If you’re going to make a fresh start with faith in your life, you have to face your fears. Don’t let them control you! Fear has an incredible ability to paralyze our potential, to keep us from launching out and having faith in our lives.
When we choose fear over faith, it makes us skeptical—we’re afraid of trying anything new when we’re afraid. It makes us selfish—we’re afraid to commit to God and to others. It makes us short-sighted—we focus on the past and not on the future.
Bartimaeus faced a fear that is familiar to many of us: the fear of rejection. He knew that to shout out at Jesus in that crowd wasn’t the right thing to do. He knew that people would look down on him for it, but he was desperate. And he knew that Jesus Christ was the only one who could help him.
And look what happened: When he shouted out to Jesus, everyone around him told him, “Don’t do that. Be quiet. Don’t make a scene. Surely Jesus Christ isn’t interested in you. He has more important things to do.”
The devil whispers things like that to a lot of us. When that opportunity for faith comes into our heart, thoughts like, “God surely wouldn’t be interested in you” or “Don’t make a scene” or “What would people think of you?” and it keeps us from having faith. When you see an opportunity to change, there are all kinds of shouts from inside and around you that tell you not to rock the boat.
But God is asking you to do something greater than you’ve ever done before: He’s asking you to depend on him completely. Don’t you think that’s going to feel a little bit scary? Of course it is!
And when God asks something of you, you have a choice. The GOOD NEWS is that He will give you the courage to make the RIGHT DECISIONS!
We love you! Email Tammy and me with your prayer requests and thank you for your gifts to the Lord’s work at our church-Click here to give online or mail contributions to: City Church, 3100 Bethlehem Church Street, Gastonia, NC 28056- God bless you!
Pastor Dickie and Tammy