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"FEARLESS WARRIORS"
by Victoria Boyson
Web:
www.boyson.org
 More
than any other enemy that the Lord fought, he fought fear in the
hearts and minds of those He chose to raise up, and the same is
true for us. Fear is the enemy of faith, and without faith it is
impossible to please God. He said repeatedly to His disciples,
"You of little faith...why did you doubt?" (Mt. 14:31). The
enemy tries to sow fear in our hearts because he knows that
without faith we are powerless. Fear is our enemy, not our
friend, and we must fight against it with all our might!
"Why Did You Doubt?"
It pleases God when we trust in Him, and it hurts Him when we
don't! In Matthew 14 Jesus' disciples were out late at night in
a boat fishing when Jesus appeared to them walking on water. His
disciples assumed He was a ghost and were terrified. "But Jesus
immediately said to them, 'Take courage! It is I. Don't be
afraid'" (v.27).
Peter was so amazed at the sight of his friend, Jesus, doing the
impossible, that he decided he wanted to join Him. Jesus
beckoned him to come, "...then Peter got down out of the boat,
walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the
wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink, cried out 'Lord, save
me!' Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. 'You
of little faith,' He said, 'why did you doubt?'" Mt. 14:29-31.
Peter was actually walking on the water! He was doing the
impossible! I feel certain he would have made it all the way to
Jesus had fear not entered his heart. Seeing the wind made his
faith give way to fear, and fear robbed him of his ability to do
the impossible. He was doing what was impossible in the natural,
but when the waves rose up against him, he began to fear. The
wind was sent to cause him to fear, and the minute he let fear
into his heart, he sank. The fear he felt killed his faith for
it was his faith in Jesus that kept him on the water.
The minute they stepped back into the boat, the wind died down,
much like the lies of the enemy fade when they lose their
effectiveness. As we endeavor to do the impossible, our faith
will be tested by the winds and storms of life - we can surely
count on it. Yet, when we walk in faith even for a short while,
as Peter did, we learn more about the enemies of our faith. And
we learn more about faith and trusting in God. Every time we
step out of the boat and walk even just a few steps, our faith
increases.
Every test of faith will increase the resolve in our hearts to
fear nothing but God. We learn that in every set of
circumstances we face...God is bigger! We learn again and again
not to fear our enemy and say, "Greater is He who is in [me]
than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).
"We Are Supposed To Be Fearless!"
Faith in God is trusting in His ability and desire to help us.
It is trusting in the fact that no one is bigger than our God,
and that our great big God wants to help us. He loves us. We are
His kids and, as His kids, He has given us HIS authority.
Once we see God as our Father who loves us and is able and
willing to do anything to deliver us, there will be no end to
our faith in Him. No storm in this life will be able to detour
us from following Christ in faith. Fear will have no effect on
us.
Likewise, when we trust God with our own physical well-being, we
will not even fear death. For when we remove the fear of death,
we become fearless. Like the Word says in Psalm 23:4, "Even
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear
NO evil, [Why?] for You are with me." We are fearless because
our great big enormous Daddy God is standing right next to us
and saying, "You just go ahead and try to touch my kid, and I'll
stomp you like a bug!" It is not us who should fear the enemy,
but believe me the enemy should and does fear us, because God is
making us His unstoppable FEARLESS warriors.
If a soldier enters a battle afraid to die, then he will be
ineffective on the battle field. He will continually be focused
on saving his own life and not on winning the battle. He will
not be fighting with his whole heart. He must love the cause he
is fighting for more than his own life. "They loved not their
own lives even unto death" (Rev. 12:11).
When a soldier goes to battle he expects to find fearful events
happening, but he learns to charge towards the fighting because
he knows that is where the victory lies. He becomes an
unstoppable force - a fearless warrior. He becomes victorious
before he even fights a battle because he has committed himself
to victory.
"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and
take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to
save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My
sake, he is the one who will save it" (Luke 9:23-24). We must
throw our whole self into the battle, being ready to die, not
fearing death, or we will lose our lives and be consumed by
death. A warrior that is FEARLESS is unstoppable! The areas in
our hearts where we harbor fear of any kind will continue to
keep us vulnerable to the enemy.
Fear God - Not Satan
"Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the
soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and
body in hell" (Mt. 10:28).
It is more important that we obey God than fear the enemy. God
is the One in control, and He gives us His authority through
prayer. So if God asks me to take a stand against the realms of
darkness, then I know I have nothing to fear. We should not
become presumptuous or arrogant, but we should never fear the
enemy, only God.
If we see fear as our enemy, we will fight against it with our
trust in God. Our faith in God, even in its smallest measure,
will move mountains! Whether we like it or not, we are a target
of the enemy. Our only hope is to operate in the authority that
God has given us through Jesus. We have authority over the
powers of darkness. The devil knows it, and it is time we
believed it!
The Lord cares for you "...and even the very hairs of your head
are all numbered. So don't be afraid" (Mt. 10:30-31). Our
Heavenly Father will stop at nothing to save you and help you.
You have only to trust Him! Do not lose faith in Him…He will
save you.
Pray this with me:
Though I walk through the very shadow of death, I will NOT
fear, because You, oh Lord, are with me. And because You are
with me, I refuse to fear! In Jesus' name, Amen.
by Victoria Boyson
Victoria Boyson, Inc.
www.boyson.org
Copyright (c) 2003-2004
All rights reserved.
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