Where is your Faith?
Matthew 17:20 …… I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
The one characteristic that all human beings are born with is faith. It is faith that keeps us alive. When we were babies, it was faith that allowed us to trust our parents that they will take care of us. However, as we grow we begin to experience life’s struggles, which enable us to learn and develop something called “fear”. Our adult life is constantly reminded of the past betrayals, hurts and undesired experiences in the form of fear. Fear becomes a response that we learn during the course of our life.
I remember the first few baby steps of my children. When they made their first few steps as babies, they just fell down. However, it was the power of faith in their lives that kept the power of fear down. Hence, they learned to walk. What would have happened if they had never learned to walk, with the fear of falling? They would have been crippled for life.
It is an interesting fact to note that faith and fear cannot co-exist. Our hearts can only have faith or fear. Since, it is faith that allows us to succeed under all odds, while it is fear that prevents us from even trying anything, since we believe that we will fail.
Fear always affects our actions, attitudes and emotions. Whenever the pressures of life come into our life we seem to develop fear. The sense of uncertainty envelops our thinking. Our emotions begin to take control of our mind and life. We either get angry, upset, frustrated at the way things are being done, disappointed from unmet expectations and start thinking in the wrong direction. Fear prevents us from enjoying our current blessings. There is a Spanish proverb “He who fears death cannot enjoy life."
Are you living a life of faith? Or fear?
In its true sense, Faith is knowing that God will turn out to be the conqueror in the conflict, while fear is thinking that you may be vanquished. In your darkest night, you might have questioned God. However, it is good to know that on the cross even Jesus cried, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me." But deep in Jesus’ heart He knew that his Father in Heaven would have never left him alone. He had the Faith. And for us to attain that kind of Faith, we have to answer the ultimate question, who or what shall we trust?
Some say we have faith in our abilities. However, they fail to realize that our life is just a breath away. If we were to observe carefully, we will realize that in combination with our abilities, a supernatural hand was needed for us to be where we are today. If we are in total denial to this fact, then we are pushing away God’s mercy and love from our life. God wants to connect with everybody, hence works mighty things in our life to get our attention and help us realize that we can do nothing on our own. The choice to accept and recognize this act of God is the faith that we were born with, but the fear we learned through our life seems to overshadow our decisions. We need to begin to trust in the One True God.
It is only Faith in Jesus by whom we can learn to control our actions, attitudes and emotions, rather than allowing the Fear to overcome our emotions. One who fears cannot be at peace and know true joy. Remember that hopelessness exists in the heart of life when fear is present, while there is rejoicing in God when faith exists. This faith is a gift of Jesus in our lives, which we receive when we begin to trust in this one true God.
Stanley Samuel
Associate
India International Church
The one characteristic that all human beings are born with is faith. It is faith that keeps us alive. When we were babies, it was faith that allowed us to trust our parents that they will take care of us. However, as we grow we begin to experience life’s struggles, which enable us to learn and develop something called “fear”. Our adult life is constantly reminded of the past betrayals, hurts and undesired experiences in the form of fear. Fear becomes a response that we learn during the course of our life.
I remember the first few baby steps of my children. When they made their first few steps as babies, they just fell down. However, it was the power of faith in their lives that kept the power of fear down. Hence, they learned to walk. What would have happened if they had never learned to walk, with the fear of falling? They would have been crippled for life.
It is an interesting fact to note that faith and fear cannot co-exist. Our hearts can only have faith or fear. Since, it is faith that allows us to succeed under all odds, while it is fear that prevents us from even trying anything, since we believe that we will fail.
Fear always affects our actions, attitudes and emotions. Whenever the pressures of life come into our life we seem to develop fear. The sense of uncertainty envelops our thinking. Our emotions begin to take control of our mind and life. We either get angry, upset, frustrated at the way things are being done, disappointed from unmet expectations and start thinking in the wrong direction. Fear prevents us from enjoying our current blessings. There is a Spanish proverb “He who fears death cannot enjoy life."
Are you living a life of faith? Or fear?
In its true sense, Faith is knowing that God will turn out to be the conqueror in the conflict, while fear is thinking that you may be vanquished. In your darkest night, you might have questioned God. However, it is good to know that on the cross even Jesus cried, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me." But deep in Jesus’ heart He knew that his Father in Heaven would have never left him alone. He had the Faith. And for us to attain that kind of Faith, we have to answer the ultimate question, who or what shall we trust?
Some say we have faith in our abilities. However, they fail to realize that our life is just a breath away. If we were to observe carefully, we will realize that in combination with our abilities, a supernatural hand was needed for us to be where we are today. If we are in total denial to this fact, then we are pushing away God’s mercy and love from our life. God wants to connect with everybody, hence works mighty things in our life to get our attention and help us realize that we can do nothing on our own. The choice to accept and recognize this act of God is the faith that we were born with, but the fear we learned through our life seems to overshadow our decisions. We need to begin to trust in the One True God.
It is only Faith in Jesus by whom we can learn to control our actions, attitudes and emotions, rather than allowing the Fear to overcome our emotions. One who fears cannot be at peace and know true joy. Remember that hopelessness exists in the heart of life when fear is present, while there is rejoicing in God when faith exists. This faith is a gift of Jesus in our lives, which we receive when we begin to trust in this one true God.
Stanley Samuel
Associate
India International Church
posted by Danesh Manik | 4:52 PM
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