A lazy and procrastinating Christian cannot defeat the devil. You have to be ready, full of the word, knowing who you are in Christ, and realize that you will have to do battle at all times.
I absolutely love the thrilling moment in the Bible when David confronts Goliath! Imagine this massive, powerful giant looming over him, yet David, armed with just a humble slingshot, charges forward with fearless determination. When Goliath stepped onto the battlefield, the Bible tells us that David didn’t hesitate—he sprinted right toward the battle! It’s such an incredible display of courage and faith, proving that true strength comes from within!
The word fear means to take flight or to run from. That is what fear causes us to do. It causes us to run from things. We want to hide from our problems. We do not want to deal with them. We do not want to have to deal with the thing at all. That is why God has given us faith so we can fight and defeat fear.
Faith does a lot of great things; It dispels fear and worry. Let me ask you a question! Do you have any kind of fear in your life today about anything in particular? If you do, maybe write it down right now on a little piece of paper.
1) Stop worrying and Start Doing
Worry is not going to do one bit of good. Fear is like rocking in a rocking chair. You could rock in a rocking chair all day long, and it would keep you busy, but it would not get you anywhere.
And that is what worry does. It just keeps you busy going over and over the same thing. The Bible talks about meditating on the word, but when we are worrying, we are meditating on the lives of Satan. He tells you all the bad things that can happen, and you keep going over and over and around it in your mind.
Matthew 6:25-34.
Stop being perpetually uneasy, anxious, and worried about your life, what you are going to eat or drink, or about your body, what you are going to put on.
Maybe those are not the things you are worried about, but this is just a basic example. Do not worry about anything. Do not worry about retirement. Do not worry about what is going to happen to your kids every moment of every day. Trust God that He will take care of them. Walk with God, do the right thing, and trust Him to cover you and take care of you. Is not life greater in quality than food and the body far above and more excellent than clothing?
And He gives an example, ‘look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they are?’ I watch birds sometimes as I sit in my chair and look out the window, they will come and perch on the banister on my deck. I have never seen one looking like they are going to have a breakdown because they are worried about where the next meal is going to come from.
God will provide for them, and if He will provide for the birds, surely He will provide for us His children.
Which of you, by worrying and being anxious, can add one unit of measure, cubit, to His stature or to the span of His life?
By worrying, we cannot add one day to our life. We cannot add one hair to our head. Worry does absolutely nothing but make us miserable.
2) Stop being anxious all the time
Why should you be anxious? If you know how much God loves everyone, you will not have to be anxious and afraid. One of the reasons why God has given us the great privilege of prayer is so that when anxiety comes, we can pray.
Philippians 4:6: “be anxious for nothing but in all things by prayer and supplication and with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God, and the peace that passes understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
That is the scripture that I love to meditate on. Be anxious for nothing, but instead pray. The minute a worry comes to you, turn your worries into prayers. Why should you be anxious about clothes?
Consider the lilies of the field and learn how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you even Solomon, in all of His magnificence, was not clothed like one of these.
If God takes care of the grass and flowers and He takes care of the birds, surely, we can believe that God will also take care of us. Therefore, do not worry and be anxious.
3) Always choose your words wisely
Whatever is in our hearts comes out of our mouths, and words are containers for power.
The Bible says in Proverbs 18:21 that the power of life and death is in the tongue.
When we are faced with challenges that threaten our joy and peace, it is important to remember the beautiful life that God desires for us. In these moments, let’s be gentle with ourselves and choose words that uplift rather than those that might deepen our struggles. Speaking compassionately can help us find hope and healing rather than adding to our burden.
Even when fear comes against you, do not open your mouth and say, ‘I am so afraid.’ Instead, open your mouth and say, ‘I have faith that God is going to take me through this situation, and He is going to deliver me from it.’
You might be thinking, “Well, I do not really feel that way.” And that is completely okay. Sometimes, it helps to speak out what we desire to feel, even if we do not truly believe it yet. If it is a promise from the Word of God, we can embrace those truths and hold them close to our hearts, believing they are meant for us. It is about nurturing hope, even in tough times.
4) Stop Listening to the Whispers of the devil
Do not be worried and anxious, saying, ‘What are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? What are we going to wear?’
Every morning, we might find a little demon on our shoulder, relentlessly questioning us: “What are you going to do?” But instead of letting it get to us, we can rise above and take charge of our decisions. What we choose to do is entirely up to us. When facing a problem, we often feel uncertain about how to address it. That’s why we place our trust in God.
The Bible says, ‘The heathens crave and diligently seek after all of these things, but your heavenly Father knows what you need. But you seek His kingdom and His righteousness, and all of these other things will be added unto you.’
You do not need to worry, but remind myself, ‘I do not have to seek the answers to my problems. I seek God, and He adds all the other things that I need.’ Spend all that time that you have been worrying, talking to God about your situation, what you want or need, and the fear you feel, and keep stirring up your faith.
Faith does so many wonderful things. God can heal you anywhere you are hurt. He can heal your mind, emotions, physical body, finances, marriage, and broken relationships.
Here are some of the things that the Bible says faith does.
- Faith brings provision.
- It saves us from sin.
- It purifies the heart.
- It fills us with the Holy Spirit.
- It sanctifies us. It brings revelation.
- It justifies us–which means it makes us just as if we never sinned.
- It gives us access to the grace of God.
- Produces right standing with God, gives us security and boldness.
- It brings blessing and hope.
5) Have faith and lean to trust God
when you have faith in God, God will move in your life. We give God access to our life through faith. That is how God gets into our life to work. And we give Satan access to our lives through fear.
David said in the Psalms very often, ‘I will trust in the Lord. This is a day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad.’
He was making a decision. He was saying ahead of time the decision that he was making. You can say, even on days when you are not having problems, ‘When worry comes against me, I will put my trust in God. When Satan shows up with a problem I was not expecting, I will not fear. I will put my trust in God.’
1 John 5:4 says, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. And 1 Timothy 6, 13, Paul writes to Timothy saying, ‘Fight the good fight of faith.’
Sometimes, you have to fight a little bit. That is why we cannot be lazy and procrastinating. Hang on to your faith. Do not let the enemy take your faith away from you. Satan comes with doubt, unbelief, lies, reasoning, and the temptation to be people pleasers instead of God pleasers. He wants us to cave into the critical judgments of other people. God wants us to put our trust in him and know that he will always take care of us.
6) Remember you are not alone in these battles.
Sometimes, we can really feel weighed down, can’t we? Life often throws a series of challenges our way, and it can feel like we’re carrying one heavy load after another. Maybe you’re struggling with finances, and just when you find a solution, another issue arises—like difficulties with your children. It’s completely understandable to feel overwhelmed. Remember, you’re not alone in this journey, and it’s okay to seek support when things get tough.
And sometimes, we do go through seasons of problems, and it seems like it’s just one thing after another. You know, during those times, we can get very weary. But the Bible tells us that when we are weary, we should come to Jesus.
The Bible says, ‘Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, overburden, and I will give you rest.’ And then it says, ‘Learn of me.’
Look at the life of Jesus and see how he handled things. There were many things he could have been afraid of, but he was not. He always put his trust in his heavenly Father. The promises of God only work for us when we believe them.
7) Overcome every Unbelieve.
While reading a book, I came across a statement by a man who said, and I believe it’s true, ‘that the greatest sin we commit is the sin of unbelief.’ God is just asking that you will trust him. He is asking that you believe in him. What is your situation today? Are you sick? Ask God for healing. Are you having financial problems? Ask God to provide.
I believe none of us can confidently say we never doubt that God will come through for us. In difficult situations, just like fear, we must resist. We have to resist fear. We have to resist doubt because doubt is just a type of fear. We have to make our minds up what we believe and not be double-minded.
The Bible teaches us that the double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways and that he should not even think that he is going to get anything from God because God wants us to believe. You know you have a choice. You can believe, or you cannot believe. And I can tell you it’s much easier to believe. You stay happier when you believe God. The minute you do not believe God, you start losing your joy.
8) Realized that it is a Battle
Doubt is sent to war against our faith. When you have faith and are trusting God for something, doubt can unexpectedly arise. This often happens, especially if God has taken a little longer than you thought he would to come through for you in a situation.
I can imagine it is been a tough day for you, and it feels like you have been waiting for a long time. It is likely someone is watching your struggle right now, and I want you to know that I understand how hard the enemy has been pushing against you today.
He is been attacking your mind, making you think it is never going to happen. Well then, this is a timely message for you. I am encouraging you not to start doubting that God is good. Do not doubt that he loves you. Do not doubt that he is faithful. God will come through for you. He does not always do it on our timeline, but he does come through for us.
Doubt is sent to war against your faith, but when fear or doubt comes, you can open up your mouth and say, ‘I trust God.’ Why don’t you practice with me right now? ‘I trust God.’ It will make you feel better even just saying that.
9) Everything is possible with God
Abraham had faith concerning a promise that God had made him, that he would have a child from his own body. But doubt came against him, and tried to steal it.
Romans 4: 18-21: “Against all hope, Abraham in hope…”
And you know what hope is? Hope is an expectation that something good is going to happen. What is the difficult situation? Are you at a place like that in your life right now? Do you have what the enemy is telling you is an impossible situation? I want to remind you today that all things are possible with God. What is impossible with man is possible with God.
When the enemy says it is impossible, you tell him, ‘If I was by myself, it would be impossible, but with God on my side, all things are possible.’ Without weakening in his faith, Abraham faced the fact that his body was as good as dead because he was 100 years old. It appears that Sarah is too old to have a baby, and her womb is no longer viable. This indicates that she has gone through menopause, meaning her childbearing years have ended. In your impossible situation, remember that we have a God with whom all things are possible.
10) Keep Records of things God has done for you
Abraham did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God and was strengthened in faith as he gave glory to God. When your faith starts to get weak, start remembering some of the other things that God has done for you in the past.
That is why I like to keep journals. I like to keep a record of the things that God has done for me, the things that he has brought me through, and the prayers that he has answered. Over the years, I have seen how he has helped my children. I often reflect on the fear I felt when they were younger and struggling in school or behaving irresponsibly. I would worry about their future and what might become of them.
My husband and I have four grown children now. Our two sons work for the ministry. One of them is the CEO of all the outreaches that we do around the world. And the other one is the CEO of all the rest of the ministry, the TV and all the media, and just all the operations in the ministry.
And then our two daughters do not work for us, but their husbands do. And so, the whole family is involved in ministry. If I had looked at them and just made decisions based on how they were when they were little, I would have not thought any of them would have ever been able to work for us.
When you reflect on your life, you remember the times when things seemed impossible, and yet you can see what God has accomplished. Despite your circumstances, you can still be convinced. Stay fully convinced that God has the power to fulfill His promises.
11) When the enemy press harder, breakthrough is at the corner
Jesus was on his way to heal Jairus’ daughter– His daughter who was dying. This was a very serious situation, and maybe you have a very serious situation right now. But on the way, he stopped to heal a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years.
It is a reminder of how life can unfold in unexpected ways. This man was desperately seeking help for his dying daughter when Jesus, in the midst of his journey, paused to heal someone else. I can only imagine the mix of hope and anxiety he must have felt during that moment. It is completely understandable that such a situation would leave anyone feeling nervous and overwhelmed.
I can see how doubt and fear could crowd their way into a situation like that. And while he was there healing this woman who had been bleeding for 12 years, somebody came from Jairus’ house and said, ‘You do not need to bother anymore. Your daughter has died.’
Mark 5:36-37: “…Overhearing but ignoring what they said…”
Jesus heard what they said, but he ignored it. He did not pay any attention to it. And we have to learn when Satan is lying to us not to pay any attention to him. Just tell him, ‘Go ahead and wear yourself out with all your lies. But I believe God’s word more than I believe your lies.’ We give God access to our life through faith and believing him. We give the enemy access to our lives through doubt, unbelief, and fear.
Overhearing but ignoring what they said, Jesus said to the man, ‘Do not be seized with alarm and struck with fear. Just keep on believing.’ Satan has been coming against your faith, maybe for days. And I believe that God led you to read this note on this day just so you could hear this, ‘Do not stop believing God.’ When the enemy presses the hardest, that is when our breakthrough is right around the corner, and he wants us to give up.
Inspired by Joyce Meyer Sermon
