What Happens When You Choose Faith Over Fear?

May 19, 2023

What happens when you look at life through eyes of faith, rather than

through eyes of fear? Here are Six things. I could give you dozens, but

let me just give you six.

1. Faith SHRINKS my problems.

The first thing that I do when I begin to see things from God's

viewpoint, it shrinks my problem. It gives we a new perspective. See,

when we see our problem from God's point of view, then everything gets a

whole lot more manageable. When we realize that we have a big God, our

problems get small. 

Luke 1:37 Jesus says, “For nothing is impossible with God!”

1. Faith opens the door for a MIRACLE.

Faith can move mountains. If we study the Bible and if we study

history, we find that every time God moves on earth and does a miracle,

it's because somebody believed. Faith opens the door to miracles.

Mark 11:22-24 Then

Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God.  I tell you the truth,

you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the

sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen

and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything,

and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.

What is Jesus talking about here? God has set up the universe in a

hierarchy of laws and the law of faith is actually a higher law than the

laws of nature. That's where miracles come in. Does God still perform

miracles today? Of course, he does.

What's the mountain in your life? What's the mountain that needs to be moved? Faith opens the door for miracles.

1. Faith moves God to ACT on my BEHALF.

Faith moves God to act on my behalf. Now, don't get me wrong when I

say this, it moves God to act on my behalf. I do NOT believe God becomes

a genie where we rub the bottle and we pray the prayer, and then we hit

the jackpot. No, God is NOT your genie. He is not there to cater to our

every whim. But, at the same time,

Matthew 9:29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “Because of your faith, it will happen.”

God says, “You get to choose how much I bless your life. According to your faith, it will be done to you.” I

1. Faith unlocks all the promises of God.

We've talked about this many times. There are over 7,000 promises in the Bible from cover to cover, over 7,000 promises.

2 Corinthians 1:20 For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!”

All of the promises that God has made in his Bible, in His word, in

His Scripture are "Yes" in Christ and faith unlocks the promises of

God. The promises of the Bible only apply to those who know the author. To

those who know the name of Jesus. All the promises are "Yes" in Christ.

When we know him personally, now we know the guarantor of all the

promises of Scripture and faith unlocks them.

1. Faith turns God-given DREAMS into REALITY.

This is so important. The Bible is full of people who had God-given

dreams. Abraham dreamed of being the father of a great nation. Moses

dreamed of setting the people free. Joseph dreamed of saving the nation

and his own family. Daniel and Paul and David, over and over and over,

all through the Scripture, all kinds of people who were inspiring

dreamers.

Ephesians 3:20 (MSG) God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!

God is able to do far more than we could even dream of. We limit God

by our unbelief. I want to push us to believe God a little bit more than

we ever have before because God is able to do far more than we would ever imagine or guess or request.  

1. Faith gives me power to HOLD ON in tough times.

Why is this one important? Because faith doesn't always take us out of the problem. Faith often takes you through the problem. Faith doesn't always take away the pain. Faith gives us the ability to handle the pain.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 We

are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are

perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never

abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.

Where do we get resilience like that? Faith. Do you see why we need

to work on strengthening our faith probably more than anything else?

Faith shrinks my problems, opens the door for miracles, moves God to

act on my behalf, unlocks all of the promises of God, turns dreams into

reality and gives me the power to hold on in tough times.