Fear or Faith?

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Graeme Wilson in Victory Call

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. Proverbs 31:25

A few months ago, I was walking through the mall with my daughter and some friends. We approached this group of people waiting in line to play a money game.  You know, the kind where you stand in a clear glass box with a wind tunnel of money blowing about. 

Well, in that crowd was a few folks and their dogs. I’m still unsure of how dogs fit into the money box game scenario, but nevertheless they were there. 

This one little furry thing starts barking something crazy. He was wagging his tail, and jumping up and down. My little girl stopped to observe him. My friend’s daughter kept moving and hid behind her mama’s leg. But not my girl. No, no. She stood there in the dog’s face, watched him for a moment and began to laugh at him. I mean not just chuckle, she was out of breath with laughter. She personified the phrase, “she laughs without fear of the future.”

As I reflect on this memory, I realize that’s exactly how we have to be. First off, the dog was tiny as far as dogs go. But even to my three-foot-nothing toddler, she could tell that he was all bark and no bite. 

Often that’s how the problems, and sometimes the people, in our lives are… Small compared to the big picture of God. They are all bark and really have very little bite.

The scriptures challenge us to decide daily what we are going to let govern us…. fear or faith.  

Will we have faith in God and His sovereignty? Or will we fear the possibility of failure?

Will we have faith to always work things out for our best interest? Or will we always fear the worst and not accept God’s will on a matter?

Today I will close with my favorite quote about fear. It’s from the movie After Earth with Will Smith and his son Jaden. Will Smith’s character is offering some words of encouragement to his son, while he is on a life or death mission:

“Fear is not real. The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination, causing us to fear things that do not at present and may not ever exist. That is near insanity. Do not misunderstand me, danger is very real but fear is a choice.” 

Today, will you choose to be fear or faith?

Diera Shaw-Mendez

Diera Shaw-Mendez is a minister and youth leader at New Beginnings Worship Center, Pennsauken, NJ, and works full-time for an educational nonprofit in Philadelphia. She is wife to Chaplain Juan Mendez and mama to Olivia Joy. She spends her “spare time” running an online invitation design shop on Etsy and write occasionally for her personal blog, With Style, By Grace. Diera is a God-fearing, Starbucks loving, tech junkie (…in that order!) who simply wants to inspire women to invest in THE beauty that never fades!