3 Steps to Choosing Faith Instead of Fear

I came home from work the other day to a story from my three year old about how she was playing outside and fell and got a fat lip.  Then, when she smiled an adorable little smile I realized the fall caused much more than a fat lip.  Her two front teeth were damaged as well.  

In a panic, I called the dentist and he told me since it had happened earlier in the day it was too late to move the teeth back into place.  Instead, I would have to take her to see a pediatric dentist the next day and have them gas her and move the teeth back into place by force.  

My heart sank at the thought of how painful that would be for her.  All evening, my mind raced with endless worries regarding this situation…

She would be starting school in a few weeks.  What if they can’t fix her teeth and kids      make fun of her? 

            

 What if her permanent teeth are damaged? 

          

What kind of pain is she going to be in?

             

What if my husband forgot to add the kids to the dental plan and we have to pay for all   of this out of pocket? How much will it cost?

It didn’t take long for Skylar to see right through me.  Every time she smiled at me with her front tooth sticking out awkwardly between her lips, she would ask me, “Mommy, why are you looking at me like that?”  Oops, I guess I wasn’t hiding my fear at all.  At that moment I had a choice to make.  Was I going to be a model of faith or fear?

 

Heartfelt prayers for my daughters to develop an unshakable faith have been at the top of my prayer list lately, and at that moment, staring at the crossroads between faith and fear, I knew that choosing faith would lead Skylar down the road of developing faith.  

We are all faced with this choice daily.  There are scary things happening all around us, and the world is watching.  What will we model?  Faith or fear?  

That day, as I turned my back to fear and walked the path of faith, I learned that modeling faith is as easy as choosing to replace the what ifs with three simple steps.  

1.      Pray!

Once I had resolved to walk the path of faith, I started praying. We prayed as a family with Skylar and asked Jesus to go before her into the dentist and to take care of every detail.   We can run to Jesus with all the what ifs, fears, and concerns.  I believe that, and I want my kids to believe that as much as I do!

2.      Take God at His word and proclaim it.

The morning of Skylar’s appointment God led me to Deuteronomy 33:27 which says, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”  As we drove to the dentist office, I started proclaiming that verse out loud so that Skylar could hear me, and I believed that He would be holding her the whole time.  Picturing our loved ones in the arms of the Everlasting leaves no room for fear!

3.      Walk it out.

As we pulled into the dentist office I put on my brave smile, grabbed my girl by the hand and led her into the dentist office in full faith that Jesus had this all under control.  The coolest thing about it, aside from the fact that He did in fact have it all under control, was that I witnessed Skylar walking in strength, courage, and, most of all, faith.  Faith is contagious.

Are you at a crossroad between faith and fear today? If so, I challenge you to turn your back to fear, and take those three simple steps to modeling faith.  I can tell you the path to faith will take you a lot further than fear will.  Fear ends in a dead end.  Choose faith!

How to Exercise Your Authority in Christ

^“ Elisha then traveled north to Bethel retracing his last steps with Elijah. On his way there, a large group of young boys came out of the city and began making fun of him: “Keep going, baldy! Keep going, baldy!” ²⁴ When Elisha looked back at them, he spoke against them by the authority of the Eternal. Almost immediately, 2 female bears walked out of the forest and ripped up 42 of the young boys.”

2 Kings 2:23-24

Today as I read 2 Kings 1 and 2, my soul found rest in a God who has our backs.  In 2 Kings 1 we see Elijah speaking fire from Heaven to demolish the troops who came to arrest them.  All he had to do was speak his God-given authority and bam! Problem solved. 

Here in 2 Kings 2, Elisha is being mocked and teased by a group of bullies.  He too speaks against them by the authority of the Eternal, and almost immediately two bears come and take care of it.  Again, bam! Problem solved. 

As I read this I found myself thinking, “Why doesn’t God work that way anymore?  I would love to be able to speak fire from Heaven against those who oppose me.  Wouldn’t that be awesome?!  And bears for bullies?  That would sure make sending Skylar to school for the first time a lot easier.  Kids these days can be so mean.”

Before I could even completely finish that thought I heard God whisper to my soul, “I am the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  What makes you think I don’t work that way anymore?” 

I responded, “Wow, God. You are right.  You are the same God who sent fire down from Heaven and bears out of the forest.  You had Elijah’s back, you had Elisha’s back, and I know you have my back.  I have seen it.”

Instantly examples of God having my back came to mind.  He reminded me of all the times He has answered my prayers and taken care of me and my family.  I had the feeling that He wasn’t done speaking yet, so I quieted my heart and leaned in a little closer. 

“You long to speak with the same God-given authority as Elijah and Elisha, to speak against the opposition in your life like they did.  Stacie, it is yours.  Proclaim my promises!  Instead of carrying around these fears of yours, speak the authority of my word against them.  When doubts rise up, speak in the authority of me, the Eternal God.  Cry out to me as Elijah did, and though you may or may not see fire from Heaven, you will see my hand at work on your behalf.  Stop fearing and speak my truth!”

What do you need to exercise your authority against today?  Are fears creeping into your heart? Doubts rising up and clouding your vision? 

Don’t spend another day being bullied by those doubts and fears.  

Take hold of the authority given to us through Christ Jesus—authority over the power of the enemy. 

Authority to speak His promises, take hold of faith and walk on in victory.   

Have a faith-filled, victorious day today!

God Is Who He Says He Is

“But Jesus immediately said to them: ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’”-Matthew 14:27

Let’s journey back to the story I blogged about last week.  The disciples had found themselves in a wind and wave tossed boat with what they thought was a ghost walking on the water straight for them.  Could you imagine the fear that must have been welling up within them?  Yet, all Jesus had to say was, “It is I. Don’t be afraid,” and there goes Peter making the offer to walk out on the water with Him. 

“It is I.” That’s it.  Jesus didn’t have to go through a long list of signs and wonders He had performed to convince Peter that He could be trusted.  Less than 10 words and Peter was convinced enough to say, “If it is you, Lord, call me out on the water with you.”  Peter knew His Lord.  He not only knew enough about Him to know He could be trusted, He had experienced Him. 

Truly experiencing God leads us to shake off the shackles of fear and step out in faith.

For the longest time, any time God would call me to step out in faith, He would have to first go through a list of all He had done in my life and all He is capable of doing.  I would go through a list of all the reasons I couldn't do it, mostly fears, but He would counter each one with, “Yes, but it is I…”  Today, I see a difference.  It doesn't take Him nearly as long to convince me anymore, and that is a result of experiencing who He is in my walk with Him.  Step by step I am discovering that He is who He says He is, and He can be trusted!

I want every step I take to say, “I believe that God is who He says He is.”  Are you with me, girls? When Jesus calls me out, I want “It is I. Don’t be afraid,” to be enough to shed my fear and lead me onto the waters.  I refuse to be weighed down by my fears.  God is who He says He is and I want the way I live my life to show that I believe it!

Lord, I am standing at the edge of my boat, looking into the eyes of you, my King.   Lord, help me to remember who you are.  When you say “It is I” bring to mind all that you are.  Help me to remember all the ways you have taught me that you are who you say you are so that when you call me out, my faith in you will surely hold me up.  Thank you, Lord, for all that you are.  You amaze me.  I trust you, Jesus. I love you, Amen.

3 Truths for Walking on the Water

A year ago my small group read a book that ignited our faith and put a skip in our step toward our impossible dreams.  By the end of the book, God had given us all fresh vision for our lives and unshakable faith.

                As we shared those “impossible for men, but not impossible for God” dreams, we encouraged each other and cheered each other on.   I was the master at figuratively pushing all of my friends out of the boat so they could do the impossible and walk on water toward Jesus.  It was awesome! I cheered them on and watched them go…meanwhile, I stayed safe and dry in my boat.  Well, as you could imagine, that didn't last long. 

If you are unfamiliar with the story of Peter walking on the water toward Jesus, see Matthew 14:22-33.

                 

Jesus called me out of the boat, and here I am completely out of my comfort zone.  I’m out of the boat and dripping wet!

I have just wrapped up a day spent with 300 other women who I have never met, in a city I have never been to.  I also had my first meeting with a literary agent, and as I handed her my book proposal, it really was like handing her my baby (they warned us that we may feel that way).

                Let me tell you what I have learned so far as I have journeyed out on the water with Jesus...

1.   The waves are big, and they will try to sweep over you.

Did you ever make a wave pool as a kid? My brother and cousins and I used to do it all the time.  We would all grab some kind of flotation toy and bounce up and down as fast as we could to make the biggest waves possible.  Well, this is what I think Satan is doing when He sees us walking out on the water toward Jesus.  I think he HATES to see God doing the impossible through us, so I bet he’s over there trying to make the waves look like they will engulf us at any minute. 

He almost had me last week.  As I worked tirelessly to finish my book proposal, life happened.  My husband ended up in the ER with kidney stones.  As he underwent two surgeries and an overnight hospital stay, I juggled the kids and everything else and refused to give up.  I know Satan wanted me to tap out.  He wanted me to see the size of the waves and give up on my proposal. But I was not going to let him win…no no, not this time, because I was walking toward my Jesus and I knew He would not let me fall!

2. You get wet out on the water.

When you are out on the water, YOU WILL GET WET.  Some of the dampness will come from the waves of life splashing up against you, but some may be your own tears running down your cheeks.  When God calls us out of the boat, He promises to hold us up, but He never promises it will be easy.

My girls have been taking swimming lessons for the last two weeks, and I noticed something as I observed.  There are a lot of tears shed at the swimming pool.  Kids, like us, get scared when they are called out of their comfort zones and out onto the water.  IT IS SCARY!  But then I watched, as the children focused their attention on the teacher, the one who was urging them on saying, “It’s okay.  Just keep your eyes on me,” they began to relax and just enjoy the experience.  Yes! That’s exactly the picture of us and Jesus! I think He’s okay with our tears, as long as we don’t take our eyes off of Him.  As long as our eyes are on Him, He will urge us on and calm our every fear.

3.     Just when you think you are going to drown, Jesus takes your hand and pulls you up.

There will be times when the waves distract us and our fears pull us down.  If we take our eyes off of Jesus, we will begin to sink.  But here’s the good news…He will never let us go under.  In the story of Peter walking on the water, it says He sees the wind and waves and begins to sink, but IMMEDIATELY, Jesus grabs His hand and pulls Him up. 

Those waves may seem like they are going to sweep over you.  The fears that creep into your heart may feel like anchors that will pull you straight to the bottom of the ocean. BUT, the one whom you are walking toward is never going to let that happen.  He is strong enough! He is powerful enough! And our minds cannot even fathom all that He is going to do while we are out on the water! 

So let me ask you, friend, where are you?  Are you staying safe and dry in the boat watching everyone else go for it? If you are in the boat, might I challenge you to step out? There is a beautiful intimacy with Jesus out there on the water.  Don’t miss out. 

Or are you out on the water, walking toward Jesus and trusting Him to do the impossible in and through you?  If you are out on the water, I hope to encourage you, dear sister.  Keep your eyes on your Jesus and take it one step at a time.  Don’t let Satan trip you up with his ridiculous wave pool, and do not let those fears bring you down.  Look into the eyes of your Savior, and He will never let you fall!