“Faith activates God. Fear activates the devil.” ~Joel Osteen
As we continue on our lenten journey of whipping the devil a day at a time I am reminded of a quote by actor and elite martial artist, Bruce Lee; “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
In our society of instant gratifications it is easy to think we should be able to “instantly” whip our fears. If you are living under this assumption I have news for you, you are wrong.
In all reality your level of fear is inversely proportionate to your level of faith. You conquer fear (the devil’s playground) with faith (God’s playground) and the longer you’ve lived in fear absent of faith, the longer you will need to practice faith to conquer it.
Thus the reason I end these blogs with a pretty effective fear whipping formula: Pray + Picture + Plan + Practice.
Pray for God’s help in conquering whatever it is you are fearing.
Picture what it would look life to conquer the fear.
Plan your new life without this fear holding you back…
…and then Practice, Practice, Practice, these three steps every day.
An additional “P” you may want to throw into your fear whipping formula is People. Seek guidance from people who have the kind of faith you are striving to have.
In reference to Bruce Lee’s quote above, I happen to believe the devil tries to get us to use 10,000 different ways to handle our fears (i.e. through drugs, alcohol, sex, porn, food, gossip, criticism, isolation, separation, avoidance, lust, gluttony, relationships, things, wealth, job, status etc…), because he fears most the one thing that will whip his butt 10,000 x 10,000 times and that is God.
God (faith) beats the devil (fear) every day of the week.
P.E.A.C.E.
Psalm 121 “I lift my eyes to the mountains–where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip–he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you–the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm–he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” (NIV)
