Tag Archives: faith in God

Replace fear with FAITH

Faith always encourages us and moves us forward. Fear causes us to slow down, stop and go into paralysis mode making us afraid to do anything.

So watch this short video on “Replace fear with FAITH”

When we go to pray we need to drop the fear and have faith in God.

Even when the sun goes down and the clouds come in - replace fear with Faith

Even when the sun goes down and the clouds come in – replace fear with Faith

Courage means to keep making forward progress while you still feel afraid.

So turn fear into FAITH and replace fear with FAITH.  Don’t let fear and anxiety take over.

2 Timothy 1:7 God has not given us a spirit of fear. God has given us a spirit of power, and love and a sound mind. Fear makes our mind go into confusion.

Faith Energizes Us

Faith Energizes Us

Only accept a healthy relationship with the Lord, realizing He loves us and cares for us. Consider the verse in Proverbs “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”.

Don’t let fear stop you.

Some see giants and some look at the same situation and see grasshoppers (we are well able to overcome them)

Beautiful Columbia River

Beautiful Columbia River

Faith always encourages us and moves us forward.

 1 John 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;  thy rod and thy staff they comfort me

Isa  41:10  Fear thou not; for I am with thee:
be not dismayed; for I am thy God:
I will strengthen thee;
yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness

Fear Not, just Pray

Fear Not, just Pray

Isaac and Joseph – More Impossible Situations

Luke 1:37  “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

The Birth of Isaac, the Son of Promise
After arriving in the land of Canaan, Abraham and his wife, Sarah, faced an impossible situation. God had promised to make a great nation from Abraham’s descendants. The problem was, Sarah was 90 and Abraham close to 100, and as yet they had no son through which God could fulfill His promise to them. Could God be taken at His Word? Abraham and Sarah faced what seemed to be an insurmountable challenge their faith, so they came up with a plan of their own to have a son. Sarah gave Abraham to her handmaid, Hagar, that Abraham might father a son through her. Hagar gave birth to a son, Ishmael. Ishmael would become the father of the Arab nations, but Abraham and Sarah were in for a big surprise as they looked adoringly at the son of their own planning. God informed them that Ishmael was not the son He had promised. Sarah, herself, would give birth to Abraham’s son within a year. Upon hearing this Sarah laughed, but God performed a miracle. The promised son was born, and at God’s direction he was named Isaac, meaning laughter. God specializes in impossible circumstances through which He can show Himself strong, and this is no laughing matter!

Priest Lake, Idaho

Priest Lake, Idaho

Joseph: from a Pit, to a Prison, to a Prince in a Palace!
Joseph was one of twelve sons born to his father, Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. Jacob loved Joseph deeply because he was the son of his beloved wife, Rachel. Jacob played favorites when it came to his sons, showering Joseph with special honor and privileges. This did not sit too well with Joseph’s older siblings, who eventually hatched what they thought was a clever plan to get rid of their proud teenage brother once and for all. As a result of their jealous and heartless treatment, Joseph was thrown into a pit and left to die, his father being told he had been killed by wild beasts. This looked like an impossible situation for Joseph, but God wasn’t through with him just yet! God moved hearts and men, resulting in Joseph being sold into slavery in Egypt, where he eventually became a slave in the house of Potiphar, Pharaoh’s servant, serving him loyally. What was Joseph’s “reward” for all his hard work? He was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife because he would not respond to her repeated sinful overtures. This landed Joseph in prison for many years. There was nothing he could do to help himself, so he waited on God and served faithfully even in prison. In time God vindicated Joseph, taking him out of the dingy prison, and putting him into a palace. Joseph rose to be second in authority only to Pharaoh in Egypt. Impossible! God not only honored Joseph, but He had a big surprise planned for Joseph’s brothers who had determined evil for him so many years earlier. Impossible circumstances sometimes lead to unique opportunities to display God’s glory.

Priest Lake, Idaho

Priest Lake, Idaho

God Uses People Like Gideon with Little Faith

God even uses people with little faith. Do we ever wonder why God put us in some situations? Well Gideon also wondered.  Look at this Bible passage. Gideon almost gave up, until the Lord spoke to him. And after the Lord spoke, Gideon had trouble believing God.

Judges 6:13-14
And Gideon said to him, “Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? ’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”

Judges 6:16
And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

Multnomah Falls Oregon

Multnomah Falls Oregon

Gideon still did not believe what God said, and so asked for a “sign”. The Jews also asked for a sign at the time of Jesus. Both situations were considered evil in the Lord’s eyes since they did not just take God at His word. But it’s hard to do that, and Gideon being a man of faith, well sort of a man of faith, really did not fully believe God’s word. So Gideon asked several times for a sign. Notice that God did not rebuke Gideon, but sort of went along with his crazy requests. So Gideon really did not have that much belief and faith in God, but God still used him just as he was.

In the New Testament The Lord Jesus put up with a lot of failures and unbelief from His disciples. He put up with Peter, Thomas and more. Well the point is, God puts up with us just the way we are, and still let’s us work with Him for His Kingdom.

Anxiety Kills Vision

As soon as we get anxious, we loose our vision of Jesus and began to sink into despair.

Sunrise, Sea of Galilee, Israel

Sunrise, Sea of Galilee, Israel where probably Peter got anxious when he took his eyes off Jesus

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you

Sunrise, Sea of Galilee, Israel

Sunrise, Sea of Galilee, Israel

Matthew 14:27-32 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. 28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. 29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? 32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

Peter looked at Jesus and walked on the water, then looked down at the troubled water and sank. As soon as Peter got anxious about the water he was walking on, he lost his vision of Jesus and began to sink.

Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression,
But a good word makes it glad.

Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

God’s Strength – Paul’s Secret

Philippians 4:13   I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me.Mountain Peak with Snow, Leavenworth, Washington

Mountain Peak with Snow, Leavenworth, Washington

The big secret to confidence and peace of mind is trusting God no matter what “mountains” we face in life. This is easier said than done, of course, but we can learn to turn our up-and-down feelings over to God, and depend upon Him every day. God may, or may not bless what we do, but His strength, grace, and wisdom are always available for us to tap in to.

The Apostle Paul went through many trials and difficulties, but he learned the secret of trusting God and relying on His strength. Paul’s sufficiency was found in Jesus Christ!  

This verse is a great encouraging Bible verse.

The Lord is My Strength – Prayer

Consider this verse:  Exodus 15:2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.   In this verse, it does not say to “pray for strength”, it says the Lord is my strength. So the prayer for strength is simply to say The Lord is my strength”.  Just say this a few times, and the realization will hit you, it’s not  asking for strength, it’s declaring the fact about where our strength comes from. Our strength is not a thing, but a person Jesus Christ. This is the best prayer for strength.

Faith in God

Mark 11:23 “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.”

Notice the words: be removed, does not doubt and believes.  These items are necessary for every good prayer.   Faith sees the answer to prayer before the answer comes.

Faith Welcomes God into our Life

Faith is that meekness of soul which waits in stillness to hear, to understand, to accept what God says; to receive, to retain, to possess what God gives or works. By faith we allow, we welcome God Himself, the Living Person, to enter in to make His abode with us, to become our very life. However well we think we know it, we always have to learn the truth afresh, for a deeper and fuller application of it, that in the Christian life faith is the first thing, the one thing that pleases God, and brings blessing to us. And because Holiness is God’s highest glory, and the highest blessing He has for us, it is especially in the life of holiness that we need to live by faith alone.

from Holy in Christ by Andrew Murray