"For God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and a sound mind."

                                              2 Tim 1:7

Luke chapter one says, "For with God nothing shall be impossible" (Luke 1:37). The American Standard Version says, "For no Word of God shall be void of power."   In other words, everything God spoke contains enough power within itself to change whatever situation we need to see changed.  When Jesus told his disciples, "The words that I speak, they are spirit and they are life" (John 6:63), he was letting them know where the source of his power rested. There is nothing that thrills the heart more than to know God's Word has quickening power to do whatever we need it to do for us.

I love reading the story in Mark's gospel when Jesus and his disciples found themselves in the middle of a storm. The Lord had just finished teaching the parable of the sower and the seed when he turned to his disciples and said, "let us pass over on the other side." (Mark 4:35). While they were in the midst of the sea, suddenly a storm arose and the disciples became overwhelmed by its intensity.  The amazing part to this story is that Jesus was asleep in the hinder part of the ship.  How many of us would remain sleeping in the stern of a boat while a life-threatening storm was pounding away?  But that is exactly what was happening here.  Jesus was totally unaffected by the conditions that surrounded him.  However, the disciples were operating out of a completely different scenario.  They had become overtaken by the circumstances.  They were so struck by fear that they awoke him and said, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" (Mark 4:38).

Isn't it amazing how the natural mind thinks?  Why would the disciples become so fearful to assume that they lives were at risk while Jesus was in the boat with them?  Their question seemed to suggest that they felt the circumstances were bigger than what Jesus had already said he planned to do.  He told them, "let us pass over to the other side," but instead, they took heed to the voice of fear that was taunting them to see a completely different overcome. 

This is why it is so important that we stick with the Word in spite of the situations we face in life. Everything on the outside may be saying one thing, but when we know God's Word we don't have to be moved by what the circumstance are saying.  Jesus said, "Take heed what you hear, with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again." (Mark 4:24).  Had they latched on to this truth they would have known that by putting more stock in what Jesus said than what fear was saying, they would have be able to rebuke the lies of the enemy. When you measure the possibilities of what God's Word says against the threatening circumstances of what fear says then it's a no-brainer!  The Word of God will always come out on top! And the reason is because, "NO WORD OF GOD IS VOID OF THE POWER TO FULFILL ITSELF!"

If there is anything that tries to shut us down and overwhelm us it's the voice of fear.  That is how the enemy robs us many times of things God wants to do in our lives.  But we cannot let fear navigate our future!  We have to turn away from that which seems to loom over our minds saying something different than what God's Word says.  We have to stick with the Word!  If the church can ever come to the place where she lets faith dominate her thoughts instead of fear, then nothing will be impossible for her to accomplish!  That's the secret to living life as an overcomer.  We have to take God's Word as the final authority over every situation and never let fear navigate our course.  We hold to what we know and we speak only what we know, and whatever fear tries to say must bow to the power of God's Word.