I’ve dealt a lot with fear in my life. I’ve lived through a lot of defeat and a lot of regret because of fear. I’ve often thought to myself, “I wish I wasn’t so fearful. I wish I had more faith.”
But the more I’ve thought about fear and faith, I’ve realized something that truly stuns me. I’ve realized that my problem isn’t that I have fear instead of faith, but that my mind has turned my faith into fear.
Now what do I mean by my faith turning into fear? Well, to answer that question we have to start with what we really mean by faith. One definition of faith is that it is a mindset, a trust, a baseline assumption that is hard-wired in your brain’s second-to-second processing about everything that is happening to you.
For instance, you can have a mindset that God is going to take care of you, that things are going to turn out ok, that your life is going to be something special, that the universe is fundamentally here to help you. When you believe those things deep down and live your moment-to-moment life by them, that is the essence of faith.
But what if because of difficult and traumatic experiences your brain becomes hard-wired a different way? What if because of some hard knocks your brain starts to assume that God might not really be taking care of you, that things are not going to turn out ok, that your life is not going to be something special, that the universe is fundamentally indifferent to you or even here to hurt you? What would you call that way of thinking and feeling? I’d call that fear.
Do you see? Fear is a belief just like faith is a belief. Fear is faith that has lost its way, that is in darkness instead of light, that is no longer immersed in the life and love of God. But do you want to know the good news? Your fear can be healed back to faith.
When you feel fear, just step back and look at it for what it is— faith that needs healing. Say to yourself something like “I’m believing the bad in this situation, but I can choose to believe the good. God has always taken care of me, and I can rely on that. I’ve had so many successes in this life. I live deep in the life and love and light of God. I have faith that I will be taken care of in this situation. I have faith.”
Do you feel the power, the strength, the hope in those words? Fear can be healed into faith. Live the life you were meant to live. Live a life of faith today.
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