The Unknown.
I can handle a lot, but the unknown is what really gets to me, what really sets my mind spinning and focusing on the wrong things. The unknown is what strikes terror at my heart.
My daughter and I were talking recently. It was on a morning when I was particularly stressed about the unknown, about events that are completely out of my control.
It was then that my daughter began to tell me what God was teaching her about putting faith over fear. Leave it to a 14-year-old to remind me God is in control and my fear is actually a sin. Leave it to my daughter to convict me of my lack of faith.
This morning, I’ve really been trying to focus my mind on the things of God, to remind myself that God will fight for me and I only need to be still (Exodus 14:14). So I asked Cassie to write my blog post this week.
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“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” Martin Luther King Jr.
“When I am afraid I put my trust in you.” Psalm 56:3
Hey guys, its Cassie! Its been awhile since the last time I wrote on here. Since then I’ve matured in my faith a lot. As you can tell by the title, I want to talk about putting your faith over your fear so let’s dive in.
Recently I’ve been interested in researching fear after I heard a clip of Sadie Robertson talking about fear. I looked up the definition of fear and I was pretty shocked. The definition says that fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that something or someone is likely to cause pain or danger.
Did you catch that? That key word? Fear is a BELIEF! We CHOOSE to BELIEVE in fear instead of having faith in God and trusting that he is in control.
We are born without fear, but we choose to not trust God in certain areas of our life and we choose fear over faith instead. You don’t give your heart in pieces, you have to give it all, or you give nothing.
At Falls Creek this year someone said that Christians don’t tell lies they just sing them. You may be thinking that’s not me, but when you don’t give your all to God, and you don’t put your faith over fear you fall guilty of that statement.
Now I want to share some song lyrics from some of my favorite songs at the moment. First is the bridge from the song Build My Life, it says:
I will build my life upon your love
It is a firm foundation
I will put my trust in you alone
and I will not be shaken
This relates back to the “Christians only sing lies”. If you sing this bridge, you have to mean it! You have to surrender to God and lay it all down at his feet and use that as a foundation for your new life in Christ! You have to breakup with fear! Which brings us to the next song, The breakup song by Francesca Battistelli:
Fear you don’t own me
There ain’t no room in this story
I ain’t got time for you tellin’ me what I’m not like you know me well guess what?
I know who I am
I know I’m strong, brave, and I am free
Got my own identity
So fear, you will never be welcome here
I absolutely LOVE that song! It’s a great way to tell the devil, who’s disguised as fear, that you don’t need him and you don’t want him! We don’t gain control through fear but more often than not, fear gains control of us. Breakup with fear!
Lastly, once you put faith over fear you aren’t done. After you give your all to God, you can’t just sit and relax, you have to present yourself to him even if you don’t know how he will use you.
I was reading the Bible plan hope in the dark and I came across this word: Hineni
Hineni is a Hebrew word that translates to here I am. Abraham is a great example of hineni. Abraham often doubted God’s promises, but every morning he woke up, thanked the Lord and presented himself to God saying hineni. Here I am Lord! I’m ready for you to use me in ways I don’t understand and I’ll put my fears and doubts away and put my faith over them.
“I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” Psalm 34:4
You may fear change, but that’s where faith comes in. You can roll the dice but the Lord determines how they fall, but the Lord will not give you anything you can’t handle.
“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” Proverbs 16:33
I pray that you will be able to fully trust in God and have child-like faith. That you would present yourself to God, and let him use you. Tell Him, hineni God hineni! I ask that you would be ready for whatever God has in store for you and that you would show Jesus’s love to others and that he would shine his light through you every day. I pray that you would breakup with fear and choose to have faith instead!
Amen.
