Even If i Walk Alone

Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus

Fear

Faith that is Fully Alive

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Josh Husmann, pastor at Mercy Road Church in Indianapolis, recently made the point that, “Your faith is most contagious when it is fully alive.” Dormant faith rarely spreads. If we aren’t living in such a way that our faith drives everything we do, we will struggle to be effective witnesses for Jesus.

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image © Maxim Malevich

When we are fully engaged in our faith, our lives take on an irresistible glow, a fire that is visible to all those with whom we come into contact. We all want a faith that is fully alive, but the struggles of our own doubts and insecurities leave our faith simmering just below the surface. It’s time to let it explode. It’s time we unleashed our faith into the world.
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Out of Your Comfort Zone

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Recently my pastor said something that I have found to be true. He said, “Passion for Christ will always take you out of your comfort zone.” If you’ve been a follower of Jesus for any amount of time, you probably recognize this and consider it a no-brainer. But recognizing something to be true and accepting it are two very different things.

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image © Jusakas

Let’s face it: most of us will do about anything to maintain our comfort. In fact we aggressively pursue it through the purchase of entertainment, clothing, food, and other vices. None of these crutches have anything to do with being a follower of Jesus; but we ignore that point so we can get on with our lives.
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We Categorize What We Fear

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Fear categorizes. Perfect love casts out fear. Therefore there is no categorization in love. We categorize people we fear. We categorize them as terrorists, homosexuals, liberals, conservatives, etc. When we categorize them, it means we do not love them. When we don’t love them, we are not living in the way Jesus instructed us.

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image © Ashley van Dyck – Fotolia

In fact we are living in a way that is totally opposed to the way Jesus did. That’s a dangerous place to be.  If we love everyone we will fear no one. Love, as God defines it, is indiscriminate and unconditional. The groups of people we are most likely to categorize are also those whom we have the most difficulty loving.
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Stare at God

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What if we stared at God every moment of our day? The Bible tells us we should fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2), but how often do we make a conscious effort to do that?  More importantly, what does that look like in real life? I’ve recently been trying to work this out for myself. The key is to first get a proper mental image of God. Check out Revelation 4:8-11, where it describes angels who do nothing but praise God, all day. They are so consumed with His beauty that they can do nothing else. God is the perfection of all that is good. He is perfect and unconditional love, and is constantly in pursuit of you, reaching out to you.  Look at Isaiah 6:3-5, where the prophet feels ruined just from looking at the beauty of God. Keep that picture of God at the forefront of your mind.

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Fearing God

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Satan loves to fill our minds with doubts and fears. He reminds us of our perceived shortcomings and failures. If we listen long enough, these thoughts become debilitating and prevent us from carrying out the mission of Christ. Too often we fail to recognize Satan as the source of our destructive thought patterns. If we did, we wouldn’t lend them the credence that we do. The Bible tells us that Satan is “the accuser” (Revelation 12:10). Any time you have thoughts of not being good enough or you doubt your ability to accomplish something, those thoughts are from the devil himself. In the same way, when you are afraid, those feelings too are from Satan. God is one hundred percent love, and there is no fear in love (1 John 4:18).

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