Topic: Let Faith, Not Fear, Rule Your Heart [RICK WARREN Devotional 10 November   2023]

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Let Faith, Not Fear, Rule Your Heart

BY RICK WARREN — NOVEMBER 10, 2023
FROM HOW GOD TURNS SETBACKS INTO COMEBACK

“Many of the people scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’”

Mark 10:48 (GNT)

Don’t let your fears control you! Face your fears by putting your faith in God.

Fear has an incredible ability to paralyze your potential—to keep you from launching out with faith.

When we choose fear over faith, it makes us skeptical. Fear keeps us from trying new things. It makes us selfish because we’re afraid to commit to God and to others. It makes us short-sighted; we focus on the past and not on the future.

Bartimaeus—a man who was blind and wanted Jesus to give him sight—faced a fear that is familiar to many of us: the fear of rejection. He knew that people would look down on him if he shouted out to Jesus in a crowd. But he was desperate. And he knew that Jesus Christ was the only one who could help him.

Look what happened when he shouted out to Jesus: “Many of the people scolded him and told him to be quiet” (Mark 10:48 GNT). They probably said things like, “Don’t do that. Be quiet. Don’t make a scene. Surely Jesus Christ isn’t interested in you. He has more important things to do.”

The devil whispers things like that to a lot of us. When that opportunity for faith comes into your heart, thoughts like, “God surely wouldn’t be interested in you” or “Don’t make a scene” or “What would people think of you?” may keep you from trusting God. When you see an opportunity to change, shouts from inside and around you tell you not to rock the boat.

But God is asking you to do something greater than you’ve ever done before: He’s asking you to depend on him completely. Don’t you think that’s going to feel a little bit scary? Of course it will. Bartimaeus was probably scared too, but here’s what he did: “But he shouted even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’” (Mark 10:48 GNT).

When God asks something of you, you have a choice. Are you going to fall back on your fear and stay the way you are? Or are you going to tame your fear and step forward in faith?

Talk It Over

• Whose disapproval do you fear the most?
• Why do you think sometimes it seems easier to choose fear over faith?
• Proverbs 29:25 says, “The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in GOD protects you from that” (MSG). Pray that God would help you receive his protection from what other people think by trusting in him.

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