Fear or Faith? You choose!

Today I was going to read in Joshua where I'm currently studying, but the Spirit took me to  the Book of Numbers instead~

This is Caleb's faithful report:
 Numbers 13:30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said "we should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it."

But the fearful men with him gave a different report,
Numbers 13:31-33 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people for they are too strong for us." So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone, in spying it out , is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.
...we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

The reaction of the people, because they listened to and believed a report based only on physical facts, not spiritual!
Numbers 14:1-2a Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the sons of Israel grumbled....

     This is where they made their fateful decision to fear instead of trust. If they had only listened to Caleb's report, made through his trust and faith in God and stirred up their own faith! The people would have been able to enter their promised land instead of dying in the wilderness!!
     There was a time I was prayed for by a minister's wife and her wise words to me after she was through praying was "don't trust anything except God's words, don't even trust facts! just God's words". At the time I thought that was a curious idea because I had always thought facts were trustworthy, but with reading these scriptures I can totally understand what she meant.
     There is so much sadness when we choose to live through our own wisdom or even what we consider the wisdom of others. Do we choose to trust the "wisdom" of men, given through our news reports and articles or our political sphere, or do we trust only God's words?

     God's word says:

    
Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you, He will not fail you or forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6
    
.."Do not fear or be dismayed! Be strong and courageous, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies with whom you fight." Joshua 10:25
    
‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’  Isaiah 41:10
    
     These are just a sample of the verses that encourage us to NOT walk in fear, but to walk as we should, with courage and strength! God does not like the cowardly! There is even a verse putting the cowardly in with the ones that are abominable to God!
     
But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, Revelations 21:8a

     In our world currently there is a lot of fear being stirred up, I would encourage you to close the door on fear and instead stir up your faith and courage. Beloved, you are a child of God! He is the most powerful force ever! If you are in His will nothing can touch you that He has not allowed and if He has allowed it, you need to trust that it is for your benefit. The only concern you should have is whether or not you are in His will. When we live as His will as His children He is our Protector and Provider. Read Psalms 91 below and consider it, it is yours!

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”

For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper
And from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may seek refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.

You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;

Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.

A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand,
But it shall not approach you.

You will only look on with your eyes
And see the recompense of the wicked.

 For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place.

No evil will befall you,
Nor will any plague come near your tent.

For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways.

They will bear you up in their hands,
That you do not strike your foot against a stone.

You will tread upon the lion and cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.

 “ Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.

“He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.

“With a long life I will satisfy him
And let him see My salvation.”

     Make your choice, choose to listen to a fearful report brought by man, or choose courage and faith as God's word has instructed us! If you choose God's word as your foundation then start stirring up your courage and that of your fellow believers!