Dare to Believe: Triumphing Over Fear with Unwavering Faith
Numbers 32:9, 13
9 For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the LORD had given them.
13 And the LORD'S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed.
We MUST dare to believe! Too many Christians spend more time avoiding labels than they do encountering God! The scriptures plainly tell us in 2 Tim 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” If we operate out of fear, we will soon cease to operate at all! F-E-A-R (False Evidence Appearing Real) will paralyze you as a Christian if you let it. Your enemies do not want you to succeed, and so they will use every tactic available to discourage you from believing God! Whenever it finally occurs to us that any and every obstacle standing between us and the promised land is not of God, but is of the devil, then and only then will we develop the faith and the courage it will take to cross over Jordan!
However, instead of calling that obstacle what it is, an all-out attack from Satan, we spiritualize the situation and call it “a trial” sent from the Lord! I do not deny that trials come into our lives for divine purpose, but I’m afraid a lot of what we are calling trials are actually manifestations of the power of the enemy in our lives. We must recognize the enemy before we can attack him, but as long as we misdiagnose the situation, we will continue to accept defeat as “the Lord trying to teach us something”, instead of doing battle against the enemy in the name of the Lord!
Child of God, do not accept anything that will hinder the furtherance of the Gospel in your life! Many hindrances may in fact manifest themselves at different seasons in our lives, but that does not mean that we are just to lie down and die in our temporary set-backs and dilemmas! Faith will lead your inner man into the Promised Land way before your external man can follow! The key to realizing your Promised Land experience is in keeping the faith in spite of all the external obstacles that are in your way! Do not let your external obstacles become internal obstacles, lest they rob your faith! Dare to Believe God in spite of it all, and God will honor your faith EVERY TIME!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill
9 For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the LORD had given them.
13 And the LORD'S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed.
We MUST dare to believe! Too many Christians spend more time avoiding labels than they do encountering God! The scriptures plainly tell us in 2 Tim 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” If we operate out of fear, we will soon cease to operate at all! F-E-A-R (False Evidence Appearing Real) will paralyze you as a Christian if you let it. Your enemies do not want you to succeed, and so they will use every tactic available to discourage you from believing God! Whenever it finally occurs to us that any and every obstacle standing between us and the promised land is not of God, but is of the devil, then and only then will we develop the faith and the courage it will take to cross over Jordan!
However, instead of calling that obstacle what it is, an all-out attack from Satan, we spiritualize the situation and call it “a trial” sent from the Lord! I do not deny that trials come into our lives for divine purpose, but I’m afraid a lot of what we are calling trials are actually manifestations of the power of the enemy in our lives. We must recognize the enemy before we can attack him, but as long as we misdiagnose the situation, we will continue to accept defeat as “the Lord trying to teach us something”, instead of doing battle against the enemy in the name of the Lord!
Child of God, do not accept anything that will hinder the furtherance of the Gospel in your life! Many hindrances may in fact manifest themselves at different seasons in our lives, but that does not mean that we are just to lie down and die in our temporary set-backs and dilemmas! Faith will lead your inner man into the Promised Land way before your external man can follow! The key to realizing your Promised Land experience is in keeping the faith in spite of all the external obstacles that are in your way! Do not let your external obstacles become internal obstacles, lest they rob your faith! Dare to Believe God in spite of it all, and God will honor your faith EVERY TIME!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill