Book Study: Chapter 11, Growing in the Fear of the Lord
We’ve come to the end of what has been an incredible journey through the Bible considering how to fight our fears with faith. But the battle doesn’t end with the end of this book study. It takes the power of God and his grace made available to us through His Spirit to enable us to continue the race. So, how do we fight for faith and, essentially, how do you grow in the fear of the Lord?
There are two things I’d like to encourage you to begin cultivating in your life if you have not already: 1) Pray, and 2) Studying God’s Word.
Pray
When tragedy strikes, people begin to call out for help—almost everyone, regardless of their devotion to the Lord or faith, cries out for help. There are prayer gatherings, moments of silence, prayer requests that flood social media sites and I’ve even seen requests for prayer like this from unbelieving friends, “If you are someone who prays…” We know that there is someone beyond ourselves who is in control, even if we don’t profess to believe. We know that there is someone who listens and cares. And yet, I’m not sure there’s anything that I do that takes more faith and trust than to pray. I know that God has made a way for me to approach Him through Jesus and, at the same time, I realize that it takes great faith for me to open my mouth to my Father and speak to Him.
If you want to grow in the fear of the Lord and in faith, begin to exercise this great gift of prayer. If prayer is something that you think feels unnatural, it’s because it is. Prayer, consistent prayer, not only during times of trouble, takes the power and grace of God. Ask God to help you pray. Let the Bible help you pray: Pray the Lord’s prayer, pray the Psalms, and remember that even if you don’t know what to pray, the Spirit knows what you need (Rom. 8:26). There are plenty of books on prayer to help you begin this discipline, but I want to simply encourage you to pick a time of the day and call out to your Father who hears the prayers of His saints. And if you lack faith to believe and to pray, ask God to simply give you faith to believe.
“The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry” Psalm 34:15.
Read
It’s hard to grow in faith if we don’t ever study the One we are to trust in. I love books and believe God uses them powerfully. But books are no substitute for the Bible. The Word of God is the only written work that is living and active (Heb. 4:12). It’s truly a miracle that we have the words of our Lord at our finger tips to read and study. If you struggle to have faith to believe, pick up your Bible, open it, and begin to learn about who God is and why you can trust Him. If you don’t have faith to believe the words written in the Bible, ask God to make His word clear to you. Grab a friend for help. Join a Bible study. Do whatever you need to do, but don’t neglect this gift. Baby steps are still steps.
God isn’t hiding. You have access to Him through prayer and reading right now.
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At various spots in Fear and Faith, I included testimonies from others to serve as encouragement in battling fear. And as this study concludes, I thought it would encourage your faith to read this testimony of growing in the fear of the Lord. Our fight for faith is lifelong and we have a God who is patient and loving. We can rest knowing that Jesus covers all our fears by His blood and grace.
A Testimony of Fighting Fear with Faith
“Fear is the absence of faith.”
“Faith and fear cannot co-exist in the same heart.”
Those are the messages I scribbled onto 4X6 cards as a brand new mother. I propped them up on my nightstand so they’d be the first thing I saw in the morning and the last thing I saw at night.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved motherhood and was overwhelmed at the amount of love I had for this beautiful bundle of joy, Rebekah. But motherhood also surprised me with another emotion: fear. I was controlled by it, and fear caused me to act irrationally. I’d wake hourly to check Rebekah’s breathing as she slept in the bassinet six inches from me because I was afraid of SIDS. And when I finally did sleep, it was turbulent due to recurring nightmares I had about the house catching on fire and not being able to rescue my baby from the flames. I envisioned dropping her, causing her permanent brain damage.
I drove extra slow: car accidents.
I watched her like a hawk in the grocery store: child abduction.
I never took my eyes off her in the tub: drowning.
I cut all her food into minuscule pieces for way too long: choking.
I knew that this level of fear was wrong in the life of a believer in Jesus Christ, and that I needed to address it, but I wasn’t sure how.
Mercifully, the Lord led me to read the Psalms and I noticed a recurring pattern in the Psalmist’s writing that I could identify with and it gave me hope.
The Psalmist:
Was in trouble (unable to save himself, surrounded by enemies, sinking in sin, worried about life in general)
Feared and despaired, complained, compared, etc…
Remembered God and His promise.
Adjusted his thinking through right thinking. He meditated on God.
Reaped a peace as faith replaced fear through a focus on the right things. Hope was renewed.
For me, dwelling on the “what ifs” of motherhood was not a neutral pursuit like I thought. In truth, my negative thought patterns produced crazy over-protective behaviors. The Lord showed me that my faulty patterns (fear) needed to be replaced with the truth of Scripture and hope (expecting that God will act.) Choosing faith instead of fear with my five children is still a daily choice that I have to make. So every day, I evaluate where I‘ve set my hope. I listen to the words I’m saying to myself in the quiet of my own mind. I “take every thought captive” and heed the command to “renew your mind.” If you visited my house today, you’d see that I still post Bible verses to inform and correct my own thinking because the battle of the mind and heart is real and ongoing, and the Word of God is my main defense in this struggle.
Sarah Beals has three favorite mottos: “Grace is for sinners,” “It is all of grace,” and “Grace will lead me home.” That pretty much sums up her past, present and future. She and Peter have been married for 24 years and have five children, ages 12 through 22. She enjoys spending time with her family, reading, watercolor, coffee and writing at joyfilleddays.com.
Thank you, Sarah!
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