(Pastor Gary Jasmund) Without faith it is impossible to please God! Scripture says “the righteous shall live by faith”. Meaning that if we are not walking by faith we are not pleasing God and we won’t experience righteousness.

What does it look like to walk by faith? We are called to have child-like faith in God because He knows the way even when we don’t. We don’t need to be afraid because He loves us and He knows the way!

The disciples are afraid because they think Jesus is a ghost, and He says to them, “it is I, don’t be afraid!” (Matthew 14:26-27). When Peter looked at the winds and waves, he begun to sink. We are called to walk by faith and not by sight.

Faith is confidence, trust and belief in something! Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight (Proverbs 3:5-6). Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

It is not the size of your faith, but the size of the God you put your faith in that moves mountains. The way we see God will determine the size of our faith. Faith means abandoning all trust in our own resources. Faith is relying on everything we cannot see; God’s love, His promises. It is acting as if God is telling the truth. 

Fear is false evidence appearing real. Fear is putting confidence in everything that is negative. Faith is not a feeling but fear is and when we fear, we forget everything God has said and we run.

We are reminded not to throw away our confidence (faith) which has a great reward (Hebrews 10:35-39).

When we don’t put faith in God, He is not pleased because we are calling Him a liar – we are questioning His integrity. Faith requires that we take action on what God has said because we trust him (Hebrews 11:8).

Faith is not the absence of fear; it is doing the right thing afraid (James 2:22-24). The opposite of faith is not fear, but disobedience.

The more we exercise our faith by acting on God’s Word even in the face of fear, the more it grows.

Let us continue to exercise our faith so that it grows greater than our fear!