Faith

“In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” Ephesians 6:16

“He replied, ‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.’” Luke 17:6

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1

Faith can sound like the simplest thing, but put it to the test and it can be the hardest thing to hold on to. We often give up and let go when things don’t seem to be going the way we thought. It can be frightening when uncertainty begins to whisper fear in our ears. To us it sounds like warning, but in truth it is keeping us from living out truly what God is offering us. It says, “That will hurt,” when we approach something that is challenging. It says, “You might fail and then you will look really stupid,” when we take on what the world won’t. It says, “It’s too good to be true,” when something is offered to us in genuine love.

Fear is what keeps us back, holds us down, binds us up, and blinds us. It soon becomes boss, telling us what we can and cannot do, who we are and who we aren’t. It tells us who to love and when. It tells us how to live and what’s important to us. Quickly, the focus begins to shrink until our own safety becomes our primary goal without even realizing it. We will offer up our own loved ones in exchange for comfort and safety.

Of course we don’t see it that way. Allow me to explain: You don’t go home after work, instead you hang out with work friends to avoid going home to your family because it is hard and stressful. You don’t have that difficult conversation with your child because it’s complicated and easier to just pass the moment by. You choose something fake over something real. You choose to believe that what is in front of you is worth more than what you already have. You are never satisfied because your comfort becomes everything to you. You tell yourself you deserve it. You work hard. But, in the end it leaves you just as empty as the last thing. We stop letting people in because it is too risky.

I would be lying if I said I was immune to this. I will tell you the truth, fear has been my greatest enemy. It has held me back for so long. It has threatened to take my relationships and my future. At last I have chosen to do battle against it.

How do you battle fear? Courage is not enough. But faith, faith is seeing what we hope for in our
hearts long before it is before our eyes. Faith makes us reach for it while fear tries to hold us back.

At some point I have to let go of fear in order to get what I want out of my life. Fear tells me that I can’t do this but God says, “I will help you. I will set a straight path before you and never let you fall.”

So I walk out in faith. It starts small, like a mustard seed. I chose to have faith in the little things, and as God came through, I was able to step out in faith on the bigger things, the life altering things. Yes, lord, I will follow. Yes lord, I will go. Yes lord.
Now my fear begins to subside as I reach for all he has promised. And I have declared that I will not let anyone take from me what faith has set before me, home. I will walk to the end of my life reaching for heaven and my King. And, by the faith of Jesus I will not fail.