“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”
This is an unusual title. When you read this article perhaps you will see my reasoning for it. It came to me that there are three words that start with “f” that we all need to deal with in our lives. Here they are: First, we have to deal with fear. There is no one who has ever lived who did not have to deal with fear. I read once of a great general who wrote about how he had to deal with fear. He wrote that before he entered into battle if his soldiers saw his knees shaking, they would know that he was also afraid. There are some things of which we should be afraid. Fear keeps us from doing foolish things that we should not do. Actually, being afraid is not the problem; the problem is when we let fear rule our lives. There are people who will not do anything because they are so ruled by their fears. It is one thing to be afraid, it is another to let fear rule the day. Fear can keep us from doing foolish and dangerous things, but it can also keep us from doing the things that we should do. Second we have to deal with is what the King James Version of the Bible calls “fainting.” This is the old word for giving up. We read about this in Galatians 6:9: “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.” I hate to think about the things that I missed in this life because I gave up instead of going on. Conversely, I can think of a number of things that I accomplished because I did not faint. What is it that you are failing to do in your life because you are afraid? Every successful person could tell you of the fears that they had to go beyond in order to succeed. There are also some pitiful stories by people who did let their rules fear their decisions and they stopped short of the goal. The advice in Galatians 6:9 is to keep on keeping on instead of fainting short of the goal. Third, there is one word that we will have to remember if we would not be ruled by fear, that is, faith. I think of the number of hurdles that the apostle Paul cleared because his faith in Christ kept him from fainting. This is true of the great servants of Christ in the Bible and in Christian history. I know that there have been times in my life that I wanted to faint, but by faith in Christ, I was able to keep going. Christ will give us the courage to go on instead of giving up. Peter Forsythe caught the spirit of this when he wrote: “Unless there is within us that which is above us, we shall soon yield to that which is about us.” 1 John 5:4 reminds us of this truth: “For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” Faith in Christ can lift you above your fears and keep you from fainting. Trust Him and move on….. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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