Fear OR Faith ?

"If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). Ultimately, there are only two motivating factors in life: fear or faith. Until we truly know that God is for us, loves us, cares about us personally and hasn't forgotten us, we will base our life's decisions on fear. All fear and worry stems from a lack of faith in God. You may not think you are walking in fear, but if you aren't walking in faith, you are. Stress is a form of fear. Worry is a form of fear. Worldly ambition is rooted in a fear of being overlooked--of being a failure. Many relationships are based on the fear of being alone. Vanity is based on a fear of being unattractive and unloved. Greed is based on a fear of poverty. Even anger and rage are based on the fear that there is no justice, no escape, no hope. Fear breeds selfishness, which is the exact opposite of God's character. Selfishness breeds pride and indifference to others. All of these are sin and must be dealt with accordingly. Stress arises when we try to serve both ourselves (our fears), and God at the same time (which is impossible to do). "Unless the Lord builds the house, it's builders labor in vain...In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat." (Psalm 127:1-2).

The Bible says that when everything else is stripped away, only three things remain: faith, hope, and love--and that love is the greatest of the three. Love is the force that drives out our fear. "There is no fear in love but perfect love drives out fear, for fear has a torment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18). The only way we can get rid of our anxieties is to look them in the eye and deal with them at the root. If we desire for God to make us perfect in love, we will have to repent of every bit of fear and worry that we have clung to instead of Him. We may not like to face some of those things that are in us, but we must if we are ever to be free from them. If we are not merciless with our sin, it will be merciless on us. It will drive us like the most wicked of slavemasters. Worst of all, it will keep us from communion with God.
Paraphrasing the Lord's words in Luke 10:41-42, Jesus is saying to each one of us, "You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Choose what is better and it will not be taken from you." Isn't it wonderful that the only thing that cannot ever be taken from us, is the only thing we really need anyway? Choose to sit at the Lord's feet and listen to His words and learn from Him. By so doing, you are putting a deposit of true riches into your heart, if you guard those words and put them into practice. If you are not daily spending time with Him and reading His Word, you are opening the door of your heart to the birds of the air who will steal the seeds of life deposited there, and leave worry in their place. As for our material needs, they will be taken care of when we seek Jesus first. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things will be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow will take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Matthew 6:33.
God has blessed us with a most powerful tool; His Living Word, the Bible. If used properly, it is a spiritual sword; separating our faith from our fear, drawing a clean line between the holy and the vile, cutting away the excess and bringing forth the repentance which leads to life. Stress merely indicates an area of our life where our flesh is still on the throne. The life that is totally submitted to God is marked by the trust born out of a thankful heart.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27 (KJV).