Faith Over Fear Part Deux

Faith Over Fear … far more than a temporary diversion I thought I needed. In retrospect “My Revival” trip truly was a tour of my soul, an examination of self, community, the world in general and how I need to be relating to humanity. 

In part one of my sharing on this experience we discussed how Faith is the assurance of things we hope for, but have not yet received. 

Faith is also the confidence, belief and trust in things that are not seen. Faith must be present before a prayer can be answered.

Faith is hard work, but its rewards are truly remarkable. That’s where we’ll pick up our conversation here on “Becoming Today”.

During my recent journey away from familiar surroundings on a trip that took me places I hadn’t planned on and taught me lessons I didn’t even know I needed. 

As I shared it took leaps if not complete jumps of Faith over fear, as for 11 days I appeared to be wandering, but was being guided, my every step directed.I appeared to be traveling alone and never was. 

Most thought I was exploring the “wilderness”, but rather it was leaving no stone unturned in me. 

During these moments of clarity I was able to completely focus, move beyond chronic pain and other past traumas and recognize that in every moment the potential for our Becoming is alive and energized.

It takes a degree of clarity to be able to focus our intentions and then in a mere moment of release we empower our faith to deliver our needed results or solutions. The strength of our  intentions determines the power of our choices and the resulting actions.

We must remain committed and follow through in listening to and acting upon our inner guidance. It is with determination plus perseverance that we are allowed a life of good intentions, and to truly thrive.

Not just survive but to grow, develop vigorously and Always Be Becoming.

In that commitment to achieve our desires, to activate our intentions we must remain steadfast in our faith.

As it is written in  Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV):

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Forbearance is patient self-control, restraint and tolerance that gives us the strength necessary to surrender to the Spirit in Faith and then Trust, Believe and Receive.

To achieve this state, first we must allow ourselves to be vulnerable. A term often misused or misunderstood in today’s culture.

Vulnerability is not exposing yourself  or putting yourself at risk as the simple dictionary definitions suggest vulnerable is to be explained as “susceptible to physical or emotional attack or harm”.

Rather allowing ourselves to accept vulnerability grants us the ability to open ourselves to new levels of understanding and intimacy with the Lord. It deepens our walk in Faith and strengths each of our and our collective strength along our shared journey of Becoming. 

Allowing for accepting vulnerability as a tool of empowerment, is best defined as the “willingness to show emotion or to allow one’s weakness to be seen or known; willingness to risk being hurt or attacked”.

If you have the time and care to study this concept more Brene Brown shared an insightful Ted Talk on the idea of the power  of vulnerability more than a decade ago. 

In allowing myself the freedom to practice this, I realized that I needed to spend time alone to get back in touch with what is being put on my heart.

In putting my Faith into action and actively without reservation demonstrating my confidence in God I learned that fear is a liar. It’s not conceived by God, and it is fear that is constantly telling us false things to hold us back. 

In the Scriptures we are instructed numerous times to not fear anything.

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

Now I understand that decisions are something that apparently more than a few people have trouble with. As for me, I belong to the schools of thought that teach,….

What happens when you make a decision? Either it works. Or it doesn’t.

Seems simple enough but even in my own family I’ve documented resistance to the idea.

However you will never be able to find out if you are right if you’re not willing to fail. Allowing yourself to be vulnerable and make mistakes, which we all do, is how you can learn to hear from God. 

Where there is risk, there is always the potential for reward. We must choose to act in those moments and not react to circumstances that develop from our lack of action or the outright refusal to act, decide or choose.

On our shared path of “Becoming Today”, change is the one constant. We must always be willing to embrace the idea, to seek to better ourselves, our families, our communities and society in general.

There’s a hymn from a few (okay more than a few, giggle)  years ago in which we sang, ‘let there be peace on Earth and let it begin with me’. 

In fact I think I’ll go sing it now as I prepare for tomorrow’s discussion on how we can all expand our circles of understanding and influence. 

Until then why don’t you choose to make a joyful noise along with me?