“Faith cometh by hearing” but so does fear…

Faith cometh by hearing: These days, there seems to be a plague of bad news. Every second, something bad is happening. I’m sure good things happen too but somehow, the bad news takes centre stage, snaking its way into our ears and consequently our hearts, influencing our decisions covertly and overtly.

Disclaimer: You will not agree with everything you’re about to read, and that is not okay.

I remember May 31st, the IPOB sit-at-home day. I was disconnected from Twitter. So, I couldn’t witness the ruckus that was supposedly happening. However, my parents called me to be on the lookout for any danger. My roommate downloaded the gist I’d have seen on Twitter into my ears so I needed not even worry.

As a result of this, I became jumpy. Fun fact, I needed to head out to get ingredients for a meal I was about to prepare. My location was within the school, safe and secure. I could see that nothing was happening where I was. And yet, I was scared. What if fighter planes appear in the air out of nowhere? That was fear because of what I’d heard.

This post title says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God…” It’s a verse from Romans 10, specifically verse 17. Faith does come by hearing, feeding on God’s word builds and strengthens your faith but the truth is fear like faith cometh by hearing; what you hear affects you in unimaginable ways.

Why do you see a bus on a bridge and suddenly imagine it falling off the road and into the water? It’s because you have heard it happened/seen it happen in movies. Your mind feeds your imagination from your memory, your mind cannot conceive what it hasn’t seen or heard before – which is why it is so hard to believe in miracles, because we have not seen it happen before and because we have heard that it is impossible! But this is talk for another day.

Proverbs 4:23 says, ‘Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.’ The decisions you make come from your experience or what you’ve heard. While it can be beneficial in some situations, a filter has to be installed to prevent the absorption of the wrong materials.

In my little way, I try to control what I hear by filtering:
1. The people around me,
2. Who and what I listen to,
3. The environments I frequent;
and ultimately, by reading –
4. THE WORD OF GOD

God’s Word has everything you need to fortify you against fear. Romans 8:15 says, ‘For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.’

Fear is bondage. It restricts you and makes you operate within a limit. With God’s Word, we can fight that. When you hear about death, you remember Psalm 118:17 which says, ‘I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD’; when you hear of a widespread pandemic, you remember that Isaiah 53:5 says that by ‘… His stripes we are healed’; when you hear of economic recession, you remember that God has promised to ‘… supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.’ (Philippians 4:19).

Consciously feed your mind with His Word. Every material you consume is a seed that will grow; but will it fertilize the ground or choke the soil that birthed it?

Stay good.
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