CLEON LYLES (Deceased)
Someone gave me this statement recently: “Fear knocked at the door; Faith answered, and there was no one there.”
The greatest enemy of progress is fear. This has always been true. People who have fears do not need any special time to nourish them. Time and circumstances do not erase them. If it is fear that has to do with finances, they will be afraid during good times that we are going to have a depression. If we are having a depression, they will fear inflation. If the fear has to do with health, those who are healthy will be afraid of disease and those who are diseased will be afraid of getting worse. There is no end to fear. If you fix one thing that is feared something else will raise its head. People who live in constant fear are always planning for the day when things will be fixed and they can live a life without fear, but that day never comes.
Not only does fear paralyze progress in material things, but it is one of the worst enemies we have in religion. Fear keeps churches from making greater plans and carrying them out. Some are afraid of financial collapse. They do not reckon with God in the matter at all. He may have brought them through several victories, but they refuse to give up their fears. They trust the worth of a dollar more than they trust the maker of the world. Some are afraid of driving people away from the church and hence are afraid to preach the truth on all subjects. Of course they do not stop to reason that one in error cannot be saved regardless of where he is, but they have learned to think in terms of getting them in instead of getting them saved. They had rather allow them to continue in error than take the risk of offending them.
That are many illustrations that will come to your mind but these will show how fear can actually keep people out of the church and out of heaven, and keep the church from doing what God intended to do.
What is the remedy for fear? The only cure is faith. Faith is creative. It creates what it believes in. Fear says you cannot; and if we listen long enough, we cannot. Faith says you can. If we listen to it we can. Fear said Peter could not walk on the water but faith said he could. As long as he was willing to listen to faith he walked on the water. Man needs to learn to believe in God. We are not talking about people who already belong to God. We need to learn to believe. We need to see that faith is that which will remove our fears.
Jesus taught that all things are possible to the one who believes. Show me a person who does great things for God and I will show you a strong believer. Show me one who does nothing and, regardless of his excuse, I will show you one who needs to learn to trust God. Faith steps out where fear holds back.
Faith is willing to take hold of the hand of God and march into the unknown, as Abraham marched from his homeland into a strange country. Faith is willing to lay its all on the altar, as Abraham was willing to give his son. God has always rewarded that kind of faith with victory, and the one who possesses it is the only person who really lives a fearless life. Every time faith answers, no fears will be there.
— The Informer, June 1, 1969