There are many people who are paralyzed by fear. It is the truth of faith in God that will set them free. Uh It's time for the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and President of Fire School of Ministry.
Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH. That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. This is Michael Brown.
Welcome to the line of fire. Yeah, my voice just slightly hoarse from a lot of preaching in California over the weekend, Sunday, Monday. And today, with my slightly hoarse voice and all, we're going to get into the word together. One of those shows where I'm not going to catch you up on the latest political, cultural events, weigh in on things like that, weigh in on things happening around the world. One of those shows where we're not going to go to the phones and interact and get your take on different things.
This is a day where we're going to look at the word and we're going to look at certain faith-related principles and truths about faith. versus fear. Look, fear is something we all have to deal with. either for rational reasons or irrational reasons. What I mean is If you knew that you were living somewhere And there was a massive tornado about to come through your region, and you had some fear over that.
That would be a rational fear, because something is coming. If you were in a city that was about to get overrun by Muslim terrorists and they were going to be killing Christians, and you're a believer in that city, well, in the natural. there'd be a rational reason for fear. Uh others are tormented by irrational fears. Like today you know some asteroid's gonna fall on your apartment building or when when you get in the car that that the car's gonna explode or or the the moment you have an ache or pain that you must be dying of cancer.
Either way, that fear can be paralyzing, whether it's rationally based or irrationally based. And either way, coming to a place of true faith and confidence in God. is the path of freedom and liberty. And these days, so many of the tragic, calamitous things happening around the world are they're right there for us to see within moments on our cellphones, on our T V screens, on our PCs and tablets and things, and it's just there. And it's very easy.
to get more fearful because of what we see happening in the world. And then there's so much speculation about what could be coming next and some people are afraid, oh no, are we going to have some nuclear war or is there the whole world going to fall apart? And then some people do so much teaching about end time prophecy that you could get kinda nervous about that. I want to help you come to a place of confident security. in the midst of the storm.
I want to help you come to a place where even when there is a rational reason for fear, even when it looks really bad, we can have a confidence in God that gives us peace and strength. Think of Paul. There's a shipwreck. It looks like everybody is going to die. And leading up to that, just terrible storm.
There's no hope. They're sure they're going to die at sea. I can't imagine the terror of being in a boat and the boat is being whipped by the winds and the waves and there's no sun shining and it's on for days and days and it's got to be overwhelming. and that feeling of utter helplessness. But in the midst of that, and before the shipwreck, Paul stands up and says, Hey, you should have listened to me.
I told you it's going to be a dangerous journey. Don't shouldn't have done it. But. The angel of the Lord appeared to me last night. Nobody's going to die.
Nobody is going to die. It's going to be just as God said. And sure enough, That's what happened. God's word. represents God's truth.
is backed by God's character. reflects his will. and when we put our trust in Him. Nothing. Nothing.
Nothing can hurt us. You say, but Christians die and believers are persecuted and martyred. I understand. I understand and I'll explain further what I mean about nothing hurting us. All I'm saying is you are safe in the hands of God.
And if it's your time to leave this world, you go straight from this world into His hands and the world to come. But knowing Him means there is no reason to be riddled with fear. Ain't the world It's fire we want, oh fire we need It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 truth.
Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back friends to the line of fire. This is Michael Brown. My great joy and privilege to be with you on these radio airwaves.
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And speaking of around the world, all of you prayer warriors out there, I normally don't ask for prayer when I travel because I travel... a lot, almost all the time, and I'm broadcasting live from different parts of the country and different parts of the world. But next week, I am scheduled to be in Singapore for some of the most important meetings of my life. with national Christian leaders, with business leaders. with other key leaders And we know that there's going to be some spiritual resistance because of the importance of these meetings.
So if you could pray, I'll be doing some broadcasting from Singapore. We've got a couple of special guests that will be joining us for some days on radio as well. But if you could remember to pray, it's a lot of travel, of course, the going and coming. I'll be flying, let's see, into Chicago, I think, then from Chicago to Japan to Tokyo, which is maybe a 14-hour flight, and then a few hour layover there, and then another 7, 8-hour flight to Singapore just to get there, and then 12-hour time difference when we're there.
So if you could really pray for the blessing of God, we'll give you updates from Singapore. I'm traveling all the time. I normally don't ask for prayer, but I believe this trip is going to be very, very significant. We're talking about faith versus fear. on the on the broadcast today and have you ever heard a message on the theme of but god But God.
In other words, Things were going really bad. Everything was going from bad to worse. There seemed to be no way out. It was utterly hopeless. But...
God. Right?
So there are lots of verses in the scripture that are but God verses. And as long as we know these truths, they are wonderfully liberating. And when we take hold of them in our heart and know that this is an ongoing reality, boy, it brings a sense of comfort. I have looked at things I have written, journaled, right before the but God part happened. You know what I'm talking about?
At the worst moment of the storm, I've journaled it. But I've had a sense of faith, but God is going to come through, and I've written it. And then I've looked back at the journal, and it may have been the very next morning, or it may have been a month later, or six months later, there was the deliverance. Here. Ephesians 2 talks about our wretched state without God, a children of wrath by nature.
doing the the will of the of the evil one, of the spirit of this age. That's how it starts, Ephesians 2, 1 through 3, verse 4. But God. Who is rich in mercy out of the great love with which he loved us? What did he do?
He lavished his grace on us. He saved us. He raised us up from the dead and seated us together in heavenly places in his Son, Jesus. But. God.
You know, Acts 2, Peter's preaching about the crucifixion of Jesus and telling his fellow Jewish leaders, you gave him over to be crucified. And the Romans killed him, Acts 2:24. But God raised him up. Having freed him from death because it was impossible for him to be held in his power. Psalm 73:26, my flesh and my heart fail.
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
So many of the Psalms, I'm surrounded by enemies. There's no way out but God. Psalm 64, 7, but God will shoot his arrow with them. They will be wounded suddenly. Psalm 68, 21, but God will shatter the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of those who walk in their guilty ways.
Here, look at this: Acts 7, verse 9. The patriarchs. Jealous of Joseph.
Sold them into Egypt, but God was with him. Genesis 48, 21. Then Israel, Jacob, said to Joseph, I am about to die. But God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your ancestors. Three times in Acts we have, but God raised him on the third day, but God raised him from the dead.
Yes, human beings crucified him, but God raised him up from the dead. Here, Paul writing to the Philippians in Philippians 2.27, speaking of Epaphroditus, he was indeed so ill that he nearly died, but God had mercy on him and not only on him, but on me also, so that I would not have one sorrow after another.
Sometimes the story is that the person did die. The sick person that we're praying for did die. The loved one did die. They didn't make it through the accident. They didn't make it through the cancer.
They didn't make it through the difficult situation. Maybe in a financial situation, the bankruptcy happened, the foreclosure happened, all these things happened. But God, that's what we have to understand. Even after death. There is the but God.
Even after calamity, there is the but God. Even in times of utter hopelessness, even when the chapter ends with darkness for the people of God, friends, I'm not just talking into the air. Many of you are nodding because you've lived this out, you've been there. I wish. This was a day where we had 10 hours.
And after I talked about these things for a half hour or an hour, I'd say, all right, call in with your testimonies. And we could hear. We could hear the story. Yeah, this happened. And this happened.
And it was the worst time of our lives. And we saw no way out. But. God. Yeah, our son was kidnapped and he was killed, and we thought that's the end of life.
But God, you say, how can there be a but God? That's what only God can do. That's what only God can do. We're not talking about living in denial. We're not talking about sticking our head in the sand and denying the storm and denying the pain.
We're talking about a very real God. who draws near to us. in these times and who carries us through. And this is the difference between faith and fear. Fear focuses on what's happening or focuses on the lies of the enemy or the lies of our own mind or the lies of the world and it loses hope.
It loses hope. It becomes discouraged, it sees no way out, and it begins to speak and act based on that. We're all gonna die, it's all over. And it feels very real. At that moment.
Faith says God is with us. God will turn this for good. God will deliver. God will bring light out of darkness. Listen, the very center of our hope is the death and resurrection of the Son of God.
And that means that the very worst crime committed in the history of the human race. The Crucifixion of the Son of God. the desire of human beings to slaughter the prince of life. And to snuff out the light of the world. That is the very thing that God used to save the world.
I'm telling you, wherever your life is today, whatever you've gone through, whatever circumstances have happened, even if you're distant from God, if you'll truly turn to Him, if you'll cry out, God can turn. things around. He can turn hopeless things around. There can be a butt. God for you.
And you can have your own story like so many of us have our own stories. All right, the more I want to get into today, with you today on a special day of teaching, faith versus fear. No. Angel World. Oh God of burning, cleansing flame, send the fire.
It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. See?
You know, both faith and fear are very, very powerful. powerful forces. I'm talking about the attitude. I'm talking about the mindset. Obviously, the ultimate power of faith is that it is faith in God, faith in the living God, and all things are possible to him who believes.
Not because we are super strong by believing, not because we become superstars by believing, but because we're putting our trust in a God who can do the impossible. But I'm just talking about the influence that faith and fear have in our lives, the effect that they have. One is paralyzing, one is liberating. This is Michael Brown. You're listening to the line of fire.
I just felt it would be helpful and helpful with all that swirls in the world around us to just take some time, not talk about the news, even breaking news at this moment, not to talk about it, not to take calls for conversation today, but just seek to edify you, build you up, strengthen you in the faith, part of what we seek to do here on the line of fire, part of the unique nature, hopefully, of what we can bring to you on the line of fire. But let me say it again. Fear. is paralyzing. Faith is liberating.
They they are both real forces. They are both real powers that have real effect on us. And sometimes fear is also linked together with demonic strongholds.
So there is satanic power, the lies that paralyze. And then the flip side, faith, because of the Holy Spirit working, has that additional liberation. But let me just give you a natural illustration. All right? A natural illustration.
You are in an apartment building. and you hear the alarm go off, the fire alarm, and next thing you hear people opening their doors and starting to exit the apartment building. But you suddenly become overwhelmed with fear. Oh no, oh no, we're going to die. Oh no, this is not just a drill.
Oh no, there's a real fire. Oh no, oh my God, what are we going to do? Oh, I look at the, I can't jump out the window. What am I? I can't get out on the balcony.
Oh, if I open the door, there's probably a fire out there. And you end up staying in the room and dying. That would be an example of fear. Paralyzing. You can't think straight, you can't think rationally, you can't make a logical decision because you are so paralyzed.
Paralyzed. And it is also completely faith-stealing. It is the opposite of faith. It's saying the worst is going to happen, something negative, something terrible is going to happen. And this is the way that fear can grip us.
And in that moment of intense fear, and by the way, I'm not being critical of someone that struggles with fear. No, God forbid. I'm trying to help us in the midst of this. And every one of us has been hit in one way or another by the power of fear. In the midst of fear...
In the midst of paralyzing fear, it's as if God doesn't even exist. He's not even there. His promises aren't real. Or if they're there, they're not for you. Whereas an attitude of faith acts, an attitude of faith as Smith Wigglesworth once said, fear looks, faith jumps.
So when you have an attitude of faith, you just feel, hey, everything's going to work out. Every, let's just, here, there's the fire alarm. Everybody's, we're going to get out. Everything's going to be fine. Thank God for a functioning fire alarm and for a good evacuation system.
And the attitude's different.
Now, again, I'm not talking about when we put our faith in God and he delivers us from the impossible. I'm just talking about attitude. Attitude.
So think back. to Jarius the synagogue ruler who comes to Jesus. in desperate need. His daughter is dying. His daughter is dying.
Jesus said, I'll go heal her. And then what happens along the way, he stops and the woman with the issue of blood is healed. And then people come and tell Jairus it's too late. She's dead. She's dead.
You know how those words hit. At that moment. faith seems to disappear. At that moment, the bottom drops out. At that moment, yeah.
It's the end. It's over. She's dead. Why do they have to stop? Why couldn't we have gotten him earlier?
If we'd only gotten him earlier, she'd be healed. And what does Jesus say? Don't fear. Only believe. and your daughter will live.
What? She's dead. It's not a matter of state of mind. I'm going to have a positive state of mind. No, no.
She's dead. It's over. Little girls who die don't come back from the dead. Yeah, that's what the world says. That's what science says.
That's what our minds say. But God, there is a faith reality. There is a faith reality. Yeah, most die and are not raised from the dead, but some are raised from the dead. And what was the key here?
Don't Fear. Fear is paralyzing, faith is liberating. Don't fear. Believe Only. And in that, putting his faith in the Messiah, the Son of God, his daughter, was raised from the dead.
Some faith principles for you. Faith is not fantasy. Faith is not denial. Faith is taking hold of the higher, more unchangeable reality. God's reality.
Faith is taking hold of the truth. before it is visible. or a parent. Can I say that again? Faith is not fantasy.
Think of Abraham putting his trust in God. Too late for him to have a child, too late for his wife to have a child, but he doesn't waver in unbelief. He gives glory to God. And what happens? He gets his miracle.
Faith It's not fantasy. Faith is not denial. Faith is taking hold of the higher more unchangeable reality, God's reality. Faith is taking hold of the truth before it is visible or apparent. Boy, I hope this is making sense to you.
I hope a light is going on as you hear this. Because a lot of people are flaky when it comes to faith, and they mistake their own uh hopeful optimism for faith. They expect their own unrealism to take the place of faith. They think they can just conjure up positive thoughts and that's faith. No, no, that's that's living in denial.
That's not recognizing what's really happening and just trying to put a smile on our faces. No, faith. It's not denial, it's not fantasy. It takes hold of the higher, more unchangeable reality. God's reality.
It says, okay. This the my circumstances tell me this. but someone greater than my circumstances tells me this. It's like this. It's like you're talking to someone in the bank.
trying to secure funds for an important endeavor. And the bank manager tells you, there's just no way this is going to be able to work. And then you get a text message from your uncle, who is the bank president, telling you, give it an hour. It'll all work out. The manager here just doesn't know yet.
It's not that you're in denial. It is that you are trusting in. higher reality and you are simply embracing the facts and embracing the truth before they become evident that's what faith is and it is rock solid one great way to build up faith is to read the word a lot and meditate on it and pray over it and speak the words out or memorize them it will change your way of thinking and you'll see that God's word is eternally true hey remember join our support team to become a torchbearer this week you get a free copy of breaking the stronghold of booth plus an exclusive teaching dvd video go to lineoffire.org and click down Getting to work. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown.
Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. You know, Jesus himself spoke of the day when men's hearts would be failing for fear of things that are coming on the earth. Where people would literally be dropping with heart attacks out of fear for what is coming on the earth.
And Jesus said, When you see these things happening, lift up your heads and rejoice because your redemption is drawing near. And even though we are not in those times yet, the fact is the same mentality applies, the same mindset applies: that while the world is in chaos and while the world is losing its mind, and when people are fainting from fear, we rejoice because we know that our God is King. We rejoice not in the pain and the suffering, but in the reality of who God is and that His kingdom will be established on the earth and His will will be done. And the more Satan rages, the more God will be glorified. Welcome, friends, to the line of fire.
This is Michael Brown, not talking about latest breaking news, not interacting with you, our dear listeners, by phone today, but rather opening up the scripture. And thinking through truths relative to faith versus fear. Let me share an instance with you. This was from June of 2002. All right.
June 11th of 2002. 11.13 in the evening. This is this was um what I noted in my journal, after a very rocky money-related meeting at our house. on June 11th, 2002. We were talking about finances for the ministry, finances for our ministry school, finances for the outreach work that we were doing, and it Everything was bad.
I mean, bad, bad, bad. Our personal finances, but it was bad. Capital B, capital A, capital D. One of those times where you think, there's no way out. Everything's going to have to shut down.
We're going to lose everything. And here's what I wrote to a close friend and colleague. We've been part of the interaction about finances. God has really been moving on me, us, today. and I can say with total confidence, and without any natural evidence at all, Breakthroughs are coming.
I have this in all caps. Finances are coming. Release is coming. I know it. All right?
So this was sent out after a really rocky meeting. Personal finances in. I won't get into details, won't blame people, but let's just say it was a rocky time and we were being threatened with losing everything due to someone's negligence and then the ministry was under incredible financial pressure. And if you ever lived through this, some of you are in it right now. Yikes.
It's not fun. It's not fun. And here's what I wrote. I have this in all caps. I can say with total confidence and without any natural evidence at all, breakthroughs are coming.
Finances are coming. Release is coming. I Know it. Then here's my journal entry for the next morning. Ha.
Huh. Yeah. The secretary calls with the news that there's mail from an old friend with a check for thirty thousand dollars. Ha Plus today, not yesterday. Our school also received $9,000 from some regular supporters.
Devil, you're coming down. What encouragement for the flock to see the beginning of the breakthroughs. And friends, for some of you, that's more money than you've ever seen in a single day. For others, like, hey, my business, we're like multiple millions of dollars behind. That's just the tip of the iceberg.
I understand. All I'm saying is, after a really rugged, bad meeting, when everything looked negative, negative, negative. And when fear is telling you it's over, it's over. You have no future. Your ministry has no future.
It's over. Your own personal finances are going to be messed up for life. It's over. The spirit of faith rose up in me and I made that proclamation. And look what happened the next day.
It was already in the mail when I spoke. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.
Thanks again for joining us on the line of fire. Had some great time with ministry. California, New Life Church in Oxstard. Sunday morning, three services, and then Monday night. By the way, if you are one of our torchbearers, I believe that I'm going to take one of those Sunday morning services, some of the strongest holiness preaching I've done in some time, really felt grace and anointing to do it.
And that will be your monthly message. Probably we'll send out next month. I'll tell you more about that in a little while. I'm not taking phone calls, not talking about breaking news or anything like that. Talking about faith versus fear.
Faith versus fear. Let me read you some notes that I took down some years ago on this topic. The. the differences between faith and fear. Fear looks, faith jumps.
That's what Smith Wigglesworth said, known as the Apostle of Faith, God in 1947. Fear looks, like, I don't know, I'm not sure, I don't think so. Faith jumps, God says jump, faith jumps. Fear paralyzes. Faith liberates.
You ever have a panic attack? Has that ever happened to you? You've ever had something where. whatever was going on, whatever triggered it. And suddenly you c you're not thinking clearly and you j you you're I'm sorry, I can't, I can't.
Come on, this is you gotta go up and bat now. I I can't, I can't. Come on, you gotta go up and speak. I can't. When you got that job interview, I can't.
I can't. It's if you ever been through it, it's terrible. Fear paralyzes, faith liberates. Hey, Everything. It's gonna be fine.
Just go and do it. Faith. liberates. Fear brings Death. Faith brings life.
Understand, I'm not just talking about the power of faith. Faith is tremendously powerful psychologically. I'm talking about faith in the living God, faith in the promises of God, faith in the word of God. Fear brings torment. Faith.
rings. Peace.
Some of you, riddled with fear, you can barely sleep at night. Oh no, my husband's gonna lose his job. Oh no, there's gonna be a terrorist attack where we live. Oh no, someone's gonna come after my kid. Oh no, I don't think that's just a bump on my shoulder.
I think that's a cancerous tumor and it's malignant, and I just know it. tormenting. tormenting. I I just know it. I know it.
The the economy's going to completely collapse just just when we're having about savings, we're going to lose all our savings. We're going to and and even even though it's a sunny day outside, Even though you're healthy. even though your personal finances are fine. Even though your family is well, you're tormented by fear. And it is a great battle right in our own mind.
Faith. brings peace. Isn't that what Paul wrote in Philippians 4, 6, and 7? Don't be anxious about anything. What?
He just tells me not to be anxious, and that's supposed to do it. I just flip a switch and I stop being anxious. Is that how it works?
Well that'd be sweet if that was the case, but no, there's more to it. Don't be anxious about anything. But in everything With prayer and petition, with thanksgiving. Make your request known to God, right?
So you tell them everything. God, I'm worried about this. I'm concerned about this. I'm burdened about this. This looks really bad.
This looks really negative. This looks really hopeless. I don't understand this. I don't have an answer for this. I don't know what I'm supposed to do tomorrow with this.
You share everything with them. Lord, I need help. Lord, family, we need help here. On and on and on and on, right? You.
Give everything to the Lord. Thanksgiving.
So you thank him for who he is? You thank him for his faithfulness in the past. You remind yourself of when he's come through. Because listen, friend, if all your fears were true, you wouldn't be here today. You wouldn't be listening to me.
If all your fears were true and realized, you would have been gone a long time ago.
So you give thanks to God for who he is. You give thanks to God for what he's done. You give thanks to God for faithful acts on your behalf in the past.
So with Thanksgiving.
So don't be anxious about anything. But in everything, with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, Make your request known to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all human understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Messiah Jesus. And get that picture. The peace of God.
Picture these sentinels around your head, around your mind. All right? And they are all sentinels of divine peace. And they stand there with their shields, and no negative thought can touch you. And because there's peace on the inside, the negative thoughts from the outside cannot touch you.
The peace of God, which transcends human understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Messiah Jesus. It's an amazing concept, isn't it? And here's what I find so glorious about this. I can't remember how many times I've done this in 45 years walking with the Lord. But there have been so many things where, you know, it's just a lot on my mind.
And, you know, the circumstances of life and circumstances of ministry, they can be very challenging. We all live in this world. We understand that. And sometimes I'll just tell God everything that's on my mind. Anything else?
Yeah, this, this, this, this. Oh, yeah, and this. Oh. and this and i i don't have answers for this i need guidance here i need direction here and on and on and on and on and on and on and then i'm done praying whether it's ten minutes or whether it's two hours and i get up with deep peace you say oh god uh spoke to you no i didn't hear anything oh um god showed you uh you got wisdom somehow as to what to do Yeah.
Something happened while you were praying, and you got an email that was an answer to prayer. No, nothing. I just put it in his hands and I have peace. I have peace. because everything's going to be all right.
Ultimately, no matter what we go through, no matter what happens, no matter what difficulties come our way, no matter what losses we suffer. It's all going to be alright in the end. It's all going to be all right. It's in God's hands. He's going to take care of it.
and I have peace. Do you have anybody in your family that's like that or a friend or coworker that is super reliable? And if you ask them to do something, hey, I got this project I need you to help me with, I got this thing I need you to do, could you take care of it for me? You got it, it's done, and you don't think about it anymore because they are so reliable. They're going to take care of it.
It's going to be done.
Well, how much more? The Lord, our God, our Heavenly Father, who loved us enough to send His Son to die for us when we were filthy, rebellious sinners. How much more? More. The Lord.
He's trustworthy. And that's why fear brings torment. But faith brings peace. Fear listens to the devil's lies. Faith.
listens to God's truth. When fear is irrational, Faith is rational. When fear is natural, Faith is supernatural. Fear looks at earthly circumstances and anticipates worst case scenarios. Faith Looks at God's promises.
and anticipates Ultimate Victories. Fear It's fundamentally a denial of the existence of the God of the Bible. Faith is founded on who he is and what he does. Faith is taking God as His Word. Faith is saying, I trust you.
Faith is not being moved by circumstances, feelings, or opinions. Faith is believing God and God alone. Faith gets out of the boat. Faith does not sink. And whereas the double-minded man receives nothing from the Lord, The one who lives by faith will see the blessings and will see the results.
And that since mountains only move And we believe. and do not doubt. And when we experience doubt, we cast ourselves on God. As the father of the boy with those seizures, and in Mark 9, the demonized boy said, I do believe, help my unbelief. We come back.
I want to look at a number of scriptures that put the emphasis on faith and the results of faith. But again, the power is not in our great faith, the power is in our great God, and we are trusting in Him. in our frailty and in our weakness. He is our strength. It's not a matter of us just becoming positive optimists.
It's a matter of us believing God. And when we believe God, nothing can conquer us, nothing can defeat us because we are overcomers in Him. We are more than conquerors. And in the midst of pain, suffering, Even death. Martyrdom, the triumph of God goes forth.
The victory of God goes forth. The grace of God goes forth. Friends, these are not empty words.
Some of you older in the Lord than me, older in years than me, you're saying everything this man's saying is true. And after 45 years of walking with the Lord, 40 years of marriage and ministry for, well, since 1973. I'm telling you, God is trustworthy. And in the history of the people of God through the centuries says God is trustworthy. If you've never put your faith in Him, that means I'm going to lean on, I'm not going to lean on anything else, I'm going to lean on Him.
He will not disappoint those who fully put their trust in him. All right, we'll be right back to talk more about faith versus Jesus. Oh, God of burning cleansing. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown.
Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Hey. When we talk about faith, isn't this where it all starts?
Isn't this where it all begins? Without faith, Hebrews 11, 6 says, it is impossible to please him. to please God, for the one who comes to God must believe that he is, that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. You say, you religious people are crazy. You're just believing in myths.
No, no. We are taking hold of a truth that sometimes is not perceptible to natural sciences. We're taking hold of truth that is beyond some of the things that we have learned or known in our natural ways. We're taking hold of ultimate truth because of an ultimate God who has spoken it and backs it. And when we do, we find that he is utterly reliable and trustworthy.
And that's why, as one of my old friends said many years ago, it's a funny thing. When I pray, coincidences happen. When I don't pray, they don't happen. Yeah, he was being a little facetious in saying that. We're not talking about working ourselves up.
We're not talking about creating some type of reality that's not there. We're talking about taking hold of absolute ultimate truth, truth in God and the God of truth. And I want to repeat something I've shared before. All right? I want to repeat something I've shared before.
Circumstances say one thing. God says another. But God. I believe you God.
So we see everything that's wrong. We see everything that's bad. That's what our circumstances tell us. God says that's not the end. There is more.
Faith is not fantasy. Faith is not denial. Faith is taking hold of the higher, more unchangeable reality, God's reality. Faith is taking hold of the truth before it is visible or apparent. Hebrews 11, 1 in the New Living Translation.
What is faith? It is the confidence assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.
So It is the prayer offered in faith, James, Jacob, chapter 5, that makes the sick person well. Yeah, the person is really sick, so sick that the elders have to come to them and they have to be raised up. But the prayer offered in faith makes them well. When the elders pray and put their trust in God, the impossible happens. That which transcends nature happens because it is faith in a real God.
What did Jesus ask the blind man? Or the blind man, we want to see. He said, Do you believe that I can heal you? Yes, we believe. That's all he's looking for.
Trust. To the distressed father of the demonized boy, Jesus said, all things are possible to him who believes. To the man whose daughter had just died, he said, fear not. Believe only, and she'll live. All generations call Mary Miriam, the mother of Jesus blessed, because she believed.
that what the Lord said to her would be accomplished. And what does Jesus say later to Miriam and Martha when Lazarus, their brothers, died? If you believe, you will see the glory of God. Everything in my heart in terms of God visiting America, everything in my heart in terms of God touching the lost sheep of the house of Israel, everything in my heart in terms of revival in the nations around the world, it's based on the promises of God. And after 45 years of serving him, I'd have to be an utter fool to deny his reality.
Too many things have happened. Too many impossible things have happened. Too many things have happened that he put in my heart years before and they happened just as he put them there. Too many things have happened where I've been directed to pray in a certain way for a certain person or circumstance only to find out that was the very thing that was happening at that moment that needed prayer. Too many things have happened that I've journaled that I was sure that God was speaking and sure enough, they come to pass.
And over and over it goes. Yeah, there are things that don't just fall into place. There are things where we scratch our head. But I want to say honestly, 45 years in the Lord, I have to scratch my head and force myself to think of, okay, when was there something that I knew that I knew that I knew? I knew that God was going to do it.
I was absolutely sure I could bank on it, count on it, and it didn't happen. I mean, literally, in 45 years, there's maybe one thing that would be in that category. Could I think of another? Maybe, but I don't think so. What does that mean?
Yeah, I've got a question mark about why a certain thing didn't happen that I expected to. But in the midst of it, I was challenged as to whether I truly knew it and truly believed it. But I can tell you, there are things, as sure as I know my name, I know that God's promised them, they're going to happen, and they happen. And when circumstances are against it, I just laugh at them. When everything in the world is against it, I just laugh at it because I know that God is faithful and God is true.
Now, please hear me. It doesn't mean if you're in a wheelchair. if you're sick. If you're bankrupt, if your family's falling apart, that you don't have faith. No, the very reason that you may be praising God in the midst of it is because you have faith.
The very reason that those circumstances don't dictate your evaluation of God is an indication that you are a person of faith. That you say, I'm going to trust Him to bring light out of darkness. I'm going to trust Him to bring life out of death. I'm going to trust Him to bring healing out of pain. I'm going to trust Him to bring redemption out of the chaos of what's happening.
And if you honor Him and follow Him and don't turn away, you'll see. You'll see that his faithfulness is as new as the morning and as steady as the rising sun. You'll find that he absolutely never Fails. You might be saying, Well, I live in Lapland, in Norway, or Finland, or whatever it is, and we have times of the year where it's dark all the time. Yeah, but that light comes back.
That light comes back. And that's the point that I'm making. There's evening and there's morning. It's ultimately eternal morning, eternal day that we will live in as the people of God.
So be encouraged. God is faithful God. is trustworthy. May I say it again? Be encouraged.
God is faithful. God. is trustworthy. And no one who puts his or her faith in the Lord will ultimately be disappointed. Hey, we are believing God.
Speaking of faith, everything we do in ministry is by faith. Being on the radio is by faith. We need your help to expand what we're doing. We need your help to reach more people because this is a joint effort. This is not Mike Brown ministries.
This is a joint effort where together we make a difference in touching many lives. And we're asking as many of you as possible, join our support team. It's an only... Logical thing to do if we've ministered to you in the spiritual, Paul says the principle, and then help back in the natural. This month, when you join our support team, become a torchbearer, putting aside a dollar or more a day.
So, $30 or more per month, some can put aside $50 or $100 or more, some $30. 30 a month is a real faith stretch. We trust God will meet you in the midst of it. We want to send you free as my thank you gift, our brand new book, Breaking the Stronghold of Food. It is getting rave reviews.
Nancy and I are thrilled beyond words with what we are seeing and hearing from our readers. We're also going to send you an exclusive DVD of video teaching I've done. It's done on YouTube, can't get it anywhere else, where I give you some principles, guidelines, 25-30 minutes of targeted teaching on this very subject. Our gift to you as you become a new torchbearer. Every month, we send you a new audio message.
We give you access to our online video and audio classes, and those that's worth more than years of giving right there. And we give you 15% discount in our online bookstore. Go to thelineoffire.org, click donate to join us. My bottom line today: I will believe God. There are many people who are paralyzed by fear.
It is the truth of faith in God that will set them free. Uh It's time for the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and President of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH.
That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. This is Michael Brown. Welcome to the line of fire.
Yeah, my voice just slightly hoarse from a lot of preaching in California. Over the weekend, Sunday, Monday, and today with my slightly hoarse voice and all, we're gonna get into the word together. One of those shows where I'm not going to catch you up on the latest political, cultural events, weigh in on things like that, weigh in on things happening around the world. One of those shows where we're not going to go to the phones and interact and get your take on different things. This is a day where we're going to look at the word and we're going to look at certain faith-related principles and truths about faith versus fear.
Look, fear is something we all have to deal with. either for rational reasons or irrational reasons. What I mean is if you knew that you were living somewhere And there was a massive tornado about to come through your region, and you had some fear over that. That would be a rational fear, because something is coming. If you were in a city that was about to get overrun by Muslim terrorists and they were going to be killing Christians, and you're a believer in that city, well, in the natural.
there'd be a rational reason for fear. Others are tormented by irrational fears, like today you know some asteroid's gonna fall on your apartment building or when when you get in the car that that the car is gonna explode or or the the moment you have an ache or pain that you must be dying of cancer. Either way, that fear can be paralyzing, whether it's rationally based or irrationally based. and either way, coming to a place of true faith and confidence in God. is the path of freedom and liberty.
And these days, so many of the tragic, calamitous things happening around the world are right there for us to see within moments on our cellphones, on our T V screens, on our PCs and tablets and things, and it's just there. And it's very easy to get more fearful because of what we see happening in the world. And then there's so much speculation about what could be coming next and some people are afraid, oh no, are we going to have some nuclear war or is there a whole world going to fall apart? And then some people do so much teaching about end time prophecy that you could get kinda nervous about that. I want to help you come to a place of confident security.
In the midst of the storm, I want to help you come to a place where, even when there is a rational reason for fear, Even when it looks really bad, we can have a confidence in God that gives us peace and strength. Think of Paul. There's a shipwreck. It looks like everybody is going to die. And leading up to that, just terrible storm, there's no hope.
They're sure they're going to die at sea. I can't imagine the terror of being in a boat and the boat is being whipped by the winds and the waves and and there's no sun shining and it's on for days and days and it's it's got to be overwhelming and that feeling of utter helplessness. But in the midst of that, and before the shipwreck, Paul stands up and says, Hey, you should have listened to me. I told you it's going to be a dangerous journey. Don't shouldn't have done it.
But. The angel of the Lord appeared to me last night. Nobody's going to die. Nobody is going to die. It's going to be just as God said.
And sure enough, That's what happened. God's word. represents God's truth. is backed by God's character. reflects his will.
and when we put our trust in him. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing can hurt us. You say, but Christians die and believers are persecuted and martyred.
I understand. I understand, and I'll explain further what I mean about nothing hurting us. All I'm saying is you are safe in the hands of God. And if it's your time to leave this world, you go straight from this world into His hands and the world to come. But knowing Him means there is no reason for you.
Riddle of people. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 TRUTH. Here again is Dr.
Michael Brown. Welcome back friends to the line of fire. This is Michael Brown. My great joy and privilege to be with you on these radio airwaves. Hey, I want to let you know how you can get a free copy of our new book, Breaking the Stronghold of Food.
First, let me say we are blown away by what readers are telling us. Just reading one note that someone posted on the Facebook page devoted to breaking the stronghold of food, the reader said, this is the best book I've ever read on the subject. My perspective is forever changed. Another saying, this was absolutely what they needed to get them on the right track and they're never looking back. I mean, one after another, thrilled and excited and saying the best thing they've read on this.
Here's how you can get a free copy plus an exclusive DVD that is available nowhere else. You can't see it on YouTube. It's never been released to the general public. It is just for you now. When you become a torchbearer, when you join our support team, if you're blessed by this radio broadcast, if you're blessed by the articles and videos we put out on a daily basis, if you're blessed by what we have produced and the stands we have taken, we need your help to expand.
You can help amplify my voice, and you'll be blessed. God will bless you for your generosity, and you'll get to share in the reward in the world to come with all the lives we touch, and you'll get to share right now every testimony we share. You'll be part of it. A torchbearer helps us with a dollar a day or more.
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Some of you are like, I got 10 extra dollars a day.
However, you can help us, at least a dollar a day or more. If you could do more, that's great. You'll join our Torch Bearer team, so it's $30 or more per month. We'll send you as a thank you gift. Breaking the Stronghold of Food, the book.
All right, I'll sign it for you. We'll send it to you. And you'll get a teaching DVD. It's about 25, 30 minutes long, where I get into some of the spiritual principles behind this so that you can break strongholds of food and live an overcoming life when it comes to diet and life transformation. We'll send you those as a gift when you become a torchbearer this month.
So go to the lineofire.org, click on donate. Every month, we'll also send you a new audio message. Every month, we'll also send you a letter with behind-the-scenes things happening and announcements before others will know and some great testimonies. Every month, you get free access to our online teaching classes. That's some on video, some on audio, and you always get 15% discount in the online bookstore.
So become a torchbearer today. Would you do that? Thank you from the bottom of my heart. And to all of our current torch bearers, you're doing a great job. Together, we're making a massive difference in America and around the world.
And speaking of around the world, all of you prayer warriors out there, I normally don't ask for prayer when I travel because I travel. a lot, almost all the time, and I'm broadcasting live from different parts of the country and different parts of the world. But next week, I am scheduled to be in Singapore for some of the most important meetings of my life. with national Christian leaders, with business leaders. with other key leaders And we know that there's going to be some spiritual resistance because of the importance of these meetings.
So if you could pray, I'll be doing some broadcasting from Singapore. We've got a couple of special guests that will be joining us for some days on radio as well. But if you could remember to pray, it's a lot of travel, of course, the going and coming. I'll be flying, let's see, into Chicago, I think, then from Chicago to Japan to Tokyo, which is maybe a 14-hour flight, and then a few hour layover there, and then another 7-8-hour flight to Singapore just to get there, and then 12-hour time difference when we're there.
So if you could really pray for the blessing of God, we'll give you updates from Singapore. I'm traveling all the time. I normally don't ask for prayer, but I believe this trip is going to be very, very significant. We're talking about faith versus fear. on the on the broadcast today.
Have you ever heard a message on the theme of but God? But Yeah. In other words, Things were going really bad. Everything was going from bad to worse. There seemed to be no way out.
It was utterly hopeless. But. God, right?
So there are lots of verses in the scripture that are but God. God versus. And as long as we know these truths, they are wonderfully liberating. And when we take hold of them in our heart and know that this is an ongoing reality, boy, it brings a sense of comfort. I have looked at things I have written, journaled, right before the but God part happened.
You know what I'm talking about? At the worst moment of the storm, I've journaled it. But I've had a sense of faith, but God is going to come through. And I've written it. And then I've looked back at the journal, and it may have been the very next morning, or it may have been a month later, or six months later, there was the deliverance.
Here. Ephesians 2 talks about our wretched state without God, a children of wrath by nature. doing the the will of the of the evil one, of the spirit. of this age. That's how it starts.
Ephesians 2, 1 through 3, verse 4. But God Who is rich in mercy out of the great love with which he loved us? What did he do? He lavished his grace on us, he saved us, he raised us up from the dead and seated us together in heavenly places in his son, Jesus. But.
God. You know, Acts 2, Peter's preaching about the crucifixion of Jesus and telling his fellow Jewish leaders, you gave him over to be crucified. And the Romans killed him, Acts 2:24. But God raised him up. Having freed him from death because it was impossible for him to be held in his power.
Psalm 73:26, my flesh and my heart fail, but. God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
So many of the Psalms, I'm surrounded by enemies. There's no way out but God. Psalm 64, 7, but God will shoot his arrow with them. They will be wounded suddenly. Psalm 68, 21, but God will shatter the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of those who walk in their guilty ways.
Here, look at this: Acts 7, verse 9. The patriarchs. Jealous of Joseph.
Sold them into Egypt. But God was with him. Genesis 48, 21. Then Israel, Jacob, said to Joseph, I am about to die. But God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your ancestors.
Three times in Acts we have, but God raised him on the third day, but God raised him from the dead. Yes, human beings crucified him, but God raised him up. From the dead. Here, Paul writing to the Philippians in Philippians 2:27, speaking of Epaphroditus, he was indeed so ill. that he nearly died, but God had mercy on him and not only on him, but on me also, so that I would not have one sorrow after another.
Sometimes the story is that the person did die. The sick person that we're praying for did die. The loved one did die. They didn't make it through the accident. They didn't make it through the cancer.
They didn't make it through the difficult situation. Maybe in a financial situation, the bankruptcy happened. The foreclosure happened. All these things happened. But God, that's what we have to understand.
Even after death. There is the but God. Even after calamity, there is the but God. Even in times of utter hopelessness, even when the chapter ends with darkness for the people of God, friends, I'm not just talking into the air. Many of you are nodding because you've lived this out, you've been there.
I wish. This was a day where we had 10 hours. And after I talked about these things for a half hour, an hour, I'd say, all right, call in with your testimonies, and we could hear. We could hear the story. Yeah, this happened, and this happened, and it was the worst time of our lives, and we saw no way out.
But. God. Yeah, our son was kidnapped and he was killed, and we thought that's the end of life. But God, you say, how can there be a but God? That's what only God can do.
That's what only God can do. We're not talking about living in denial. We're not talking about sticking our head in the sand and denying the storm and denying the pain. We're talking about a very real God. who draws near to us.
in these times and who carries us through. And this is the difference between faith and fear. Fear Focuses on what's happening, or focuses on the lies of the enemy, or the lies of our own mind, or the lies of the world, and it loses hope. It loses hope. It becomes discouraged, it sees no way out, and it begins to speak and act based on that.
We're all gonna die, it's all over. And it feels very real. At that moment. Faith says God is with us. God will turn this for good.
God will deliver. God will bring light out of darkness. Listen, the very center of our hope is the death and resurrection of the Son of God. And that means. that the very worst crime committed in the history of the human race.
The Crucifixion Of the Son of God, the desire of human beings to slaughter the Prince of life. and to snuff out the light of the world. That is the very thing that God used to save the world. I'm telling you, wherever your life is today, whatever you've gone through, whatever circumstances have happened, even if you're distant from God, if you'll truly turn to him, if you'll cry out, God can turn things around. He can turn hopeless things around.
There can be a but God for you. And you can have your own story like so many of us have our own stories. All right, more I want to get into today, with you today on a special day of teaching, faith versus fear. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution.
Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Two You know, both faith and fear are very, very powerful. powerful forces. I'm talking about the attitude.
I'm talking about the mindset. Obviously, the ultimate power of faith is that it is faith in God, faith in the living God, and all things are possible to him who believes. Not because we are super strong by believing, not because we become superstars by believing, but because we're putting our trust in a God who can do the impossible. But I'm just talking about the influence that faith and fear have in our lives, the effect that they have. One is paralyzing, one is liberating.
This is Michael Brown. You're listening to the line of fire. I just felt it would be helpful and helpful with all that swirls in the world around us to just take some time, not talk about the news, even breaking news at this moment, not to talk about it, not to take calls for conversation today, but just seek to edify you, build you up, strengthen you in the faith. Part of what we seek to do here on the line of fire, part of the unique nature, hopefully, of what we can bring to you on the line of fire. But let me say it again: fear.
is paralyzing. Faith. is liberating. They they are both real forces. They are both real power.
That have real effect on us. And sometimes fear is also linked together with demonic strongholds.
So there is satanic power, the lies that paralyze. And then the flip side, faith, because of the Holy Spirit working, has that additional liberation. But let me just give you a natural illustration. All right? A natural illustration.
You are in an apartment building. and you hear the alarm go off, the fire alarm, and next thing you hear people opening their doors and starting to exit the apartment building. But you suddenly become overwhelmed with fear. Oh no, oh no, we're going to die. Oh no, this is not just a drill.
Oh no, there's a real fire. Oh no, oh my God, what are we going to do? Oh, I look at the, oh, I can't jump out there. I can't get out on the balcony. Oh, if I open the door, there's probably a fire out there.
And you end up staying in the room and dying. That would be an example of fear paralyzing. You can't think straight, you can't think rationally, you can't make a logical decision because you are so paralyzed. Paralyzed. And it is also completely faith-stealing.
It is the opposite of faith. It's saying the worst is going to happen.
Something negative, something terrible is going to happen. And this is the way that fear can grip us. And in that moment of intense fear, and by the way, I'm not being critical of someone that struggles with fear. No, God forbid. I'm trying to help us in the midst of this.
And every one of us has been hit in one way or another by the power of fear. In the midst of fear, in the midst of paralyzing fear, it's as if God doesn't even exist. He's not even there. His promises aren't real. Or if they're there, they're not for you.
Whereas an attitude of faith. acts, an attitude of faith that as Smith Wigglesworth once said, fear looks, faith jumps.
So when you have an attitude of faith, you just feel, hey, everything's going to work out. Let's just, here, there's the fire alarm. Everybody's going to get, we're going to get out. Everything's going to be fine. Thank God for a functioning fire alarm and for a good evacuation system.
And the attitude is different.
Now, again, I'm not talking about when we put our faith in God and he delivers us from the impossible. I'm just talking about attitude. Attitude.
So think back. to Jarius the synagogue ruler who comes to Jesus. in desperate need. His daughter is dying. His daughter is dying.
Jesus said, I'll go heal her. And then what happens along the way, he stops and the woman with the issue of blood is healed. And then people come and tell Jairus it's too late. She's dead. She's dead.
You know how those words hit at that moment. faith seems to disappear. At that moment, the bottom drops out. At that moment, yeah. It's the end.
It's over. She's dead. Why do they have to stop? Why couldn't we have gotten them earlier? If we'd only gotten them earlier, she'd be healed.
And what does Jesus say? Don't fear. Only believe. and your daughter will live. What?
She's dead. It's not a matter of state of mind. I'm going to have a positive state of mind. No, no, she's dead. It's over.
Little girls who die don't come back from the dead. Yeah, that's what the world says. That's what science says. That's what our minds say. But God, there is a faith reality.
There is a faith reality. Yeah, most die and are not raised from the dead, but some are raised from the dead. And what was the key here? Don't Fear. Fear is paralyzing, faith is liberating.
Don't fear. Believe only. And in that, putting his faith in the Messiah, the Son of God, his daughter was raised from the dead.
Some faith principles for you. Faith is not fantasy. Faith is not denial. Faith is taking hold of the higher, more unchangeable reality. God's reality.
Faith is taking hold of the truth before it is visible. or apparent. Can I say that again? Faith is not fantasy. Think of Abraham putting his trust in God.
Too late for him to have a child, too late for his wife to have a child, but he doesn't waver in unbelief. He gives glory to God. And what happens? He gets his miracle. Faith It's not fantasy.
Faith is not denial. Faith is taking hold. of the higher more unchangeable reality. God's reality. Faith is taking hold of the truth before it is visible or apparent.
Boy, I hope this is making sense to you. I hope a light is going on as you hear this. Because a lot of people are flaky when it comes to faith, and they mistake their own... uh hopeful optimism for faith. They expect their own unrealism to take the place of faith.
They think they can just conjure up positive thoughts and that's faith. No, no, that's that's living in denial. That's not recognizing what's really happening and just trying to put a smile on our faces. No, faith. It's not denial, it's not fantasy.
It takes hold of the higher, more unchangeable reality. God's reality. It says, okay. This the my circumstances tell me this But someone greater than my circumstances tells me this. It's like this.
It's like you're talking to someone in the bank. trying to secure funds for an important endeavor. And the bank manager tells you, there's just no way this is going to be able to work. And then you get a text message from your uncle, who is the bank president, telling you, give it an hour. It'll all work out.
The manager here just doesn't know yet. It's not that you're in denial. It is that you are trusting in higher reality and you are simply embracing the facts and embracing the truth before they become evident that's what faith is and it is rock solid one great way to build up faith is to read the word a lot and meditate on it and pray over it and speak the words out or memorize them it will change your way of thinking and you'll see that God's word is eternally true hey Remember, join our support team to become a torch bearer this week. You get a free copy of Breaking the Stronghold with food plus an exclusive teaching DVD video. Go to lineofire.org and click on it.
It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.
You know, Jesus himself spoke of the day when men's hearts would be failing for fear of things that are coming on the earth. Where people would literally be dropping with heart attacks out of fear for what is coming on the earth. And Jesus said, When you see these things happening, lift up your heads and rejoice because your redemption is drawing near. And even though we are not in those times yet, the fact is the same mentality applies. The same mindset applies that while the world is in chaos and while the world is losing its mind and when people are fainting from fear, we rejoice because we know that our God is king.
We rejoice not in the pain and the suffering, but in the reality of who God is and that his kingdom will be established on the earth and his will will be done. And the more Satan rages, the more God will be glorified. Welcome, friends, to the line of fire. This is Michael Brown, not talking about latest breaking news, not interacting with you, our dear listeners, by phone today, but rather opening up the scriptures. and thinking through truths relative to faith versus fear.
Let me let me share an instance with you. This was from June of 2002. June 11th of 2002. 11.13 in the evening. This is this was um What I noted in my journal, after a very rocky, money-related meeting at our house, on June 11th, 2002.
We were talking about finances for the ministry, finances for our ministry school. uh finances for the outreach work that we were doing and it Everything was bad. I mean, bad, bad, bad. Our personal finances, it was bad. Capital B, capital A, capital D.
One of those times where you think, there's no way out. Everything's going to have to shut down. We're going to lose everything. And here's what I wrote to a close friend and colleague. who've been part of the interaction about finances.
God has really been moving on me, us, today. And I can say with total confidence and without any natural evidence at all. Breakthroughs are coming. I have this in all caps. Finances are coming.
Release is coming. I know it. All right? So this was sent out after a really rocky meeting. Personal finances in...
I won't get into details, won't blame people, but let's just say it was a rocky time and we were being threatened with losing everything due to someone's negligence and then the ministry was under incredible financial pressure. And if you ever lived through this, some of you are in it right now. Yikes. It's not fun. It's not fun.
And here's what I wrote. I have this in all caps. I can say with total confidence and without any natural evidence at all, breakthroughs are coming. Finances are coming. Release is coming.
I know. Know it. Then here's my journal entry for the next morning. Ha. Ha.
Yeah. The secretary calls with the news that there's mail from an old friend with a check for $30,000. Ha! Plus today, not yesterday. Our school also received $9,000 from some regular supporters.
Devil, you're coming down. What encouragement for the flock to see the beginning of the breakthroughs. And friends, for some of you, that's more money than you've ever seen in a single day. For others, like, hey, my business, we're like multiple millions of dollars behind. That's just the tip of the iceberg.
I understand. All I'm saying is, after a really rugged, bad meeting, when everything looked negative, negative, negative. And when fear is telling you it's over, it's over. You have no future. Your ministry has no future.
It's over. Your own personal finances are going to be messed up for life. It's over. The spirit of faith rose up in me and I made that proclamation. And look what happened the next day.
It was already in the mail when I spoke. Angel World. Give us strict to always do what's right. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution.
Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks again for joining us on the line of fire. Had some great time with ministry. California, New Life Church in Oxnard.
Sunday morning, three services, and then Monday night. By the way, if you are one of our torchbearers, I believe that I'm going to take one of those Sunday morning services, some of the strongest holiness preaching I've done in some time, really felt grace and anointing to do it. And that will be your monthly message probably sent out next month. I'll tell you more about that in a little while. I'm not taking phone calls, not talking about breaking news or anything like that.
Talking about faith versus fear. Faith. Versus fear. Let me read you some notes that I took down some years ago on this topic. the differences between faith and fear.
Fear looks, faith jumps. That's what Smith Wigglesworth said, known as the Apostle of Faith, got in 1947. Fear looks, I don't know, I'm not sure, I don't think so. Faith jumps, God says jump, faith jumps. Fear paralyzes.
Faith. Liberates. You ever have a panic attack? Has that ever happened to you? You've ever had something where Whatever was going on, whatever triggered it, and suddenly you're not thinking clearly, and you j you you're I'm sorry, I can't, I can't.
Come on, this is you gotta go up and bat now. I can't, I can't. Come on, you gotta go up and speak. I can't. Well, you got that job interview.
I can't. I can't. It's if you've ever been through it, it's terrible. Fear paralyzes. Faith liberates.
Hey. Everything. It's gonna be fine. Just go and do it. Faith liberates.
Fear brings Death. Faith brings life. Understand, I'm not just talking about the power of faith. Faith is tremendously powerful psychologically. I'm talking about faith in the living God, faith in the promises of God, faith in the word of God.
Fear brings torment. Faith rings. Peace.
Some of you, riddled with fear, you can barely sleep at night. Oh no, my husband's going to lose his job. Oh no, there's going to be a terrorist attack where we live. Oh no, someone's going to come after my kid. Oh no, I don't think that's just a bump on my shoulder.
I think that's a cancerous tumor and it's malignant, and I just know it. tormenting. tormenting. I I just know it. I know it.
The the economy's going to completely collapse just just when we're having about savings. We're going to lose all our savings. We're going to and and even even though it's a sunny day outside, Even though you're healthy. even though your personal finances are fine. even though your family is well, you're tormented by fear.
And it is a great battle right in our own mind. Faith. brings peace. Isn't that what Paul wrote in Philippians 4, 6 and 7? Don't be anxious about anything.
What? He just tells me not to be anxious, and that's supposed to do it. I just flip a switch and I stop being anxious. Is that how it works?
Well that'd be sweet if that was the case, but no, there's more to it. Don't be anxious about anything. But in everything With prayer and petition, the with thanksgiving. Make your request known to God, right?
So you tell them everything. God, I'm worried about this. I'm concerned about this. I'm burdened about this. This looks really bad.
This looks really negative. Lix looks really hopeless. I don't understand this. I don't have an answer for this. I don't know what I'm supposed to do tomorrow with this.
You share everything with them. Lord, I need help. Lord, family, we need help here. On and on and on and on, right? You give everything to the Lord with.
Thanksgiving.
So you thank him for who he is. You thank him for his faithfulness in the past. You remind yourself of when he's come through. Because listen, friend, if all your fears were true, you wouldn't be here today. You wouldn't be listening to him.
If all your fears were true and realized, you would have been gone a long time ago.
So you give thanks to God for who he is. You give thanks to God for what he's done. You give thanks to God for faithful acts on your behalf in the past.
So with Thanksgiving.
So don't be anxious about anything. But in everything, with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, Make your request known to God. And The peace of God, which transcends all human understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Messiah Jesus. And get that picture. The peace of God.
Picture these sentinels around your head, around your mind. And they are all sentinels of divine peace. And they stand there with their shields. And no negative thought can touch you. And because there is peace on the inside, the negative thoughts from the outside cannot touch you.
The peace of God, which transcends human understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Messiah Jesus. It's an amazing concept, isn't it? And here's what I find so glorious about this. I can't remember how many times I've done this in 45 years walking with the Lord. But there have been so many things where, you know, it's just a lot on my mind.
And, you know, the circumstances of life and circumstances of ministry, they can be very challenging. We all live in this world. We understand that. And sometimes I'll just tell God everything that's on my mind. Yeah, anything else?
Yeah, this, this, this, this. Oh, yeah, and this. Oh. and this and I don't have answers for this. I need guidance here.
I need direction here. And on and on and on and on and on and on. And then I'm done praying, whether it's 10 minutes or whether it's two hours. And I get up with deep peace. You say, oh, God spoke to you?
No, I didn't hear anything. Oh, God showed you. You got wisdom somehow as to what to do. Yeah. Something happened while you were praying, and you got an email that was an answer to prayer.
No, nothing. I just put it in his hands and I have peace. I have peace. because everything's going to be all right. Ultimately, no matter what we go through, no matter what happens, no matter what difficulties come our way, no matter what losses we suffer.
It's all going to be all right in the end. It's all going to be all right. It's in God's hands. He's going to take care of it. and I have peace.
Do you have anybody in your family that's like that or a friend or coworker that is super reliable? And if you ask them to do something, hey, I got this project I need you to help me with, I got this thing I need you to do, could you take care of it for me? You got it, it's done, and you don't think about it anymore because they are so reliable, they're gonna take care of it, and it's gonna be done.
Well, how much more? The Lord, our God, our Heavenly Father, who loved us enough to send His Son to die for us when we were filthy, rebellious sinners. How much more? More. The Lord.
He's trustworthy. And that's why fear brings torment. But faith brings Peace. Fear listens to the devil's lies. Faith.
listens to God's truth. When fear is irrational, Faith is rational. When fear is natural, Faith. is supernatural. Fear looks at earthly circumstances and anticipates worst case scenarios.
Faith Looks at God's promises. and anticipates Ultimate Victories. Fear It's fundamentally a denial of the existence of the God of the Bible. Faith is founded on who he is and what he does. Faith is taking God as His Word.
Faith is saying, I trust you. Faith is not being moved by circumstances, feelings, or opinions. Faith is believing God and God alone. Faith gets out of the boat. Faith does not sink.
And whereas The double-minded man receives nothing from the Lord. The one who lives by faith will see the blessings and will see the results. And that since mountains only move And we believe. and do not doubt. And when we experience doubt, we cast ourselves on God.
As the father of the boy with those seizures, and in Mark 9, the demonized boy said, I do believe, help my unbelief. We come back. I want to look at a number of scriptures that put the emphasis on faith and the results of faith. But again, the power is not in our great faith, the power is in our great God, and we are trusting in Him. in our frailty and in our weakness.
He is our strength. It's not a matter of us just becoming positive optimists. It's a matter of us believing God. And when we believe God, nothing can conquer us, nothing can defeat us because we are overcomers in Him. We are more than conquerors.
And in the midst of pain, suffering, Even death. Martyrdom, the triumph of God goes forth. The victory of God goes forth. The grace of God goes forth. Friends, these are not empty words.
Some of you older in the Lord than me, older in years than me, you're saying. Everything this man's saying is true. And after 45 years of walking with the Lord, 40 years of marriage and ministry for, well, since 1973. I'm telling you, God is trustworthy. And the history of the people of God through the centuries says God is trustworthy.
If you've never put your faith in Him, that means I'm going to lean on, I'm not going to lean on anything else, I'm going to lean on Him. Yeah. He will not disappoint those who fully put their trust in him. All right, we'll be right back to talk more about faith versus Jesus. God of burning, cleansing.
It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.
Hey. When we talk about faith, isn't this where it all starts? Isn't this where it all begins? Without faith, Hebrews 11, 6 says, it is impossible to please him. To please God, for the one who comes to God must believe that he is, that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
You say, you religious people are crazy. You're just believing in myths. No, no. We are taking hold of a truth that sometimes is not perceptible. to natural sciences.
We're taking hold of truth that is beyond some of the things that we have learned or known in our natural ways. We're taking hold of ultimate truth because of an ultimate God who has spoken it and backs it. And when we do, we find that he is utterly reliable and trustworthy. And that's why, as one of my old friends said many years ago, it's a funny thing. When I pray, coincidences happen.
When I don't pray, they don't happen. Yeah, he was being a little facetious in saying that. We're not talking about working ourselves up. We're not talking about creating some type of reality that's not there. We're talking about taking hold of absolute ultimate truth, truth in God and the God of truth.
And I want to repeat something I've shared before. All right? I want to repeat something I've shared before. Circumstances say one thing. God says another.
But God. I believe you. God. So we see everything that's wrong. We see everything that's bad.
That's what our circumstances tell us. God says that's not the end. There is more. Faith is not fantasy. Faith is not denial.
Faith is taking hold of the higher, more unchangeable reality, God's reality. Faith is taking hold of the truth before it is visible or apparent. Hebrews 11, 1 in the New Living Translation. What is faith? It is the confidence assurance that what we hope for is going to happen.
It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.
It is the prayer offered in faith, James, Jacob, chapter 5, that makes the sick person well. Yeah, the person is really sick, so sick that the elders have to come to them and they have to be raised up. But the prayer offered in faith makes them well. When the elders pray and put their trust in God, the impossible happens. That which transcends nature happens because it is faith in a real God.
What did Jesus ask the blind man? Or the blind man, we want to see. He said, Do you believe that I can heal you? Yes, we believe. That's all he's looking for.
Trust. To the distressed father of the demonized boy, Jesus said, all things are possible to him who believes. To the man whose daughter had just died, he said, fear not. Believe only, and she'll live. All generations call Mary Miriam, the mother of Jesus, blessed, because she believed.
that what the Lord said to her would be accomplished. And what does Jesus say later to Miriam and Martha when Lazarus, their brothers, died? If you believe, you will see the glory of God. Everything in my heart in terms of God visiting America, everything in my heart in terms of God touching the lost sheep of the house of Israel, everything in my heart in terms of revival in the nations around the world, it's based on the promises of God. And after 45 years of serving him, I'd have to be an utter fool to deny his reality.
Too many things have happened. Too many impossible things have happened. Too many things have happened that he put in my heart years before and they happened just as he put them there. Too many things have happened where I've been directed to pray in a certain way for a certain person or circumstance only to find out that was the very thing that was happening at that moment that needed prayer. Too many things have happened that I've journaled that I was sure that God was speaking and sure enough, they come to pass.
And over and over it goes. Yeah, there are things that don't just fall into place. There are things where we scratch our head. But I want to say honestly, 45 years in the Lord, I have to scratch my head and force myself to think of, okay, when was there something that I knew that I knew that I knew? I knew that God was going to do.
I was absolutely sure I could bank on it, count on it, and it didn't happen. I mean, literally, in 45 years, there's maybe one thing that would be in that category. Could I think of another? Maybe, but I don't think so. What does that mean?
Yeah, I've got a question mark about why a certain thing didn't happen that I expected to. But in the midst of it, I was challenged as to whether I truly knew it and truly believed it. But I can tell you, there are things, as sure as I know my name, I know that God's promised them, they're going to happen, and they happen. And when circumstances are against it, I just laugh at them. When everything in the world is against it, I just laugh at it because I know that God is faithful and God is true.
Now, please hear me. It doesn't mean if you're in a wheelchair. If you're sick. if you're bankrupt. If your family's falling apart, that you don't have faith.
No, the very reason that you may be praising God in the midst of it is because you have faith. The very reason that those circumstances don't dictate your evaluation of God is an indication that you are a person of faith. That you say, I'm going to trust Him to bring light out of darkness. I'm going to trust Him to bring life out of death. I'm going to trust Him to bring healing out of pain.
I'm going to trust Him to bring redemption out of the chaos of what's happening. And if you honor Him and follow Him and don't turn away, you'll see. You'll see that his faithfulness is as new as the morning and as steady as the rising sun. You'll find that he absolutely never Fails. You might be saying, Well, I live in Lapland, in Norway, or Finland, or whatever it is, and we have times of the year where it's dark all the time.
Yeah, but that light comes back. That light comes back. And that's the point that I'm making. There is evening and there's morning. It's ultimately eternal morning, eternal day that we will live in as the people of God.
So be encouraged. God. is faithful God is trustworthy. May I say it again? Be encouraged.
God is faithful. God. is trustworthy. And no one who who puts his or her faith in the Lord will ultimately be disappointed. Hey, we are believing God.
Speaking of faith, everything we do in ministry is by faith. Being on the radio is by faith. We need your help to expand what we're doing. We need your help to reach more people because this is a joint effort. This is not Mike Brown ministries.
This is a joint effort where together we make a difference in touching many lives. And we're asking as many of you as possible, join our support team. It's an only logical thing to do if we've ministered to you in the spiritual, Paul says the principle, and then help back in the natural. This month, when you join our support team, become a torchbearer, putting aside a dollar or more a day.
So $30 or more per month.
Some can put aside $50 or $100 or more. 30 a month is a real faith stretch. We trust God will meet you in the midst of it. We want to send you free as my thank you gift, our brand new book, Breaking the Stronghold of Food. It is getting rave reviews.
Nancy and I are thrilled beyond words with what we are seeing and hearing from our readers. We're also going to send you an exclusive DVD of video teaching I've done. It's done on YouTube. You can't get it anywhere else. Where I give you some principles, guidelines, 25-30 minutes of targeted teaching on this very subject.
Our gift to you as you become a new torchbearer. Every month, we send you a new audio message. We give you access to our online video and audio classes, and those that's worth more than years of giving right there. And we give you a 15% discount in our online bookstore. Go to thelineoffire.org, click donate to join us.
My bottom line today: I will believe God.
