December 21, 2018 WWJWMTD by Steve, the son of John

Wise Men Still Seek Him

Article #5 Christmas 2018

Faith’s Demise

I thought for years that fear was the opposite of faith. That is what I was taught by most preachers. However, I could not find that truth stated plainly in the Bible. God has been pressuring me to reconsider what hinders faith. I am surprised by what the Spirit was teaching me. Not only have I reconsidered what stops faith from working but also once I began to operate in this truth, my faith began to increase dramatically.

It all began with Psalm 23. I have memorized most of it over the years but it began with a small portion of the Psalm, “He restores my soul.” Jesus said to love God with all your soul, and also, be afraid of God who is able to destroy both the body and soul. Our soul has tremendous importance. David talked about telling his soul to magnify and worship the Lord. Last of all, Jesus says that only in having patience is one able to keep one’s soul in the trials and tribulation in the last days (Book of Revelation).

It is easy to become nervous in today’s society. The news media will only promote a storyline if it creates uncertainty in our lives. Gossip breeds upon what is wrong or events we cannot change. The world tells us to do this or refrain from that—if we do not then we are told trouble will begin to engulf our lives. This is done on so many levels of our culture that it is impossible to avoid nervousness, uncertainty, worry, fear, and thoughts of being stupid or endanger. We are being manipulated by evil and the purposes of Satan. (Proverbs says, “Fret not thyself because of evil men.” Good advice in today’s America.)

We know that sickness comes upon us when we worry or continue in a state of nervousness. It destroys not only our spirit and soul but our body as well. The Holy Spirit began to bring to my consciousness every time I became the least bit nervous—whenever I began to ‘fret’ over something. I could be watching the Weather Channel about ‘weather gone wild’ become nervous and the Holy Spirit said, “Don‘t be nervous Steve.”

I was amazed how often I became nervous—it was destroying my spirit, my life, and my faith. Here are some synonyms for nervousness: agitated, restless, excited, shy, timid, upset, disturbed, shaken, rattled, high-strung, flustered, tense, jittery, strained, edgy, perturbed, fearful (and the list goes on). Antonyms are placid, courageous confidant, calm tranquil, composed and bold (sounds like faith’s attributes).

God proved to me that my faith became ineffective once I became nervous. If you do not become nervous then you can sleep in a boat during a raging storm or walk on water during a summer storm. I could see visions of victory against my enemies when I am not nervous and even say, “It is well with my soul” when circumstances tell me just the opposite. Do I still get nervous—I’m working on that, but this one thing I know; my faith has increased dramatically now that I stop myself from becoming nervous over anything? What kills faith from working? It is nervousness; nervousness is faith’s demise.

WWJWMTD

What would Jesus want me to do?

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

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