Fearful? Anxious? Leap Into the Word!

(This post, Leap Into the Word, is the first in our series, Take Heart: Responding to Trouble in the World, where we examine how we, as the hands and feet of Jesus, can respond to the fear, anxiety, and trouble the world is facing.)

My two year old grandson, Tripp, stood on top of his tall toy box and yelled, “Ready, Grammie?” In wild excitement, he leapt off the edge. He sailed through the air and plopped into my arms. It took a lot of courage for him to make that jump. He had faith that I would catch him, and I did.

The whole world right now is a little like a slow-motion-version of my grandson sailing through the air. But instead of wild excitement, there’s waiting, watching, suffering, confusion, loss, separation, and fear. We’re living in uncertain times and, sisters, we need courageous faith.

Jaime poses an excellent question in the intro to this series, “How can we, as the hands and feet of Jesus, respond to the fear, anxiety, and trouble the world is facing?”

One way is to leap into God’s Word. As we do, we can learn from the heroes of the faith and be encouraged by God’s might and power.

Courageous Faith

When the soldiers of King Saul’s army were afraid of Goliath, the giant enemy, David came and said, “For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26) David was courageous! He boldly told Saul, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:37) Yes, David was courageous— because he had great faith in God.

David leapt into action, full of courage and faith, right into God’s will. You and I may feel like we can’t be as courageous as that. Honestly? If we tried to defeat our enemies (suffering, confusion, loss, fears, and so on) all on our own, we’d be like the fear filled soldiers who ran from Goliath. But when our courage is rooted in confidence of God’s ability, it is unshakeable because He is unshakeable! 

Grow Your Confidence

So the question is, how do we grow our confidence in God? It’s simple, really. We read His Word. Again, and again. We immerse ourselves in His truths and promises. God tells us that His Word is living and active and that it will accomplish the purposes for which He sends it out. (Hebrews 4:12, Isaiah 55:11)

• We go to God’s Word to learn the truth about who He is and who we are. 
• Then, we set our minds on “things above.” (Colossians 3:1). 
• We “trust in the LORD with all [our] heart, and do not lean on [our] own understanding. In all [our] ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight [our] paths.” (Proverbs 3:5)
•  And we think of “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, … right…  pure…  lovely…  admirable… excellent…  and praiseworthy.” (Philippians 4:8) 
• God’s Word tells us that He will “keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you [God], because he trusts in you.” (Isaiah 26:3) 
• From our position of peace, we can then replace fear and anxiety with gratitude and thanksgiving. 
• We can “Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 100:4b-5) 
• And, like Peter, if we find ourselves looking at the wind and waves around us, we instead cry out, “Lord, save me!” (Matthew 14:30)

More Good News

Here’s even more good news to focus on! 

1. God can work with a faith as small as a grain of mustard seed. He can also help our faith grow! (Read Matthew 17:20)
2. David ultimately points us not to ourselves and our abilities, but to the true champion, Jesus Christ. Yes, it is He who has defeated our greatest enemy, Satan. Though Satan comes to do things like rob us of joy, paralyze us with fear, and destroy our peace and trust, Jesus has come so that we might have abundant life in Him— regardless of our circumstances. (See John 10:10)
3. Because of Jesus, we can have internal peace, eternal security, and hope during this peace-robbing, uncertain, and hopeless time! He says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)

It’s true that we may not know what will happen next, but God does. Nothing can surprise the One who holds the future. And we can have confident faith in this: the victorious Father is always there, with strong, loving arms, ready to “catch” His children when we move toward Him in faith.

Let’s be courageous and faithful, sisters. May we all leap into the Word and land in His loving arms today!

How has the Word encouraged you lately? Tell us in the comments or in our Facebook group.

In Christ,
Ali