Nowadays, everyone’s caught worrying.
We are having doubts. We are panicking. We are depressed because of the uncertainties that we are facing right now.
What we realize lately is that our security cannot be found in our money, nor our status, nor on the position in the company.
There's a lot of people struggling right now to provide food on their tables.
Online resources: our adjustment as we move to digitalization.
But my prayer is for everyone to have a new perspective of what’s happening and be reminded of what’s really important.
Since we are talking about faith and fear, let’s first define what is faith. As a human being, it’s innate in us that we look for tangible assurance. This world operates in the principle that if we buy cola in a little bottle, you have to give a deposit payment. If you are to buy a condo or if you are to rent a house, you have to give the down payment. If you are going for a loan, there is a bond and a guarantor. And even in vows, there are some, particularly rich people, who have prenuptial.
It's not to say that these things are bad; since we are doing it on a daily basis, then so the world operates in this principle. But this principle doesn’t apply in the spiritual realm. If we are to have genuine faith in God, it cannot be the to-see-is-to-believe kind of faith. It’s like, “Lord, heal me first, then I will believe in you.” No! It doesn’t work that way.
This is because having faith is being sure of what we hope for and assured of what we do not see.
We do not know how long this crisis will go but the Word says: “The righteous shall live by faith.” ( Romans 1:17/Gal 3:11/Heb 10:38)
That is what faith is.
In the same way, we should also label what is the “fear” that they are talking about. What does the Bible say about fear?
For God gave us not the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control." (2 Timothy 1:7)
After reading this Word, every time I’m having fear and doubts, I remind myself that it is not from the Lord because what the Lord gave us are: power, love, and self-control.
What is the difference between faith and fear?
According to Hebrews, Faith believes without seeing the desired results. And fear worries about how things will turn out by looking at the circumstances.
"It deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit plcae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm."
I hope most of us can read this. I see this message as to how God works in our lives. He said in His Word that He is the Alpha and Omega – He is the Beginning and the End.
Imagine a book having the first page as the beginning of your life, and the last page, the end. All the pages in between that first and last pages are what happened (or happening) in between; whatever downturn, ups, and downs, wrong turns you can remember in mind (the world has a lot of action).
If you are to read that book and get to know what happens in the end parts, it's like there is no more thrill as you continue to read how it went to that ending. It’s also like watching a movie. If someone tells you how the end would go, the movie will get spoiled.
Having said that, we have to realize that God is all-knowing. He knows everything about your life. Nothing surprises Him, but He is not very fond of revealing to us how we will live and how we will die. Imagine, God, saying to you, “Ahh, one of these days you will sleep and never wake up again.” If you will hear that from God, you might never sleep again because you will think it is already your last day.
It can also be that the plan of the Lord is for you to be the greatest surgeon of all time. But God is telling you that you have to go 5 years in kindergarten because you can’t pass the addition. But at the peak of your career, you shall be the greatest surgeon that you can even do surgery on two human hearts at the same time.
According to Isaiah 55:8-9 that "God’s ways are higher than our ways".
I want you to realize that whatever our desires may be, and no matter how grand our plans are, the plans of the Lord are different just as heaven is higher than the earth.
God will not give you the whole plans because you might come to panic about how you will handle your life.
God will always put you in a position where you will always need Him. He will not give you too much because we might forget about Him nor will He give you too little because we might curse Him.
So those are the plans of the Lord. Maybe God is telling us this verse, John 16:33, "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. This world will bring you trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.”
That is God’s message to us: to have the assurance of what is yet to come. It doesn’t mean that when you are a Christian, then you will have a storm-free life. But if you are a Christian and your faith is in the Lord, your life will surely be storm-proof. God is forever faithful. It is our faith that is shaken when we are going through some circumstances and challenges. I personally memorize this message so that whatever may come to my life, this is what I recite and remind myself of.
The ultimate question is:
Will you choose faith over fear?
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