The Cage and the Key

Part One: Fear

    It is impossible for faith and fear to coexist. If you have faith, and you start to fear, your fear will stomp out the fire of faith. As is the same with your faith. When you have a good strong faith, there will be no fear. Fear in the sight of strong faith, must cease.
    Fear, just so happens to be a product of Satan himself. When strong faith comes into the picture, (see James 4:7) the devil must flee. In Acts 16:16-18, Jesus looked Satan in the face, and resisted him. However, that doesn't mean you can go around saying, "in the name of Jesus, be gone Satan." Why? Then there would be no need for the truth. You must FULLY submit to him before you can officially "stomp out the fear." Once you submit to God, then you will have faith, and therefore cannot be fearful. Ephesians 6:11, "Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's scheme." There is no room for fear to hide in the presences of God.    Submitting to something you cannot see, can be easy to look past, and brush off. It takes a lot of trust. Do you think that David was scared when he volunteered HIS life to throw a pebble at a GIANT? Think about it. David had so much TRUST in his God, that he was willing to sacrifice his LIFE without second guessing God. If you don't know this story, let me tell you about it:
    Israelites vs Philistines. Both troops were lined up on their side of the battle field. Then, out of nowhere, this legit GIANT pops out of the Philistines, and yells at the Israelites telling them to choose a guy to fight him. Genetically, the Philistines were MUCH taller than the Israelites, and therefore, because the giant was a trained killing machine, naturally the Israelites were afraid. Every single Israelite was shaking in their armor, and some probably peed themselves. That's when David enters the picture. He is just a little boy carrying food out to the army. He hears Goliath, and offers to fight him. WAIT, WHAT? This army is filled with men, who had been trained to fight their entire lives, and the little dude, who has no training experience at all and who is carrying the concession stand, volunteers to fight the very thing that not only the brave-of-the-brave will not face? But WHY? Remember, Goliath (the giant) was a legit KILLING MACHINE. The other Israelites laughed at him, right up until David walked up to Goliath. His only weapon was a few pebbles and a sling shot. Think, killing machine vs pebbles... logical outcome: David dies, Philistines win. But, that's not what happened... David picked up 5 stones, put one in his little piece of fabric, and launched it at Goliath. The pebble hit Goliath in the forehead with such force, it knocked the giant to the ground. David then proceeded to take the sword from Goliath, and cut off his head. That stuff just doesn't happen y'all. David thrusted his life into God's hands, and trusted that God would do great things. And HE DID! If you trust God, and put 100% of your life into him, you can become fearless. David was not shaking, he didn't doubt God. He TRUSTED him.
    That's the kind of trust relationship God wants to have with us. God desires for his creation to sing his glory, and praise him.