Let Your Faith Be Bigger Than Your Fear

Public Domain Image: Battle damaged B-17

“...Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” Revelation 2:10 (NKJV).

The young man looked to be about 19 years old. He walked slightly hunched over, trying to counterbalance the weight of the textbooks that overloaded his backpack.

He wore a black t-shirt with white letters that read, “Faith Over Fear.” He was on his way to class at our local private college. I wondered if he had ever experienced fear beyond a pop quiz in calculus. Most of my former students certainly hadn’t.

On a Wing and a Prayer

My mind drifted to thoughts of a 19-year-old waist gunner on a B-17 bomber during World War II. I could imagine him and the other nine men on their crew walking hunched over from the weight of their gear as they climbed into their Flying Fortress, “Southern Comfort.”

I wonder if any wore the equivalent of a “Faith Over Fear” t-shirt as they rotated into the heavens, eyes wide open, scanning the sky for enemy fighters?

Fear must have been ever-present among the aircrews. The life expectancy of B-17 crews was 11 missions. They needed to complete 25 to finish their tour and return home.

For Southern Comfort, this mission was #18.

Imagine what it was like inside Southern Comfort as it was attacked by German Focke-Wulf 190 fighters. 20 MM cannons riddle the fuselage. A fuel tank ruptures, one wing has a large hole underneath, and it is on fire.

The pilot, Hugh G. Ashcraft, Jr., reportedly told his crew, “Those who want to, please pray.”

All but one of the crew survived this mission. The battle-damaged B-17 made it back to its base in England.

So, if you have ever heard the song or the expression, “On a wing and a prayer,” this story is what inspired it.

Let Your Faith Be Bigger Than Your Fear

The reality is that most haven’t experienced the horrors of war. Still, many have experienced their own fears in various forms, such as financial, health, and relationship concerns. How we deal with these fears reveals a lot about our faith.

But here’s the thing: Christians are engaged in daily spiritual warfare. The battle is going on all around us in our own cities. Just check the latest news, and you’ll read about wars and rumors of wars, natural disasters, terrorism, etc. Are we living in the end times?

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of the age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places” Ephesians 6:12, (NKJV).

As we turn on the TV news, scroll through our news feed, or watch our favorite YouTube pastor, it’s easy to let fears overshadow faith. It’s the “what if” fear, conjured up by the enemy in our imagination, that can become debilitating.

Irrational fear, that is, fear that isn’t proportional to the conditions, can leave Christians questioning their faith–questioning God. Why would He allow “this” to happen?

For the believer, this is a problem as serious as a B-17 crew that refused to fly because of fear of getting killed. Fortunately, that seldom (if ever) happened.

Why? Because the men who flew those missions were not only well-trained, but they believed in their mission and had faith in their aircraft and crew.

But here’s a significant difference between non-believers and believers: No matter how brave, macho, and well-trained the non-believer, they all have a limit to what the human psyche can withstand; that is, everyone has a breaking point.

The believer shares this same psycho-emotional governor where the mind goes beyond the “red line” and is blown. But the believer isn’t depending on their own mental health to prevent normal fear from becoming irrational.

Faith (or faithfulness) as a fruit of the Spirit is a characteristic of God that is given, through grace, to all believers. We don’t have to buck up on our own.

As believers mature, our faith grows. We receive faith as fruit of the Spirit and are convinced that, regardless of the battles, our “Commander” will bring us home for a safe landing. Jesus tells us:

"In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” John 14:2-3 (NKJV).

We are also provided a way to defend ourselves that no Flying Fortress could ever match. The Apostle Paul tells us, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” Ephesians 6:11, (NKJV).

Finally, we have a “crew” of brothers and sisters that we can count on for support during difficult times. During any given “mission from God,” we may have many fellow crew members, or we may have none.

But even if you find yourself in the middle of the desert of life, the battle waging all around you, you are never alone. God always provides the final assurance and the last Word:

“...teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen” Matthew 28:20 (NKJV).

So, let your faith be bigger than your fear!