Notes to Remember
"It is not fear until it comes out of you."
"It is not fear until it comes out of you."
Chapter 4 - Faith Makes A Fine Pillow
Matthew chapter 8 gives an example of faith versus fear. It reads beginning at verse 23: “now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that he boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ But He said to them, ‘Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?’” (Matthew 8:23-26)
I want you to understand that Jesus was asleep. He was not conscious of what was happening around Him – He was asleep in a storm. He was no more conscious of what was going on in the earth realm that you are when you are asleep. He was not picking something up in the Spirit while He was asleep, He ministered as a man anointed with the Spirit of God.
Jesus was not conscious of where they were emotionally or spiritually. But when they woke Him up, they said to Him, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” That is all Jesus heard, and Jesus looked at them and said, “Why are you fearful…?” In essence, Jesus said that what they just said to Him was a statement of fear. He was not sensing fear when He was asleep. Jesus knows they were afraid because of what they said.
His disciples were fishermen. They lived by the sea and were accustomed to waves and motion. They know they anyone who went out into a storm like the one they were in was in jeopardy of death. They had seen that kind of storm before, and their experience told them that kind of storm could kill them. They believed their circumstance – that the storm would kill them.
When they woke Jesus for Him to address their situation, He responded, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” In other words, you can choose which one to use. Your faith is little because you have not been exercising it; and if you would exercise it, then you would not have to wake God up for everything!
That is the difference between the child of God whose faith is growing and the child of God who has spent twenty years in church and still has little faith. One is exercising his faith and, therefore, his faith is growing. The other has little faith.
Your mind may be telling you all manner of things in your current situation. Just because you are feeling anxiety about the move God is telling you to make does not mean that you are in fear. In the same way that your belief alone about something does not mean you are in faith, your belief alone in something negative does not mean you are in fear. It is not fear until it comes out of you. However, if you believe that you are in fear, then you will not walk in faith.
If you believe the wrong thing is fear, then you will believe that you have already lost what God has promised you because you know that fear does not produce anything for you. The problem is that you have become so fear-conscious that you have believed Satan and religion’s definition of fear. Some of you are in faith and you do not even realize it.
