{"id":48738,"date":"2025-08-17T08:59:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T12:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/?p=48738"},"modified":"2025-08-11T15:14:43","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T19:14:43","slug":"faith-over-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/faith-over-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"FAITH OVER FEAR"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"318\" height=\"413\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Pastor-Richardson-run-w-column.jpg?resize=318%2C413&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43850\" style=\"width:250px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Pastor-Richardson-run-w-column.jpg?w=318&amp;ssl=1 318w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Pastor-Richardson-run-w-column.jpg?resize=260%2C338&amp;ssl=1 260w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Pastor-Richardson-run-w-column.jpg?resize=160%2C208&amp;ssl=1 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 318px) 100vw, 318px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">In today&#8217;s world, fear has become a dominant emotion affecting humanity. Through my limited experience in pastoral counseling, I have found that fear often serves as the root cause of many issues faced by parishioners. Although it can be challenging to recognize, fear is a leading cause of spiritual decline. Moreover, fear is the catalyst of sin, and we know that full-blown sin leads to death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">&nbsp;Here is a list of fears that will stunt your spiritual growth or even destroy your spiritual walk with Christ;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">&nbsp;1. Fear of letting go of the old you(the past)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">&nbsp;2. Fear of change (the new)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">&nbsp;3. Fear of letting go (trusting God)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Becoming a new creation in Christ involves more than just being baptized or joining a church; it requires us, according to the spiritual law of Christ, to be made whole. To put on the new self.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">**Ephesians 4:22-24 (NIV):**&nbsp; You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"318\" height=\"780\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-11-at-3.12.15-PM.jpg?fit=318%2C780&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-48739\" style=\"width:250px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-11-at-3.12.15-PM.jpg?w=318&amp;ssl=1 318w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-11-at-3.12.15-PM.jpg?resize=260%2C638&amp;ssl=1 260w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-11-at-3.12.15-PM.jpg?resize=160%2C392&amp;ssl=1 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 318px) 100vw, 318px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Being made whole can consist of a daily spiritual routine. Here is a list of some healthy routines that will destroy fear and increase your faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">&nbsp;1. Reading the word of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">&nbsp;2. Meditation on that word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">&nbsp;3. Prayer. Ask God to help you understand His word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">In addition to this, there is one more essential component: putting it into practice. The more you apply it in your daily life, the less fear you encounter each day.&nbsp; Romans 10:17 (NIV) states, &#8220;Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.&#8221; This verse emphasizes the importance of engaging with the Scriptures to build and strengthen one&#8217;s faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Hebrews 11:1 (NIV): &#8220;Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">In other words, believing that God&#8217;s word will do what He says it will do.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">YOU MUST BELIEVE! BELIEF DESTROYS FEAR!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Hebrews 11:6 (NIV): \u201cAnd without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Faith destroys fear every time!&nbsp; When faith comes,&nbsp; fear has to flee!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Peace and Love,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><em>\u2014Pastor Dwayne<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In today&#8217;s world, fear has become a dominant emotion affecting humanity. Through my limited experience in pastoral counseling, I have<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":43850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,25],"tags":[26615,26416,9363,22700,26614],"class_list":["post-48738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-churches","category-columns","tag-faith-over-fear","tag-house-of-love-outreach-ministries","tag-pastor-dwayne-richardson","tag-peace-and-love","tag-predest-richardson"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Pastor-Richardson-run-w-column.jpg?fit=318%2C413&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YQd9-cG6","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 06:09:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48738"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48740,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48738\/revisions\/48740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}