By Braxton King
“The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.”
This quote by George Muller reveals how, by faith, he was used by God to care for thousands of orphans. It’s a beautiful thing to understand that where faith begins, fear ends. The just shall live by faith, and anything not of faith is sin. If we’re not careful, we will spend all our energy focusing on fear and the situation that brought it.
Fear and anxiety are first cousins; they always hang out together. Faith and courage are first cousins, and they always hang out together. Instead of focusing on fear, we should build up our faith immune system.
Our immune system is designed to detect and defeat pathogens in our body. In the same way, we can develop our faith immune system so that it will detect and defeat the pathogen of fear. As I’ve heard said, “Feed your faith and starve your doubts.”
Spending time daily in the Bible and in prayer are excellent ways to defeat fear. Winter blues are a condition where a person will be depressed and fatigued because of the shortened days, resulting in less sunlight. One effective treatment is to sit in front of an intense light in the morning, causing light to flood in and increasing the feeling of joy.
Jesus is the light of the world and spending time in His presence daily can alleviate anxiety.
“So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
The more time spent in the Word is more time building up your faith immune system. Three times, Jesus defeated the devil’s temptations with the Word, “It is written.”
Fear brings a culture of death whereas faith brings a culture of life. David said, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
David could be fearless because the Lord was with him.
I had a dog named Brownie, and if I was courageous, he was courageous. However, if I was fearful, he was fearful. The awesome truth is that, we as believers, understand that our God is never fearful.
“The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.”
“If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Feed your faith and starve your doubts.
