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What Kind of Fear Defeats Faith?
In "Opening the Word" David Fry notes that fear can be a good thing. Good fear keeps us from doing reckless things, etc. However, there is also fear that defeats faith. Fry writes:
This lesson addresses our need to overcome the kind of fear that is detrimental to our faith. The kind of fear that defeats faith is fear that hesitates when we should obey, retreats when we should advance, and focuses on our weakness rather than God’s strength. Even in the midst of uncertainty, faith produces a calm and settled peace — that is, faith that Christ is present. Faith in Christ consistently drives fear away and frees us to take the next step.
Discussion: What scriptural examples do you recall of 1) faith that hesitates when God should have been obeyed, 2) retreated when they should have advanced, 3) focused on their weakness instead of God's strength?
Source: Miracles of Jesus: Adult Teacher's Insights, page 58.
Christ, Master of Fear
Read Matthew 8:23-27
“But the men marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” (v. 27).
What does faith have to do with fear? When someone says to you, “Trust me,” what is your reaction? It totally depends on the person and their track record, right?
One day I was sitting in the grass pulling weeds from around my mom’s beautiful roses. My little nephew, Westley, toddled over, plopped himself in my lap, and said, “Sit on lap, see what happen!” At that time, I merely smiled at the sweet cuteness of his remark. But many times since that “child moment” has come back to me. I can crawl up into God’s lap and just watch as He teaches me to have faith and not fear.
The goal is to learn to back off and observe Him work in what, to our eyes, are impossible situations. As we do we can begin to surrender to His control, sit on His lap, relax in His embrace, and “see what happen!” I can have perfect confidence that His love for me will keep me from sinking beneath any scary wave this life may bring. And learning this lesson can help us to truly enjoy our many blessings. (Wanda Skeen)
Have you learned to lean on Jesus?
This devotional is the Saturday, February 6, 2016 entry of Opening the Word.
The Storm Calmed
Lesson 10 - February 7, 2016
Focus Text: Mark 6:45-56
Central Truth: The presence of Christ drives out fear.
Objective: By the end of this lesson my students should be able to list ways we can rest in Christ’s presence during stormy times.
Lesson Outline:
- The Master's Prayer (Mark 6:45-46)
- The Disciples' Problem (Mark 6:47-49)
- The Master's Presnce (Mark 6:50-52)
- The Master's Power (Mark 6:53-56)
Prayer – Lesson 9 The Demoniac Delivered
Heavenly Father, as our teachers present this lesson, may their students be infused with hope, that just as the demoniac was delivered by Jesus' power, we too can be freed from any and all sinful habits. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.
Do you really believe?
In "God's Word for Today" David Fry writes:
All of us have been bound by sin; few have been bound by demons. Jesus encountered sinners and demons with the same authority and with the same result. Jesus is greater than any evil that can possess a person.
Then he asks the question: "Why do you think people struggle to accept or believe in Jesus’ power over evil?"
How would you answer this question?
Source: Miracles of Jesus: Adult Teacher's Insights, page 53.
What does it mean to be demon-possessed?
In "Word Focus" William Sillings writes:
The text says that this man had an unclean spirit (pneumati akatharto — a spirit, an unclean one). Another way to describe this unclean spirit is to say that the man was mad. According to the Talmud, there were four signs of madness — walking abroad at night, spending the night on a grave, tearing one’s clothes, and destroying what one was given. This man had the added characteristic of unnatural, almost supernatural strength. He tore the chains and shackles that had been used to bind him, and no one was strong enough to subdue him (v. 4). Add to this the fact that he was self-destructive and often cut himself with stones, and you have a classic case of extreme demonic possession.
While this definition of demon-possession is intriguing, Sillings' next paragraph exploring the fact that this man had no control over himself is more important...
His name was Legion, he said, for we are many. The word legion is the name of a Roman army unit containing about 6000 soldiers. Even when this man spoke, it was not a man that spoke, but a multitude of demonic spirits speaking through him. What could this person have done to have become so possessed with this multitude? It is clear that the man had not the slightest control over himself, his thoughts, his actions, his words, his feelings, his strength, or anything else. He was a pitiful case. Anyone who is in any way bound by sin is, in some ways, in a pitiful condition, but this man was hopeless.
Discussion: Do you know anyone who, while not demon-possessed, seems hopelessly out of control, spiritually? What is our hope for such hopeless cases?
Source: Miracles of Jesus: Adult Teacher's Insights, page 52.