Faith & Fear
Yesterday at my church's Youth Combine meeting, a guest pastor, Pastor Lily came and shared to us the topic of Faith & Fear.
2 Timothy 1:7 (New King James version)
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Some days before this, I kept on coming across people or blogs talking about how fear isn't something which God has given, and that fear is actually a spirit. I never knew that. A spirit to me is something which can possess people. And if fear was a spirit, those who have fear are being possessed by it, that was what I thought.
So, Ps. Lily said that Fear and Faith are equal. They both demand to be filled. If you fear, you'll get what you fear. If you have faith, you'll get what you believe in. Here are the bible verses which she gave:
Romans 8:15 & 28 ; Romans 10:17 ; 1John 4:18 ; John 10:10 ; Psalms 46:1 ; Philippians 4 ; Psalms 112: 6,7 ; Romans 8:31-39 ; Jeremiah 29:11
I hope that you'll read these. Most of them aren't very long... so do not be discouraged by the amount of verses there (if you are discouraged).
When we have faith, we are granted with peace and rest which are beyond what we can understand, because they will come from God Himself. Ps. Lily didn't speak of how we can differentiate between the voice of the devil and the voice of God, but she said that it is important to know that the voice of the devil, which brings in fear, will bring us anxiety, worry, and sin. If there are any thoughts which brings in feelings like those, it is not from God.
The word, F.E.A.R can be read as
False Evidence Appearing Real
To fool us, the devil will make the thought believable and try to manipulate us by making us think that it is something right to do. The antidote to fear, is the love of God. God's love is as high heaven, as deep as the ocean, and as wide as the distance between the west and the east. God's love cannot be measured. It's that high, that deep, and that wide. :)
We should not have fear. The only fear we should have is the fear of God. Then I thought; we must only fear God, right? That means, if we fear other things, for instance cockroaches, kidnappers and all sorts, then that means that they are as powerful as God! Which they are not, right? Imagine a cockroach having as much power as God; IMPOSSIBLE. So... that is one of the reasons why we should not fear other things besides God. If we do, then it is like admitting that that thing we fear can be on par with God. Hehe, that's what I thought, though it does sound a bit silly...
And um, I hope this post did help anyone who read this. I'll end it with verse 4 of Psalms 23, also one of the verses which Ps. Lily gave.
Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
Therefore, when we have faith, even kidnappers, thieves, crazy people (and etc) cannot instill fear in us towards them! o/ (I'll also need to train my faith...)
P.S. I'll be quite busy for God this coming holidays. I'll be going to APYAC (Asia Pacific Youth Alive Conference) which will be held at Glad Tidings PJ together with the Assemblies of God Christians from certain parts of the world (like Indonesia, Australia, Taiwan etc), I'll be helping out in the choir again, and I'll be going to Youth Camp too. This will, I think be the first time of me being busy for God. I'll soon see how that feels, yeah?
2 Timothy 1:7 (New King James version)
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Some days before this, I kept on coming across people or blogs talking about how fear isn't something which God has given, and that fear is actually a spirit. I never knew that. A spirit to me is something which can possess people. And if fear was a spirit, those who have fear are being possessed by it, that was what I thought.
So, Ps. Lily said that Fear and Faith are equal. They both demand to be filled. If you fear, you'll get what you fear. If you have faith, you'll get what you believe in. Here are the bible verses which she gave:
Romans 8:15 & 28 ; Romans 10:17 ; 1John 4:18 ; John 10:10 ; Psalms 46:1 ; Philippians 4 ; Psalms 112: 6,7 ; Romans 8:31-39 ; Jeremiah 29:11
I hope that you'll read these. Most of them aren't very long... so do not be discouraged by the amount of verses there (if you are discouraged).
When we have faith, we are granted with peace and rest which are beyond what we can understand, because they will come from God Himself. Ps. Lily didn't speak of how we can differentiate between the voice of the devil and the voice of God, but she said that it is important to know that the voice of the devil, which brings in fear, will bring us anxiety, worry, and sin. If there are any thoughts which brings in feelings like those, it is not from God.
The word, F.E.A.R can be read as
False Evidence Appearing Real
To fool us, the devil will make the thought believable and try to manipulate us by making us think that it is something right to do. The antidote to fear, is the love of God. God's love is as high heaven, as deep as the ocean, and as wide as the distance between the west and the east. God's love cannot be measured. It's that high, that deep, and that wide. :)
We should not have fear. The only fear we should have is the fear of God. Then I thought; we must only fear God, right? That means, if we fear other things, for instance cockroaches, kidnappers and all sorts, then that means that they are as powerful as God! Which they are not, right? Imagine a cockroach having as much power as God; IMPOSSIBLE. So... that is one of the reasons why we should not fear other things besides God. If we do, then it is like admitting that that thing we fear can be on par with God. Hehe, that's what I thought, though it does sound a bit silly...
And um, I hope this post did help anyone who read this. I'll end it with verse 4 of Psalms 23, also one of the verses which Ps. Lily gave.
Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
Therefore, when we have faith, even kidnappers, thieves, crazy people (and etc) cannot instill fear in us towards them! o/ (I'll also need to train my faith...)
P.S. I'll be quite busy for God this coming holidays. I'll be going to APYAC (Asia Pacific Youth Alive Conference) which will be held at Glad Tidings PJ together with the Assemblies of God Christians from certain parts of the world (like Indonesia, Australia, Taiwan etc), I'll be helping out in the choir again, and I'll be going to Youth Camp too. This will, I think be the first time of me being busy for God. I'll soon see how that feels, yeah?