Study Seventeen – Faith Or Fear: The Choice Is Yours!
Introduction
So far, we’ve seen how God cannot do anything for you apart or separate from faith. That’s s spiritual principle. But did you know there’s another spiritual principle in action, too? It’s this: Satan cannot do anything to you apart or separate from fear.
Fear is Satan’s source of power the way faith is God’s source of power. Satan has people operating in fear, and they don’t even know it. This is very important to understand when learning about how faith works, because fear and faith don’t mix.
Like many believers, you might find yourself running into a problem because instead of being overtaken by the blessings of God, some portion of the curse is clinging to you. It might be sickness or lack, failure in relationships or business dealings. But whatever it is, it is clearly of the devil, and it is sticking to you like gum to your shoe.
Hopefully, by this point in this Activating Faith series, you realize that God is not your problem. He is on your side. And, neither He nor His WORD ever fails.
You might be tempted to believe the devil is our problem. But the fact is, you know better than that, too. Jesus whipped him completely 2,000 years ago and took away all of his authority.
Please examine these two stories and bring out your observations on faith and fear.
“And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” So, He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.” (Matthew 14:28-32)
“Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”” (Mark 4:36-41)
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A Lesson in Reciprocals
Why is that?
For the most part, we haven’t grasped the basic spiritual operating principles of this planet. We’ve learned a little about the force of faith and the principles of God. But there’s more going on here. A lot more.
You see, for every force and principle God has created, there exists a reciprocal.
Reciprocal referred to something which corresponds to something else but is reversed or inverted. The reciprocal of north, for example, is south. North and south are both directions on the compass. The difference is: one is the opposite of the other. No matter how far you go north, the moment you turn around, you will be going south because they are reciprocals.
If you were the navigator of a ship, you’d be at a great disadvantage if you didn’t know south existed, wouldn’t you? If the only direction you were aware of was north, you’d get off track very easily.
That sounds silly but the truth is, many Christians are trying to do that very thing in the realm of the spirit. They are trying to navigate by faith without taking into consideration the reciprocal force that can, and will, take them in the opposite direction if they don’t guard against it.
What is this reciprocal force I’m talking about? It’s the force of fear.
“Oh, I don’t feel like I’m afraid of anything,” you may say.
That doesn’t really matter because fear is not a feeling. It is not an emotion. It is a spiritual force. And, although it can and does affect your emotions, it can be in operation even when you don’t feel it.
To understand just how powerful fear can be, you must first realise the devil didn’t create it. He can’t create anything. He is not a creator. He is just a fallen angel, and the Bible says, “There is no truth in him” (John 8:44).
If he had ever originated anything, it would be a truth. But he hasn’t. All he can do is take what God has created and pervert it. So that’s exactly what he does. He takes the powerful principles God put in force to bless mankind and twists them, so they work in reverse and bring a curse instead.
Faith Reversed Becomes a Curse
That’s what happened in the Garden of Eden. before the devil got involved, Adam and Eve were living in total blessing. They were ruling with the authority God had given them over a planet that was governed by one master law – the law of the Spirit of life. Heaven and earth were spiritually connected by The WORD of God so everything good that comes from that divine life flowed freely without obstruction.
What happened?
You know the story. The devil came and questioned The WORD of God. He said to Eve, “Yea, hath God said…?” Then, once he had her attention, he flatly contradicted God’s WORD. “Ye shall not surely die,” he said (see Genesis 3:2-4).
He deceived Eve into breaking fellowship with God and His WORD through disobedience. Adam followed suit, though he knew better. By the time he was done, the devil had gained dominion over mankind, and therefore over the earth God had given them to rule. He had taken the master law of the Spirit of life and perverted it into its reciprocal: the law of sin and death.
Under the law of sin and death, every blessing became a curse. The ground which had once produced abundantly began to withhold its fruit, and prosperity became poverty. Health was turned to sickness. Success became failure. Victory turned to defeat.
What’s more, faith, the creative power of God He had given to man to use to rule the earth, became fear. So, when God came walking in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day to fellowship with man, “Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of The LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And The LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid…” (Genesis 3:8-10).
TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK…
Questions:
How is fear the reciprocal of faith?
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What other lessons have you taken from this study?
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