Follow Faith, Not Fear

     I was on the road last week, watching Papa love on some folks that He and I both love, so I somehow didn't get around to writing anything for the five of you who read this :-)

    "Follow faith, not fear." These words, given to me long ago by a wise friend (Thanks, Steve!) while I was wrestling with a major decision, have stayed with me ever since. They came back to me today as I was once again made aware of how we humans tend to live so much of our lives from a place of fear. I have written about God's answers to fear more than once--if you want to check those entries out, just do a search of this blog on "afraid," and you will find lots of stuff. In a nutshell, God's answer to fear is "I AM with you," as you may know. Think about why this is so, and you will understand... 
     But today, I want to write just briefly about my friend's counsel: what it looks like and why it's been so formative in my life. 

     What Steve was saying to me in that critical decision time in my life was that I should choose the direction that caused encouragement and expectant faith to rise up in me, rather than making a decision based upon the various fears that were also a part of the decision. I took his counsel, taking time to walk in the desert where I grew up and systematically lay each option as I understood it before Papa to see what rose up in my heart (and also to see if I could sense what would motivate that particular choice if I made it). To my great delight, this worked really well. As I laid the various options before God, only one caused faith to well up in my heart (planting a church in Austin, TX). The other options either brought no response at all or were clearly a choice that I would be making because of fear. Interestingly enough, the choice that caused faith to rise up was also the riskiest choice and the one for which I had the fewest answers! But that one choice, made way back in 1995, has probably influenced my entire family's history as much as any one decision (including, but not limited to, my sons finding their spouses, my journey into intimacy with Papa and much more--amazing!).

     I trust you can see that I am not focusing on the particular "method" I used to make this or other decisions--it's the underlying truth about following faith, not fear, that Papa wants us to catch. I trust, too, that you who read my blog will remember my previous thoughts about faith not being something that you work up or talk yourself into but rather the growing trust that comes from living loved. But that having been said, I commend this truth to you: you will do well to make your life choices, all of them, from the place of peaceful trust rather than anxiety and fear.

     Over the years I have incorporated this "principle" into as many areas of my life as I can. I will be the first to admit, though, that I failed to do so at times during the painful journey (hence Papa's frequent words to me, "Don't be afraid."). But as a general rule, I have found it best never to make any decision, large or small, based on reacting to something I am afraid of. This doesn't mean that I am not afraid! Far from it! Rather it means that I am learning to collapse into Papa's embrace when I am afraid until His peace comes and I am able to think and choose with clarity based on my growing confidence in His goodness. 

     In all of this, of course, we are brought back to the "one thing" life of living in His love, getting to know Him better and better. And part of getting to know Him better, I am now learning, is to find Him in the middle of my fears, standing there waiting for me to turn my heart His way. And my friend Steve's little phrase, so powerfully compelling, has helped me immensely in this. More times than I can count, I have heard this phrase rise up in my heart so that I have been able to stop and ask myself, "What am I following right now?" And when the answer is fear, Papa has been kind enough to step in and lead me to a better place. Try it, I think you will like it! Follow faith, not fear!

Following Him who is never afraid...

Tom, one of His little children