Is that really faith?

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. (Philippians 2:7 NLT)

We can be paralyzed by fear, making it almost impossible to take steps forward. Why does fear cause us so many issues in life? If we have never really made a commitment to Jesus, then I suspect that most of our fear is because we have been attempting to figure life and all of its challenges out on our own. That might not work so well when the forces against us are mounting and the ability to resist them is getting harder. Fear can and will keep us in a position of servitude to it as long as we allow it access to our minds, will, and emotions. The only way to fully be free of our servitude to fear is to ask Jesus to rule over those three things - something we cannot do until we ask him into our lives.

Once we say yes to Jesus, it isn't that fear just melts away, but something changes in our perspective. The more we grow in Jesus, the more that perspective continues to change. We see things differently - perhaps even more clearly. We might not fully understand them, but we can find answers in his presence - at least enough of an answer to take the first step of faith when we don't know for sure what lies beyond that step. There is an 'enabling' that comes when we ask Jesus to help us overcome fear and the challenges that lead to all that fear. It might not be instant change, but the more our roots sink into his Word, the more it gets into us, the more we are able to withstand the fears and doubts that the enemy has plagued us with for some time.

Fear can be said to be the opposite of faith, but I would also say that which each new step of faith we take, there is an element of 'fear' that keeps us coming back to Jesus for the answers. It isn't that we don't trust him - it is that we don't trust ourselves any longer - and that is not a bad place to be at all. The 'fear' that takes us to our knees and helps us be open to his answers for our situation isn't really 'fear' - it is the element of trust that goes beyond one's comfort zone. Any time we are asked to step beyond our comfort zone, we can begin to react to the unknown with a little bit of trepidation. That isn't 'fear' that God won't be with us - it is just us remembering how easily we slipped when we relied upon our own knowledge and abilities in the past.

Let fear drive you to your knees. That isn't a bad place to start! The more we come to realize our need for Jesus in our circumstances, the more we will seek his perspective before we take that first step. Faith grows step by step, but fear also leaves us with each step, doesn't it? We might not realize how much we have grown in our faith until we see how much we have let our fears fall away in our steps with him! Just saying...