Believing Is A Choice

Wednesday started off as a normal day in the Bassett house until fear struck. While I was getting ready for the day, I heard a faint chewing sound somewhere in my bathroom, but couldn't put my finger on it and figure out where the sound was coming from. Then while Will was having what we refer to as "private time" on the potty, he noticed something poking it's head out of the wall. "What's that?" Will asked. Oh, nothing.....just a mouse. Wait...a mouse?! "Quick, everybody get out of the bathroom!" I told the kids. "We've got to contain this mouse and catch him!" What started off as a quiet day turned chaotic as fear swept through the house. My nanny is deathly afraid of the half ounce varmint and we had to get rid of that mouse before she was going to stay. The fear of knowing there was a mouse in the house was causing too much confusion and way too much fear!

In Mark 5, when the woman with the issue of blood touched Jesus, she got healed. Jesus told her, "Daughter, your faith has made you whole." When all of this happened, Jesus was on his way to the house of Jairus to pray for his daughter who was dying. When Jesus told the woman that her "faith has made you whole", Jairus' servants came from his house telling Jairus not to bother Jesus anymore because his daughter was already dead. But when Jesus heard the servants tell Jairus the news, Jesus told Jairus in verse 36, "Fear not, only believe". At that moment, Jairus could've believed the bad report, gotten caught up in fear and given up on his miracle, but he didn't. Jairus believed Jesus and had faith.

One of the best parts of this chapter involves Jesus' demeanor about the whole incident. The beginning of verse 36 says, "Ignoring what they said..." Jesus totally ignored the fear that the people were trying to give to Jairus. Jesus believed the Father and refused to let fear take a hold of Him and spread to his friend Jairus.

Fear has several relatives: doubt, anxiety, stress & worry. All of these stem from fear. Did you know it is impossible to have faith and fear at the same time? You either have one or the other. When you have a spirit of faith, you don't have a spirit of fear.

In 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul wrote, "For God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." So if God didn't give you a spirit of fear, then where did you get it?

Believing is a choice. And if believing is a choice, then succumbing to fear is a choice.