Rabbi Schneider - Faith To Overcome Fear
Most of us struggle in life with fear. We battle it daily. It's one of Satan's chief weapons against us. It began all the way back in the garden when Adam sinned and immediately he ran from the Lord, saying to the Lord in Genesis chapter 3, verse 9 and 10, I felt naked and afraid. And ever since that time, you and I, beloved, have struggled with feeling alone in the world. We don't really have the sense that we need, many of us, of God's protection on our life, of God's activity in our circumstances. We don't really trust him fully to go before us. We don't really trust him fully oftentimes with our health, with our finances, with our children, with our jobs and everything else that we deal with in life. And because we're not trusting him fully, we get afraid.
But I want you to know, beloved, the Lord wants us to recover the sense of his presence around us that Adam enjoyed in the garden before he fell. Because we have Yeshua, beloved, we have been clothed with the Lord once again, and he wants us to step out of fear. We're not orphans. We're in this world not alone, but we're in this world, beloved, with God. And the Lord has promised us to never leave us or forsake us. He's promised to go before us. He's promised to fight for us. And we're going to be looking at some Scriptures to back this up today. The Word in the book of Joshua chapter number 1 verse number 9 for fear is the word Aratz, and it means to tremble. It means to dread. It means to be terrified of.
I want to ask you a question. Have you been in fear today? Have you been terrified of anything today? Are you afraid of being alone? Are you afraid for your finances? Are you afraid about your job? Are you afraid about sickness? Are you afraid about ending up in a nursing home? And the list goes on and on. The question that I have for you is with all these dangers that are real threats on every side, with nuclear reactors leaking, terrorist attacks on our own soil, the threat of nuclear disaster all over the world, and we could go on and on, is it possible living in the world that we live in to not be afraid? I mean, is it really possible to live outside of fear, crushing fear under our feet? Beloved, the Scripture says that you and I can have power to tread upon demons and scorpions.
According to Jesus, beloved, you and I can live without fear, because Yeshua said whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Jesus had no fear. In fact, when his disciples feared a real danger, what appeared to be a real threat, he rebuked them for it, and he told them that the reason they were afraid was because they lacked faith. So with that said, we're going to go now in our Scriptures to the book of Mark today, chapter number 4. The grass withers and the flowers fade, hallelujah, but the Word of the Lord abides forever.
Hear the Word of God as I go now to the gospel of Mark, chapter number 4, beginning there in verse number 35. And on that day when evening had come, Jesus, he said to them, let us go over to the other side. And leaving the multitude, they took him along with them just as he was in the boat, and other boats were with them. And there arose, now get this, there arose a fierce gale of wind. The waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. I want you to get this. This was a real danger. I mean, this was a real threat. In the natural, the boat could have very well sunken. You would have thought of course they were afraid. It's natural to be afraid. It's normal to be afraid. I would have been afraid, too. How could God blame them? I mean, if a boat fills up with water, it sinks.
But notice Yeshua's response to them. And he himself, number 38, was in the stern asleep on the cushion. And they awoke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care we're perishing? And being aroused, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea hush, be still. And the wind died down, and it became perfectly calm. And he said to them, why were you so timid? How is it that you have no faith? And they marveled, and they said who is this man? Jesus' response to their fear, when they were in this boat in the middle of a frenzied storm, it looked in the natural this boat could have sunken, and Jesus' response to them was why were you afraid? Where is your faith? We learn from this the way to not be afraid is to have faith. Faith is that which gives us victory over fear. Jesus said why were you afraid? Where is your faith?
And so if you and I are going to get victory over fear, that means we're going to have to increase in faith. And the Scripture says, beloved, that we can increase in faith by asking God for faith. Remember the one that prayed? He said Father, I believe. Help my unbelief. We pray right now, Father God, for you to strengthen our inner man with divine might, deep down on the inside. We pray that you'll impart courage to us, Father, but the Ruach Hako-dosh, that Father, there would be a new faith, a new fire, a new divine energy in us that would arise up, Father, from our inner man, taking authority over fear. I pray, Father, for such power that we begin to hate fear, that we begin to hate Satan's lies.
So the first thing that we need is we need divine energy from the Ruach Hako-dosh, beloved, to rise up and declare war on fear. The other thing we need is faith in the truth. We need to really believe that God loves us. We need to really believe that he's fighting for us. We need to really believe that he goes with us. We need to really believe he's involved in our life. Yeshua said the number of hairs on our head are numbered. We need to really get an understanding, beloved, of how present God is with us and how much he's involved in our life. That's the reason that we're afraid. We don't really get it. We don't really have faith in the fact that God cares enough to be involved in our life. We believe he's up there. We're believing in him from afar. We know that when we get to heaven, everything will be all right, but we lack the faith to realize he's involved in our lives in an intimate way, in a detailed way right here and right now.
How do we get this faith to know that God's at work in our life here and now? We get it, beloved, through prayer, and listen now, by being transformed by Yeshua's Word, by having faith in the Scriptures, by having faith in the Word of God. Jesus said to his disciples you are clean because of the Word that I spoke to you, the Word that I speak is Spirit and life. Take ahold of it. Seize it, the Lord says. I remember the Lord said to me years ago in the middle of the night, powerful, powerful encounter with the Spirit of God, and the Lord said to me, seize my Word and don't let anything else in. If we're going to keep fear out, if we're going to keep ourselves from being afraid, we need to seize God's Word and stop allowing fear in.
If we don't seize his Word, beloved, we're going to be like mush. The enemy's just going to be able to come in. But the Lord said to Joshua, I want you to strengthen yourself. Be strong. Be strong. Harden yourself. Fortify yourself against the fear of these foreign armies, Joshua, for I am with you wherever you go. And so God wants us to strengthen ourselves, to fortify our faith in the Word of God, to seize his Word, to not let anything else in, to keep the door shut. This is not something, beloved, that's passive. This is something that's active.
If we're not active in our faith, if we're not warfaring, if we're not seeking, beloved to strengthen ourselves in the Word of God, if we're not willfully choosing to believe God, if we're not significantly pushing forward to get ahold of God and resist fear, beloved, the devil's going to push in, because the Lord said about the devil that he's standing at the door, that his desire is for us, but we must master him. In other words, the devil is always there. He's always looking for a way in. So we have to keep him out. We have to keep the door shut. How do we do that? By taking ahold of God's Word and not allowing ourselves to doubt it, not allowing ourself to question it. We need to keep on repeating it. We need to keep on affirming it. We need to fortify ourselves with it. Be strong and courageous, the Lord said to Joshua, and do not be afraid.
And so it's interesting, when we continue to think about this situation where Yeshua's speaking to the disciples about overcoming fear, I'm reminded of the other story in which Yeshua comes to the disciples when they're on the boat, and Yeshua comes walking on water. Many of you know the story. And all of a sudden, Kephas, Peter sees Yeshua, and Yeshua calls to him, and Peter gets out of the boat and he begins to walk on the water. He's acting in faith. His eyes are on Jesus. His eyes are on Jesus' words. Come, Peter. He's seizing the Word that Jesus spoke. And as he's seizing the Word that Jesus spoke, he's literally walking on the water. But then what did he do? Listen. He looked at what was going on around him, and he looked at the waves and he looked at the wind, and when he took his eyes off Jesus, he opened up the door, beloved, for the devil to come in, producing fear, and he sunk.
You see, if we're not seizing God's Word, then what happens is the devil comes, and he comes to us causing us to question whether we can really believe God. If we get passive in our adamant faith with the Lord, then the devil's going to come. He's going to begin by just causing us to question. Can you really trust God? And from questioning, we're going to go to doubt. And from doubt, we're going to go to fear. And Satan, beloved, will make entrance into our life. You see, you can even observe in the natural world, beloved, this phenomenon. Listen. That even as faith is the channel that the Lord moves through in our life, fear is the channel or the open door that the devil moves through in our life.
I want to say it again. Even as faith opens the door for the Lord to work in our life, listen, fear opens the door for the devil to enter into our lives. Think about this phenomenon. We all know the story of what a high wire person in the circus does. Does a person that's walking a high wire in the circus look down? No. We know they're instructed never to look down. Because if they look down, they're going to be overwhelmed by fear. They're going to see how far they are off the ground, and fear's going to overwhelm them, they'll lose their balance, and they'll fall. That's what happened to Peter. He was walking on water. When he kept his eyes on Jesus, even as that high wire person was okay living above the circumstances, keeping their eye just above and on top, but as soon as that high wire person looks down and sees the circumstances, they were overwhelmed by fear and they fell.
And so Peter, the same thing in the spiritual sense. When he saw Jesus, he was living in victory. When he looked at the circumstances, when he looked at the waves and the wind, he fell. And so listen, fear opens the door for Satan. Think about it. Have you ever called information to get a phone number, and the operator said at the other end of the phone the number is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you said to yourself, blah, blah, blah, blah. You tried to remember it so you could dial it in your phone. But then all of a sudden, you got afraid that you were going to forget it. And what happened? As soon as you got afraid that you were going to forget that number that you needed to remember that the operator just told you, as soon as you feared that you were going to forget it, what happened? It was stolen from you, right? You couldn't remember it anymore.
Think about the same thing that an athlete goes through if they're playing baseball or basketball. If an athlete is afraid they're going to miss the ball, if an athlete's afraid they're going to miss that grounder, if a basketball player is afraid he's going to miss, what happens? They usually miss. Because when you fear, the enemy takes over, gets you off balance, and moves you into darkness. On the other hand, beloved, when you exercise faith in God's love, when you exercise faith in God's presence with you, that he's fighting for you, that he's with you, you're living in peace, you're living in harmony, you're operating successfully, you're operating effectively. If you play an instrument or you do something at work, and when you're in confidence, you can just go through that task and you're moving flowing, it's powerful, it's effective. But as soon as you begin to question yourself, as soon as you begin to doubt what happens, you mess up.
You see, faith, beloved, is the channel that the Lord moves through. Fear is the channel the devil moves through. And so the Father tells us continually do not be afraid at least a hundred times in Scripture. So if you and I want to overcome in life, it's not just the growth sense we need to overcome, it's fear that we need to overcome. He that overcomes, Jesus said, will inherit these things. But he also said in Revelation 21 that he that is a coward and an unbeliever is going to the lake of fire. Now, I'm not trying to make you afraid if you ever fear, you're going to hell. That's not the point. I'm just trying to help you understand that fearing is sinning and that we need, beloved, to declare war on it and overcome. We need to make a choice like Daniel, I'm not going to be afraid.
You see, Daniel made a choice that he wouldn't bow down to fear. Daniel made a choice that he wouldn't bow down to the enemy. And so when I'm going now to the book of Daniel, beloved, today, and I want to read you this point. And it's a choice that we make. In Daniel, hallelujah, chapter number 3 here, I want to read verse number 17 and 18. And this is for our life today. Daniel chapter 3 verse 17 and 18. When Nebuchadnezzar built an image and he was trying to get Daniel and his friends to bow down to this golden image, listen to what Daniel said. If it be so, our God who we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire. And he will deliver us out of your hand, oh king.
Do you notice that he didn't know exactly for sure what was going to happen. He said if it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will deliver us out of your hand, oh king. But notice the next verse. But even if he does not. See, Daniel made up his mind. We think God's going to deliver us, but even if he does not, he was prepared to face the fire. But even if he does not, let it be known to you, oh king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Daniel made up his mind that he was going to be faithful to God. He wasn't going to bow down to the golden image, and he wasn't going to bow down to fear. He was going to walk, beloved, honoring his God, Yahweh.
And you and I need to make up our mind that we love God, and because we love God, we're not going to bow down to you, Satan, any longer by fearing. But we declare war on you this day, you devil. We will not fear. We're going to exercise faith in our God because our God said he would never leave us, hallelujah, or forsake us. I want to read you just a few Scriptures here why, beloved, we need to declare war on the devil and exercise our love for the Lord by choosing to believe what he told us. The Lord is with us. Joshua 1:9, be strong and courageous. It's a command. Be strong and courageous. Be aggressive in faith. Be aggressive in courage. For I am with you, and I will not let you down.
I want to read Deuteronomy 1 verse 30. The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight on your behalf. Why should we not be afraid? Because God has promised that he's going to fight our battles, that he's going to go before us on his behalf, that he's going to make war for us, that he's going to do what he needs to do when we put him first and honor him and trust him. The Lord also, beloved, has promised never to leave us or forsake us. Yeshua himself said so. And in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 31 verse 6, the Lord again 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, and he will not fail you or forsake you.
You see, Jesus said in John 14:18 I will not leave you as an orphan. We need to resist, beloved, the lie that we're in this world alone. An orphan is a child that's alone. An orphan is a child that's been deserted. An orphan is a child that has no parents that care for him or her. Jesus said to us, I will not leave you as an orphan. In other words, we're not alone in this world. And we have to exercise faith in the supernatural. We need to exercise faith in our God. We need to exercise faith in the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, of Yeshua HaMashiach, that he's going to do what he said he would do, that the number of hairs on our head are numbered and, beloved, that he will go before us, he will not leave us or forsake us, he will fight our battles.
Beloved, we have recovered what Adam lost in Jesus. Hallelujah. Amen and amen and amen and amen. As I continue today, beloved, I want to point out a Scripture that really struck me. It's from the book of Isaiah chapter number 43. Hear the Word of God as I read Isaiah chapter 43 beginning in verse 1. The Lord says this to you. It's a very personal word, beloved, one for you and I. Hear the Word of God. God wants us to begin to receive his Word. We need to choose to believe love. We need to choose to believe God. Listen what the Lord says. I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you, for I am the Lord your God, your Savior. I feel like the Lord wants me to read that to you again. Listen again, beloved, to his Word. Receive it into your heart, implant it. I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you, for I am the Lord your God, your Savior. God is saying whatever you go through in life, I'm going to be with you.
And beloved, sometimes when it looks the worst from the outside, we experience God's greatest blessing. Don't believe what you see. Don't believe what you see. Because regardless of whatever it is that you're going to face in life, God is going to be with you in the midst of it, blessing you, giving you fellowship with him. And some of those situations that we go through in life that might look like the darkest times of our life to someone that's on the outside because they don't see the invisible presence of the Lord with us, some of those times that we go through in life that may look like the darkest times to someone on the outside, or maybe times that we would in the natural fear, it's those very times, beloved, that God makes himself most known and makes his presence most felt to us. But beloved, we need to have faith in God's active activity in our life.
You see, God's sacred name, Yod-Hei-Vav-Hei, given in the Hebrew Bible, we pronounce a breathy Yahweh, it's not a noun. When the Lord revealed himself to Moses in Exodus 3 and Exodus chapter 6, the Lord said to Moses, I am Yahweh. He said your forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they knew me as El Shaddai, as God Almighty. But by my name, and then God breathed his name to Moshe, he spoke his name to Moses. But by my name Yahweh they did not know me. And God's name Yahweh, it's a verb. And the tense of the verb is, listen now, continuous, unfinished action. The point is that God is a verb, and he's involved in your life. He's involved in your circumstances. The number of hairs on your head are numbered. He goes before you and I, beloved. And if we'll just trust him, we'll begin to be set free from all the fears that the devil has dogged us with to recognize that we can trust God. And when we come to that place, beloved, we'll truly be free. And Jesus said who the Son sets free shall be free indeed.
I want to close today with this last Scripture from the book of Isaiah chapter number 8 beginning in verse number 11. Hear the Word of God. God loves you. For thus the Lord spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of the people, saying, you are not to say it is a conspiracy in regard to all that this people call conspiracy. And you are not to fear what they fear. The Lord is speaking to Isaiah, and he says God spoke to me with mighty power. And he said even those these people around me, they're calling conspiracy, God said to me don't get involved in that. And the Lord said to me when he spoke to me with mighty power, you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it. It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy, and he shall be your fear, and he shall be your dread. Then he will become your sanctuary.
You see, beloved, there's fear all around us in the natural world because Satan wants to torment the earth with fear, but God is telling you and I as his children you're not to fear what the world fears because I'm your God. And when you learn to fear me alone and recognize that you need to fear nothing else, you're going to have peace. You're going to walk in peace on earth and in rest, and I'm going to become your sanctuary, and you're going to enter into the promise of my Son the Lord Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach that said to you who the Son sets free is free indeed. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. Beloved, let's get free from fear, in Yeshua's name.