Day 356
Matthew 8:26 Amplified Version
"And He said to them, Why are you timid and afraid, 0 you of little faith? Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great and wonderful calm (a perfect peaceableness)."
Even though Jesus was with the disciples, they were not free from fear. Sometimes we can think just knowing God is with us will eliminate fear. However, that is not enough. Jesus told the disciples that they were afraid because they had little faith.
The kind of faith God gives comes by hearing His Word. It does not come by hearing words from the Bible as if they are magical. It comes by hearing the words from the Bible with the understanding that a God who cannot lie inspired those words to be written and stands behind them. It comes from hearing God's Word with a spiritual ear, so the Word goes into our spirits in abundance. We will know when that Word is in us in abundance when it begins to come out of our mouths spontaneously. Jesus said that from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. In other words, when we get full of something, it will spill out.
So, when we are afraid, it may not be because we do not believe God is with us. It may be that our Word level is low. We need to increase our meditation of the scriptures. Meditating the Word and communing with God over the Word will make His presence with us more meaningful.
The Word will also help us· overcome another challenge the disciples had. They were afraid because they were ignorant of their own God-given abilities. Jesus rebuked them, because they, too, had the ability to command the storm to cease but did not put their ability into action. Because they had a covenant with Almighty God, they were guaranteed protection, but because they did not understand their covenant, they were ignorant of their ability to handle the situation. Meditating the Word brings us a revelation of who is with us, as well as who is in us. A lion never runs in terror from a hyena. Likewise, we will never run in terror from the devil when we realize the Lion of the tribe of Judah is inside us.
Another thing we must do to help ourselves is make sure we are not outweighing our positive input with negative input. For example, some of us have difficulty forgetting images we see on television or descriptions we hear or read about. If we allow ourselves to be consistently exposed to bad news - murder, robbery, accidents and other crimes and tragedies - we will have to study the Word that much more to counteract the negative input. We do not need to work against ourselves. Therefore, we must minimize the amount of bad news or violent and horror stories we listen to.
Let us meditate the Word and spend time communing with God. When we are afraid, let us realize what needs to be done and do it. God has not given us the spirit of fear. He has given us whatever we need to win. He has made us more than conquerors. We can commune with God in our prayer closets, in our automobiles, in the shower or wherever we may be. He is always available.
Whenever I am afraid, I will turn to the Word of God and commune with Him. His Word will create in me an awareness of who is with me, who is in me and the authority I have as a believer. I will always overcome fear.