July 2025
A very common enemy to success is an individual’s life is fear. Thoughts of fear can cause you to become anxious, fearful, and stressed out. Fear is perverted faith! Another way to say this is that fear is the faith gear in reverse. Faith is a builder, where fear is a destroyer. Most people tend to be afraid of the unknown. We find on several occasions when Jesus appeared to His Disciples after His Resurrection from the dead, His greeting was always: “Fear not or Be not afraid.”
In Matthew 24:4-6, this is what the Bible says, “And Jesus answered and said unto them, “Take heed that no man deceives you. For many shall come in My Name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” Even when Jesus spoke of all the things that were to come upon the Earth, He said, “…see that you are not troubled. In John 14:1, Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” Then in Matthew chapter 6, Jesus admonished us to take no anxious thoughts concerning the necessities of life.
In Matthew 6:25-32, Jesus said, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Therefore, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore take no thought saying, ‘What shall we eat? Or What shall we drink? Or how shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek: for your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.”
Notice in verse 31, Jesus said, “Take no thought saying…” It’s all right to take a thought. It’s all right to make plans. But whatever you do don’t take thought by saying, “What am I going to do? Or, I don’t have enough money to meet my bills! Or, Dear God, what am I going to do and how am I going to handle this?” Words like that will never produce faith; they will only produce fear, doubt, and unbelief. Faith comes by and from hearing God’s Word. Negative thoughts will die unborn unless you speak them. The way you take a thought is by speaking it. If you’re going to take thought concerning your needs, take them from Philippians 4:19.
The Apostle Paul reminds us in Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.” Don’t entertain thoughts that leave questions unanswered. Faith always stops at the question mark! I believe that’s the reason Jesus said not to take thought by saying, “What are we going to do?” Words are powerful forces, and if they are used rightly, they will put you over in life. If you use them in a wrong way, they will destroy your faith and cause you to fail in life. Jesus was revealing something that is very vital to success in life. DON’T TAKE THOUGHT BY SPEKAING THE NEGATIVE THINGS WHEN YOU COULD SPEAK GOD’S WORD AND TAKE HIS THOUGHTS!
Then in Philippians 4:8, Paul tells us what to think on. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
You can’t always keep the devil from putting doubt in your mind, but you can refuse to speak it, and then it will never get or enter into your heart or spirit. THE THOUGHT OF DOUBT WILL DIE UNBORN UNLESS YOU SPEAK IT! Once you speak it, you give birth to it. You have taken the thought, and it becomes unbelief. There is a time to speak and a time to be quiet. There are times you may have to grit your teeth to keep your mouth shut. When negative thoughts that disagree with God’s Word begin to bombard your mind that’s not the time to start trying to make a faith confession. When your Word level is low, your faith is low, and you will likely be making the confession out of fear instead of faith! That’s a time to either be quiet or quote God’s Word verbatim in order to nullify fear!
It’s of utmost importance that we stay in the Word of God every day. LEARN TO SAY NO TO THOUGHT OF ANXIETY! This is the only thing that will keep the Believer in the days we are living in. Keep INCREASE ON YOUR MIND and continue speaking the right things and making the right confessions of faith. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; and remember “God loves you; we love you and JESUS IS LORD!”
In the Service of Our King,
Darrell G. Harrelson