After a wonderful dinner at a local downtown restaurant, King and I carried our conversation to the car as he drove me home. Just as he was turning into my development, his phone rang and since it was from a number that he recognized, he answered the call.

The caller stated that they were calling from his bank (and gave the bank’s name) and alerted him that there was a pending $2,009 wire transfer that was initiated by someone and the bank just wanted to confirm if it was fraud or not. Having just seen the movie The Beekeeper, my spidey senses were on high alert and with each passing second, I doubted the validity of this call more and more. Although the caller had some information, they did not know that King did not trust them and was not falling for their scheme.

Ultimately, King hung up on the person and contacted his bank to inform them of the almost-fraudulent situation. The bank asked some questions for their records and applauded King for not divulging personal information to the spoof caller. When he got off of that call, I asked King to change every password but he was already a step ahead of me the entire time. King, in all of his wisdom, recognized that the spoofer would not succeed in their malicious attempt at fraud.

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False Evidence Appearing Real

Beloved, sometimes that’s all that we ever see in life- falsified information presented in such a beautifully packaged way that it causes us to believe it as truth.

• We see news stories and fear what could happen to us in certain areas of the world.
• We have health scares that cause us to perseverate on things we cannot control.
• We let one piece of information dictate how we will operate our entire life.

Much like the call that King received yesterday, some information presented to us may be true or based on truth, but it is often wrapped up and bundled with falsehoods that negate any truth that may have existed in the first place. There’s “evidence” and it appears real… but it’s not and when we are presented with this “evidence”, we must stand firm in the truth that we know in our hearts to be able to combat the false narrative that is before us.

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F.E.A.R. is a subject that I discuss often on this platform. I don’t know if I’m a glutton for punishment, or if I’m saying it so much so that I can finally believe it in my whole heart for myself. Whatever the cause may be, F.E.A.R. is such a big part of me and my life and that is NOT how God intended for me to live. It’s not how God intended for any of us to live.

Two weeks ago I talked about Anxiety and how it wreaks havoc on my life. Today I am still in awe of how much power I give to the things that I cannot control. Yet as I type this, God is sweetly revealing what the issue is- I am releasing what is within me.

• F.E.A.R., not faith, is within me and that is what is coming out in pressing moments.
• F.E.A.R., not faith, is what I have chosen to carry in my heart despite all evidence of God’s presence in my life.
• F.E.A.R., not faith, leads my life when God told me to simply have faith.

So how do we move in faith instead of F.E.A.R.?
We have to do as scripture tells us in Romans 10:17.
And trust me, I know that it easier said than done to just let go of everything and trust God but look at this way:

Whoever spoofed King was a professional, methodically trained to access the fear of others to provoke them to make ill-conceived changes that will negatively impact their entire life. They don’t have to know much, but they have to be able to sense the fear in others, and prey on their vulnerabilities. Yet King did know the truth and he held onto the truth on the inside, not allowing someone else to shake his core beliefs. He had and exercised FAITH. It was within him all along and in that pressing moment, it exuded out of him with strength and confidence.

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Sweet friend, let us all be so filled with God’s truth, His love, and His Holy Spirit, that we do not succumb to the False Evidence Appearing Real around us.

Be blessed.