FEAR OR FAITH?????

The world we live in today sure seems to try to get people fearful. Take the nightly news for instance. Stories of murders, rapes, thefts, and  break-ins seem to dominate the news. Nothing seems to be good. Our prime time television shows on the three major networks no longer are happy go lucky and fun like they used to be. To see shows like 'I Love Lucy' or 'Green Acres'  or 'Batman' you have to go to the TV Land network or something similar.  Most all the shows have murders, autopsies, crime, and the insinuation of illicit sex to mention just a few scenarios or if they are comedies they are cutting edge  attempting to be politically correct.  The daytime talk shows are a bunch of people sitting around making meaningless chatter and often gossiping and putting down people. Then we have a host of reality shows which the public seems to thrive on. Girls trying to get dates or a husband, obese people trying to get thin, people trying to get famous or rich and on it goes. But all in all the days of everyone in the family sitting down in front of the G rated TV set are long gone. Fear seems to dominate the culture we are in. Can this ever be turned around you might ask?


First and foremost we have let God go in our society. If you are guided by the word of God your actions and behavior should indicate that. When you are a believer you should let your life speak loud and clear through your actions that you follow Christ. If you constantly feed on horror movies or slasher films how can that create a peaceful spirit? You may like these kind of movies and think they are perfectly harmless but they are feeding on your fear nature. You can open the door to evil in many ways. What you put into your brain can even affect you in your sleep habits. Have you ever watched a bad movie or TV show then had a nightmare?

Now I am not saying just go watch 'Mary Poppins' and the 'Sound of Music'.There are many good decent things out there without the cursing, slashing,sex scenes, and killing and in the 60's there seemed to be a good deal more. Slowly the culture started to change and it was not for the better. I almost feel it started when prayer was taken out of school(1963) or so it seems to correlate with that. You can not remove God and remain righteous.

What does God's word have to say about this? Philippians 4:8 is a favorite of mine and a good memorization verse and it says " Finally brothers and sisters, whatsoever things are true, whatever is noble, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think on these things."  Colossians 3:2 reminds us to "Set your mind on things above not on things on earthly things."  Note that word 'set'. When your pour concrete you have to wait til it is 'set' before you walk on it. When you make jello you can not eat it til it 'sets'. So that word means to 'fix' in a way. 'Fix' your mind and keep it there. Dwell on good thoughts. To do that you have to make an effort to be careful what you allow into your mind. Remember as a believer Christ lives inside of you and what you subject yourself too you also subject our heavenly father too if you think about it that way.

Many places in scripture it talks about not fearing. Do a word search in your Bible sometime. In Isaiah 41:10 it says " So do not fear for I am with you.Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."  That is an awesome promise from God. So whatever it is you are fearing be it bad news you dwell on, wondering when and how you will die, whether you will get cancer, wondering if you will lose your job or you add to the list ,trust in God and believe He has a wonderful plan for your life. Lean on Him for peace and security in good times and bad.

I will end with a verse on peace. John 14:27 says " Peace I give you my peace I leave you. I do not give you as the world gives. do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

PRAYER: Your love Lord casts out fear. Help me father as I seek to make your word and prayer a part of my daily life. Help me Lord resist attempts from the enemy to try to get me distracted with other activities and forget to give you quality time in my day. I know when I feed my mind  more on your word I will have more faith and less fear. In Jesus name. Amen.