Faith Makes The Difference!

In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:20-24 NIV
Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.” 2 Chronicles 20:20 NIV
The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah's son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.' ” Isaiah 7:9 NIV
Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; Matthew 9:29 NIV
And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. Matthew 13:58 NIV
“Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” Luke 8:25 NIV

Faith and fear should not exist side by side,
Where there is faith, in God, only love abides.
Where there is fear, there is no love,
Where there is love--hope and faith reside.

Consider all of the negativity that exists in the atmosphere--ignited by fear and drenched in doubt by those whose faith no longer exist in God, but in man or woman, mere mortals who are imperfect and full of flaws. When our hope is in man, we leave God out of the equation and since our faith is misplaced, God has no obligation to respond to our pleas to Him.

When our faith exists solely in God, we have no need to fear whatever the enemy is doing and we can stand firm--facing down the enemy--assured that our God is faithful and whatever He has promised to do for us, He will do.

Whenever we allow the enemy to cause us to doubt God, we give the enemy power over us and that power--fear--drains our faith and when we lack faith, we become fearful of everything and everyone.  
We only see the dark side of every event because fear creates an illusion that light does not exist.
If fear is reigning in our lives, we must be willing to examine what is truly going on within us. 
Perfect love casts out fear--our love for God and others--boots fear out of our hearts and where love is--the light of hope shines brightly, guiding us towards God, not away from Him. In darkness, we cannot see where we're headed and at every turn--with every decision we make--we doubt ourselves because we have been blinded by the darkness and we cannot move forward in darkness, without stumbling and falling.

Brothers and Sisters in The Lord--we have no need to fear when our faith is in God--and what we do aligns with His Word. We are not responsible for what others do, but if we are the examples--a living demonstration of The Word of God in action, others will know--our faith is in God and they, too will not fear the evil that exists in the atmosphere.

Remember--without faith--it is impossible to please God, but with faith in God, we can do all things through Him who strengthens us and keeps us focused on Him. Stand firm on your faith in Him, no matter what the evil reports have to say, for the report of the Lord is all we need and believe His report, found in His Word.  Faith in Him makes all the difference in every aspect of our lives.