Day 12: Faith Over Fear

September 12 | Week 2: Faith and Trust

The LORD Your God Will Be With You

Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

1. What is Joshua commanded to be? What is the reason he can be that way? Joshua is commanded to be strong and courageous. Additionally, God commands him to “not” be afraid or discouraged. Fear is the obvious opposite of courage. However, I do not instinctively assign discouragement as the opposite of strength. Instead, I typically think in the more general term “weakness.”

Weakness Vs. Discouragement

“Weakness” is not as specific as “discouragement” because it can apply to many different things. Furthermore, weakness is often associated with physicality. In this case, the scripture is speaking to us regarding our strength of heart/mind. Therefore, “spiritual strength” of the “heart and mind” kind is a faith decision and has nothing to do with my body in and of itself. Similarly, when I am discouraged in this way I also have made a “spiritual” choice.

Choose To Be Strong And Courageous

2. What are you facing right now that you need this verse for? Personally, Amy and I are going back into ministry leadership. I can struggle with fearing failure when I consider the last year of our ministry service in Phoenix and her challenges with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Furthermore, I can fear rejection and the mental and emotional drain that is necessary to build family. Although I know these fears are there, scriptures like Joshua 1:9 are medicine for my mind and heart. (Hebrews 4:12-13)

Keep Your Eyes On Jesus!

Matthew 14:25-31

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Walking On Water

1. What was Peter able to do while his eyes were on Jesus? Peter was able to walk on water!
2. What happened the moment he looked at the wind and the waves? Peter was firstly afraid the instant he looked at the wind and then began to sink!

3. What are the wind and waves that pull your eyes off of Jesus? I sometimes forget that a huge part of any kind of leadership role (cyberministry, ministry, administration, etc) at any capacity is building unity.

Power, Love, and Self-Discipline

What I mean is this: I experience a conflict or what seems to be a deliberate disregard for protocol in the cyberministry and I get frustrated and complain. However, a core function of any leadership role (“World Missions Cyberevangelist, Region Leader, Bible Talk Leader, Husband, and Father”) is building, creating, and inspiring unity!

2 Timothy 1:7
“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”
1. What kind of spirit did God not give us? God did not give me a spirit of timidity. Furthermore, God’s spirit is neither unloving nor lazy but my source of “power!”
2. What three things did he give us instead? God’s Spirit gives us power, love, and self-discipline!

By What Spirit Do I…

Ephesians 2:1-2

1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

APPLICATION: Fear shrinks when faith grows. Name one thing you have been too afraid to do for God, maybe sharing your faith, making a hard change, or stepping up to meet a need.
Take the first step of obedience today, even scared.

Submit To The Spirit And Live

The first “hard change” I think of is my fitness. I must ask myself, “by what spirit do I act or think this way?” I believe I’ve been too lazy and feared the pain of getting back in shape. Clearly, this is not the Spirit of God influencing my heart/mind in this way! “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) When I deny myself and pick up my cross, it is not something I want to do, but something I do out of my “reverence for Christ”! (Ephesians 5:21)

“Do not be stiff-necked, as your ancestors were; submit to the LORD. Come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. Serve the LORD your God, so that his fierce anger will turn away from you.”(2 Chronicles 30:8)