Fear and faith, two words that should never be used in the same sentence - ever!                    

     Faith and fear, two words that should never be used in the same sentence - ever! Easy to say harder to do when you're trying to hold on to one while living with the other.

     As some of you may have noticed, I have been AWOL (absent without leave) for the last several months. You may have been wondering why I have not been updating this column? Well to be quite honest my family has been going through (and still is) some pretty difficult times so most of my energy; time, thoughts and prayers have been with them.

     They say that faith is not faith unless it has been tested, well that is where I now live. My faith is being tested way past my comfort zone. I am in uncharted waters and even though I know God is still here, so is my fear. Do you know what I am talking about? Have you ever been there? Are you there now?

     You know our faith is so easy when everything is going well. We can boldly talk about God's guidance, His grace, His protection and love for us, but what happens when the bottom falls out? What happens when station G.O.D. seems to go off the air and we have no idea how to handle our current state of affairs? Jesus said in Matthew 17:20 that if we have the faith of a mustard seed we can tell a mountain to move from here to there and it will obey us. In fact He said that nothing would be impossible for us. So what happened? I have prayed, fasted and done everything that I have been commanded to do, yet here I am, still in the mist of the storm.

     The answer has to be fear, my fear. If the acronym for faith is "Freedom as I trust Him", then the acronym for fear must be, "Fleeing every attempted rescue." My fear kills my trust in Him, my God and King. So my fear breaks trust and when trust is broken there is nothing left but doubt. When doubt arrives true faith, real faith, God answering faith cannot exist. How can my God help me if I doubt Him? Even if I don't know or see the where why who or how, I still must believe, that has to be what faith truly is!

     So I have come to this conclusion. My God is a good God. He loves my family and me and I will trust Him not my own fear. My faith is echoed in Galiatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

     Pray for me and I will pray for you.

                                                                                                Pastor Mike