4:40

The fear of God is the absolute beginning of personal faith in Jesus Christ, but living in fear of anything outside of Him is anything but faith. When I was saved I stood at the face of Almighty God recognizing that He had every reason to instantly cast me into eternal hell for my sins against Him, but it was at that very moment I heard Him speaking to me as He did to Abraham, "Fear not...I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." (Genesis 15:1) Because we so often allow fear to conquer our faith we quickly degrade into nothing more than cowering, stagnant, and useless servants...wasting our time fearing creation instead of the Creator. We CANNOT exercise fear and faith simultaneously and any fears surrounding our life right now only point towards a lacking relationship between us and Jesus Christ....and when we have failed to keep our hearts fixed on Him we have all the reason to fear.

Remember that He was sent "to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." (Isaiah 61:1) Just as the lost man is bound by sin in his unregenerate condition so too can the child of God become bound in fear, unable to please his Master any longer as he now demonstrates a life consumed with fear instead of faith. Fear opposes faith in every way, to the very core; faith believes to see (Psalm 27:13) whereas fear twists the human soul to a point where one must now see to believe. The Lord embarked on this journey with His disciples in order to reach "the other side of the sea." (Mark 5:1) But not only was there a physical sea to be crossed at this moment, for there also awaited a vast spiritual sea of fear sinking to far greater depths within the hearts of the disciples than could be found in any ocean on the face of the earth, and it was standing directly in the way of their faith...it had to be conquered. Has the call of God on your life caused you to cower away in fear? "There arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full." (Mark 4:37) Don't be surprised when God Himself takes your hand and guides you into the very midst of such a seemingly disastrous situation because it's there that He will force you to choose between fear and faith. "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer...be thou faithful unto death." (Revelation 2:10)