This post may seem like it is all over the place for a little bit, but if you stick with me I promise I am going somewhere lol!

In 2020, prior to May, I weighted over 264 pounds. I am not sure how much over because I just didn’t care any more and I stopped weighing myself. I was very physically and mentally ill. If you are interested you can check out my full testimony in this video: https://youtu.be/6guNDljYLCo?si=6F1yFOHEfA7Qcatt

I was very addicted to food and in particular sugar. As I was working through the process of deliverance God told me to stop consuming sugar (pop, candy, ice cream, baked goods, etc.) On the day of my deliverance I was set free from many demons and demonic strongholds and one of them was a demon of addiction that was causing food addiction. The food addiction was immediately broken and God told me to start focusing on my health by exercising and eating healthy foods.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to do what He said, but I got very busy with ministry almost immediately after my deliverance, so I justified putting off what He told me to do. I put getting healthy on the back burner.

I did not break the bad habits that had formed in my life. I cannot blame a demon for that because it was all me. The demon was gone, but I still continued to be undisciplined in the way I ate. Fast food was my go-to because it was so quick and easy. I was busy and I justified it by saying it would give me more time for ministry if I just grabbed something quick and easy.

A few months ago I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. I started praying and begging God to heal my blood pressure and then it hit me like a ton of bricks how ridiculous it was for me to be begging God to heal my blood pressure when He had been telling me to lose weight, exercise, and eat right for over three years. It also hit me that I had been living in rebellion to Him this entire time. I was in rebellion to God while doing the work of the Lord. He told me to get healthy and I didn’t. I was trying to use justification, but I am done with that and we are just going to call it out for what it is—rebellion.

Sometimes we just need to take a real, hard look at ourselves, and call out our behavior for what it is and in that moment that is what I did. I stopped justifying it, repented for it, joined the gym, and now I am working toward making the changes I should have started back in 2020. In God’s mercy and grace He got my attention and now I am taking it seriously.

When I first got the diagnosis I had fear nibbling at my mind. It came with questions such as, “what if you have a heart attack, what if your heart is damaged, and what if you cannot reverse this?” It didn’t take root in my mind, but I did fail to fully combat it in the moment it was whispering to me and you all know how much I teach to stop it the moment it starts!! It took me a little time to recognize it for what it was and command it to go in the name of Jesus.

Fear is such a sneaky thing and it is always lurking around trying to find a foothold. Once I realized what happened with my blood pressure and that I had allowed a gnawing voice of fear to linger I immediately sent it packing. However, that was not my only fight with fear over the past few months.

I have someone in my life who I really love. I have been praying for this person for a while and God has given me a burden of intercession for them many times. I have heard the enemy tell me they were going to kill this person and as soon as that lie was spoken I recognized it and commanded it to go in the name of Jesus. However, they began to use a different tactic. Fear will always switch it up when what it is trying fails. I began to have thoughts of what if this person never fully surrenders to God, what if they never do what God called them to do, and what if takes something really bad to get their attention?

I wanted this person to get on fire for God and be 100% sold out to Him, but I also wanted it to look like I wanted it to look like. I didn’t want it be hard or painful. I was praying, interceding, speaking scriptures over their life, but I was also not sleeping much, and I spent way to much time dwelling on the situation. I had in my head what I wanted it to look like and my prayers reflected my plan—you know because I knew better than God how it should go….insert roll eye here!

In this process I let my prayers, intercession, and thoughts about this person cross the line into fear. It is such a fine line and I let down my guard for a moment and I let it cross the line. I teach on this stuff all the time, but yet I found myself letting fear in. It was so easy and so sneaky that I didn’t even recognize it for what it was.

Thankfully God got my attention by asking me a simple question. He asked me if I trust Him with this person. I knew exactly what He meant when He asked me that question. He meant do I trust Him even when it looks different than I thought it would, when it is not going the way I want it to, when His timing is not my timing, and when it looks worse before it gets better. He showed me that there will be times when I look in the natural and my flesh will want to give up, I will be tempted to let fear take control, I will want to sit and cry, and I will be tempted to lose my faith in the situation, but in those moments He wanted to know if I would CHOOSE to trust Him anyway—that is true faith.

I had to think about my answer for a few moments because I understood It was a very deep question with a lot of meaning. My answer was yes. I chose and still choose to walk by faith. God is faithful and I choose to stand on that truth no matter what life looks like. I immediately understood that I had listened to the voice of fear. I had to repent and then command that liar to go in the name of Jesus. I refuse to speak or listen to fear. In the name of Jesus it must go! Every single little bit of it! I have faith that God will do what He said He will do. I stand on His character, His Word, and my faith in Him—based on Him.

Fear cancels out faith, but on the flip side faith cancels out fear. Walking by faith leaves no room for fear. When the enemy comes he has nothing on us if we walk by faith. We must counter every voice of fear with the Word of God. Every single time, as soon as it whispers that first lie we must counter it and never let it linger, never sit with it, and never try to analyze it—make it go immediately!

The path to fear is easy to go down especially when we are in the middle of a difficult situation and what we are seeing doesn’t line up with faith, but is instead screaming fear. It is in those situations that we must hold tightly to our faith. We have to know who God is and that knowing comes from being in His Word and in a personal relationship with Him.

Fear creates heavy chains that weigh us down. It also narrows our perspective and vision to the point it is all we can see. It can blind us to the truth of God, our calling, our gifts from God, and even our ability to pray.

On the other hand faith says, “it doesn’t matter what my situation looks like. I don’t even care what it looks like because I know my God and what He can do. Nothing takes Him by surprise or off guard. He can turn the entire situation around in a moment. We can’t see what He is doing behind the scenes and that is why we have to know that He is God. We have to let go of all control, let Him be God, and stop trying to be God in our lives and in the lives of others.

Walking by faith is so much less stressful because when we walk by faith we don’t have to try to figure it all out and make it work. Our job is to walk in obedience to God and only do what He says for us to do. Our job is simply to listen and obey.

A couple of years ago, when my husband and I were walking through Covid, God taught me my biggest lesson about faith I had ever been taught. My husband was hospitalized with double Covid pneumonia and he was put on oxygen, given tons of meds, and I was not allowed to go see him. The night he was hospitalized God gave me a vision. In the vision I saw me standing in the pitch black darkness and I also had a blindfold over my eyes. I didn’t know if the ground was covered in holes, obstacles, or hinderances. I couldn’t move because I had no idea if it was safe or not. In that moment God reached His hands down and took mine. I immediately knew that I had nothing to worry about as long as I continued to hold His hands and let Him lead and guide me. That is faith!

Prayer Time

Ask God to show you any areas of fear in your life.

Repent for allowing fear to take root in your life.

Ask God to uproot every single seed of fear.

Every time you hear the voice of fear command it to go in the name of Jesus. Verbally call it out as a liar, command it to go in the name of Jesus, don’t analyze it, don’t sit with it at all—make it go in the name of Jesus.

Read, think on, and memorize the Word of God to use to get your thoughts under control. When your thoughts start racing and going places they shouldn’t go start speaking scriptures out loud.

Always remember that fear cancels faith. We cannot walk by faith if we are entertaining fear. The good news is faith cancels fear! Choose to walk by faith through every season of your life!

Link to Video: https://youtu.be/KCxJih0JT-o?si=daZoNYyPI3FzYLWJ

Blessings,

Nichole Henson, Fullness of Joy Ministry

Facebook Ministry Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/351690279198647

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@nicholehenson9579/videos

Email: Fullnessofjoyministry@gmail.com