John Stanko

TOPIC: Faith and Fear

"So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime" - Judges 6:27.

Gideon had faith to obey the Lord, but there was one major stumbling block for faith in his life, and that was his family. He did what God wanted in this instance but did so under the cover of darkness. The opposite of faith is not un-faith or unbelief, but rather fear. Gideon was afraid of what his family would think and say, so he carried out a clandestine faith operation. Jesus also addressed this problem as you can read in Matthew 10:32-39. What are you afraid of that is hindering your faith? Is your relationship with your family one that sustains and promotes your faith, or hinders it? What are you prepared to do about that if the latter is the case?

Lord, I love my family, but I am too concerned about what they will say and think. At times, I also need them to need me, so I do things that perpetuate an unhealthy situation that hinders my faith. Forgive me for ever putting my family before You and Your purposes for my life. That is about to change.