Fear and Faith

They both can't exist at the same time. When one is present, the other is lacking. I've been reading through the gospel of Luke and have been seeing these two things side by side. The disciples will be fearful, and Jesus will ask them where is their faith. Jesus tells the healed woman her faith has made her well. "Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well" Luke 8:50.

I've been thinking what it means to walk by faith as believers; growing in faith as we grow in trusting the One who is trustworthy. We have to know Him, learning His character, to truly know we can trust Him. It has been fear and control that have restrained me from letting Him have full control. Fear brings me to think on things in my own understanding- this understanding has kept me from seeing my God as fully capable and in control.

"When it comes to jigsaw puzzles, we all know that to enjoy a satisfying outcome you need all the pieces. In many ways, life is like that. We spend our days putting it together, hoping to create a complete picture out of all the scattered parts." My own understanding allows me to see these pieces of all the things circumstantially I know- trying to figure out how each will fit together. Faith requires us to give up control of putting the pieces together on our own strength and trust the Lord to do it- He knows the bigger picture and the final outcome!

It's fun to think that where there is fear, there is also an opportunity for faith. There is fear because faith is needed; with faith we cannot rely on our own strength. It can be scary to fully trust the Lord with an unknown... especially when we don't know His character and are relying upon it!

"Courage is acknowledging fear but taking action anyway"

We can take action when our focus is not on the circumstance but on the One who is higher than the circumstance! Peter lost faith that he could walk on the water to Jesus when he saw his surroundings of the waves crashing around him. This fear allowed him to sink.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." Colossians 3:1-2