I was visiting in a home recently and saw a plaque with these words: “LET YOUR FAITH BE BIGGER THAN YOUR FEAR”. How do you respond to this thought? We all have the experience of times when our fears seem to loom so large. It is then we want to remember and claim the promise that God is certainly bigger than any fear of what is or might be. Recall with me when Jesus was in a storm on the water with His disciples. It is recorded in Luke 8:22-25: 22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, He fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. 24 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25 “Where is your faith?” He asked His disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” When we turn to God and ask Him to take over what seems overwhelming to us, then our faith increases in size and the fear diminishes. It is a huge relief to restore the reality that what had grown and become so prominent, is reduced in size compared to the immensity of God and our faith in Him. Prayer allows us to keep coming back to the accurate perception that faith in God can be bigger than any fear that tries to overpower faith. When we pray, we are employing an effective strategy to have our faith expand and welcome God’s transforming Presence. Perhaps you would like to write out these words: “LET YOUR FAITH BE BIGGER THAN YOUR FEAR” and place them on your mirror or fridge. Whenever we read these words, we can pray that God will restore our faith in Him and that the power of God will not permit our fears to increase and take charge. Tomorrow November 2nd at 1 pm, we will pause for our WEDNESDAY PRAYER TOGETHER and we can pray the prayer below trusting God to ensure that our faith is bigger than our fear.
Grateful that our God is always bigger than whatever we fear, Pastor Lola
Our God Who loves us and understands every anxious thought and fear that we carry, we come to You now to pray that You will keep reminding us to turn to You. When our fears are mounting like the waves in a storm, we choose to call out to you our LORD in faith. We truly do want our faith in You to be bigger and stronger than any fear that enters our thoughts. Just as You spoke words that calmed the storm for Your disciples, Jesus we are praying that You will calm the troubled waters of our emotions. There are legitimate reasons for us to experience fear when we face the troubles and uncertainties of our lives. Our longing is for our faith in You to insist on being larger than any fear that threatens. We do not want our fears to obscure our view of You God. We want to recognize how big You are and we want to claim Your overcoming power. We are amazed along with Your disciples Jesus, that even the winds and water obeyed You. When we are caught in the swirl of what is beyond our control, it is not beyond Your control. This truth consoles us and we thank You. We need this constant reminder to call out to You and to see how our faith in You to provide the answers that we seek, will be met. We challenge right now the inaccuracy of our perceptions when fear is crowding out our faith and trying to insist that it can be biggest. Please God engage in Your holy activity of resetting our vison so that we see You are always bigger than whatever threatens us. We believe that our faith truly can be bigger than any fear with which we struggle. In our daily lives where there continue to be reasons to fear, thank You that our faith in You gives us reason to depend on Your sufficiency. As we have conversations with others, we are praying that they too will receive the assurance that for them as well, faith in You can be bigger than any and all of their fears. Where we are reluctant to admit our fears, we pray for honesty to name our fears and to invite You to lead us through. Thank You God that we can expect You to keep causing our faith to grow! In Jesus’ Name. AMEN.