Faith is one of the most important topics in the Bible. In Hebrews 11:6, the Bible makes it clear that one cannot please God without faith. However, faith is often at a tug of war with fear. Whenever you decide to start walking by faith, the enemy will almost always bring situations that will make you afraid. This may explain why do not be afraid/fear not is one of the most common phrases in the Bible.
How Can You Make Your Faith Bigger Than Your Fear?
There are a couple of tips from the scriptures that can help your faith to be bigger than your fear. For instance, learn to walk in love because faith works by love. Additionally, do not focus on how big your problem is but rather focus on how big God is.
In the following sections, we will investigate these and more tips that will help you develop a faith that is bigger than your fears.
Fear Is the Opposite of Faith
If you look at the dictionary, you will not see fear listed as an antonym of faith. For the most part, modern linguistics considers doubt to be the opposite of faith. But that is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible clearly shows that the opposite of faith is not doubt but fear. In fact, the Bible teaches that faith and doubt are not mutually exclusive. Here is one prolific reference on this:
So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. Matthew 21:21
In the scripture above, “the and” connector is used in the first line to indicate that both faith and doubt can coexist. In other words, Jesus was saying that for one’s faith to work, they had to ensure they had eliminated any doubt. See, if doubt was the opposite of faith, then it wouldn’t be possible for one to have any faith if they had doubt in their heart.
This explains why God often reminded his people not to be afraid. There are many instances of this in the Bible. For instance, in Mark 5, Jesus is on his way to heal the daughter of a centurion servant by the name of Jairus. Before they arrived, they got a message that the girl had already died and there was therefore no need to trouble Jesus anymore. But Jesus had an interesting view:
As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe. Mark 5:36
Before they got the bad news of the girl’s demise, Jairus had faith that God would heal her daughter. But as soon as he heard that she had died, fear crept in. Jesus didn’t want the fear to take root so he immediately responded by telling him not to be afraid but only to believe.
Another good illustration is the time when Jesus walked on water towards his disciples who were at the heart of the lake. When the disciples saw him, they were so petrified that they concluded that it was a ghost. However, Jesus responded by telling them not to be afraid.
for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid” Mark 6:50
It took faith for Jesus to walk on water and he knew that the only way to help the disciples to get into faith was by rebuking the fear that was creeping up on them.
Fear Focuses On the Problem While Faith Focuses on God
Whenever the enemy wants to win a fight, he tries to intimidate you with fear. That is the tactic Goliath used against the army of Israel. They looked at his size and the size of his weapons and all of them were too afraid to engage him – until David showed up. Unlike the other Israelites, David did not allow fear in his heart. He knew he was too tiny when compared to Goliath. He also knew he was too small to use the armor and weapons of other soldiers. But more importantly, he knew God was on his side, and that gave him all the faith he needed to face Goliath. It is no wonder that he wrote;
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. Psalms 56:3
It is almost impossible to avoid situations that inspire fear. However, as the Psalmist said in the scripture above, do not allow fear to take over your life. Instead, put your trust in you. When you focus on your problems, you magnify them and make them larger than they really are. However, when you put your trust in God, God is magnified in your eyes and your problems become insignificant. How would a simple issue bother the God of all creation – a God who made everything out of nothing?
Faith Works By Love
For in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Galatians 5:6
The Bible says faith works by love. And it makes sense too because the Bible also says that perfect love casts out all fear.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 1 John 4:18
If you want your faith to be bigger than your fear, you must start walking in love. See, God is love and unless you are in love, you are not yet in a good place with God. It is futile to try to exercise your faith when you do not even try to demonstrate his love to those around you.
Most of the miracles of Jesus were done out of love. Whenever Jesus saw people in need, he was genuinely moved and acted out of love (Luke 7:13, Matthew 15:32, Matthew 9:36).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the battle between faith and fear is a timeless struggle, deeply rooted in the human experience. As the Bible teaches us, faith is essential for pleasing God, yet fear often attempts to undermine it. The Scriptures reveal that fear, no doubt, is faith’s true adversary. We see this in the accounts of Jesus calming the fears of His disciples and encouraging them to believe. Fear focuses on our problems, magnifying them, while faith directs our gaze toward the greatness of God, rendering our challenges insignificant.
