Leap Out on Faith

Life is filled with many opportunities for decision-making and an infinite amount of choices for life’s journey. However, the wrong decision can greatly impact our future decision-making, especially if we do not choose to have faith. We have the choice to select faith over doubt, fear, worries, obstacles, and circumstances in our lives, but only when we choose to live by God’s values, not the world’s. At times, we allow fear to step in the way of what God has planned for us. To me, leaping out on faith means to trust God with every circumstance and situation, regardless of what it looks like or what others say. If God says that a small mustard seed of faith can move mountains, then who can say otherwise? Matthew 17: 20 (NIV) says, “He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you!”

Faith vs. Fear

We have to remember that fear comes from the enemy, who is the deceiver, corrupter, accuser, and devourer, and it’s the opposite of faith. Fear is a spirit of fearfulness and timidity that does not come from God. On the contrary, faith is trusting God with everything, even we don’t see anything happening or moving in our lives. According to one online search (Wikipedia), fear in human beings may occur in response to a specific stimulus occurring in the present, or in anticipation or expectation of a future threat perceived as a risk to body or life. On a personal note, one of my fears was having the feeling of doing everything alone. One day, my power partner, Shay, set up an adventure experience. We bravely and confidently made the courageous decision to explore and challenge ourselves, to take a journey to Terrapin Adventures. The activities were engaging, challenging, incredible, fun, and scary. Honestly, the adrenaline rush was the most amazing experience, but was the adrenaline rush enough for me to conquer my fears? After climbing and reaching the top of the telephone pole, during our outdoor adventure, I realized just how far “down” was in relation to where I was standing. The more I thought about taking the jump, the more I tried to talk myself out of it. The more I tried to talk myself out of it, the more fear, anxiety, doubt, and overthinking caused me to change my mind about jumping. I was now facing a dilemma: being stuck and unable to move forward. My only options were to jump and have the process over in less than five seconds or take the long way and climb all the way back down to the ground. I took the second option and quickly realized that climbing down was worse than climbing up. For several days after this adventure, I experienced many side effects to include pain, large purple and black bruises, loss of energy, soreness, stiffness, and leg buckling. Is this what it’s like when we choose fear over trust in God, ultimately declining to step out on faith? Did God want to use this natural experience to provide understanding spiritually; is this symbolic of how we circle around the mountain of our fears again and again when God is asking us to move forward? Was my mindset on my own ability or God’s? In the natural, I was protected by the gear that I was wearing; but, did I trust God in the spiritual sense? He’s my protection, too. Did I trust the gear more than I trusted Him? Take a moment for self-reflection. Where is your faith today? Who or what is your faith and trust in, more than God? How long will you go around the mountain, holding onto idols, un-forgiveness, deceitfulness, and mindsets that hinder you from stepping out on faith and believing that all things are possible through Christ? In Matthew 19:26, the Bible says, “But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” If Jesus said it, why is it so hard for us to trust Him at His Word? I’ve learned that stepping out on faith gives us the power to change, be free and most importantly, trust God, even when we’re not seeing change. I may not have jumped, but I kept going and completed the rest of the mission and did not give up, even after I caused myself unnecessary pain.

Why does the Bible convince us to believe against what we see with our natural eye?

We believe there’s a God and for many of us, we can feel God. Even the Bible tells us to have faith when we don’t see the evidence of what we ask for, but isn’t “nature” alone evidence enough? When we get saved, we receive the Holy Spirit, which we cannot see, so what causes us to lose focus and faith in Him when we ask for material things or even blessings? Paying too much attention to things in the natural. We cannot focus on circumstances, problems, needs, nor the impossibilities we face because it leaves absolutely no space for faith. We need to get to the point of “seeing,” believing, and trusting God in all of His amazing complexity, diversity, and awesome beauty. I have learned (Sound faith): “when we have supernatural eye sight, we can take hold of God’s promise as a present reality, even though you may not see or perceive them with your natural sense.” One of the biggest things about our God: He is faithful!

In the article called “Love Worth Finding Ministries” it says, “If ever we needed an earth-shaking, mountain-moving, devil-defying, sin-destroying, revival-bringing FAITH, this is the time, this is the age, this is the hour.  We need not only to possess a faith; we need to have a faith that possesses us.”