Conquering the Fear That Enslaves the Heart | A Practical Treatise of Fear | Ch Seven | John Flavel

Looking for today’s Morning and Evening and Faith's Checkbook devotionals by Charles Spurgeon? Visit the complete Morning and Evening and Faith's Checkbook playlists, organized by calendar day, and listen to the readings for today. Click the links below:    • Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon      • Faith's Check Book by Charles Spurgeon   Chapter Seven of John Flavel’s A Practical Treatise of Fear brings the book to its conclusion by answering the anxious objections that rise within the heart when Christians imagine future suffering. Fear always seems to have another question ready: “But what if I am too weak? What if I have failed before? What if the trial lasts too long? What if God seems distant? What if the suffering becomes more than I can bear?” Flavel describes this almost as an inward debate between faith and fear, with fear producing an endless succession of “buts” and “what ifs.” His purpose is not to pretend these concerns are insignificant, but to show why none of them gives us sufficient reason to distrust God. One of the chapter’s most encouraging lessons is that our weakness today does not determine the strength God may give us tomorrow. A Christian may look back upon failures in smaller trials and wonder how he could possibly endure a greater one. Flavel answers with Jeremiah’s striking question: if we have been wearied by running with footmen, how shall we contend with horses? Yet the answer is not greater confidence in ourselves. Abraham, David, and Peter all displayed remarkable courage at some times and surprising weakness at others. Our ability to stand depends upon the grace God supplies. Past weakness should therefore teach us not that future failure is inevitable, but that we must stop depending upon ourselves and look to God for the strength the coming trial will require. Flavel also addresses the fear of a long-lasting trial. We may look at the small amount of patience and courage we presently possess and conclude that it could never sustain us through months or years of difficulty. But God does not require us to possess today all the grace we will need tomorrow. Like the widow’s jar of oil that continued until the need was met, God can make what appears to be a very small supply of patience continue for as long as He requires it. He can give strength suited to the severity of the trial and endurance suited to its duration. God’s power is not exhausted when ours is. Indeed, our weakness may become the very occasion in which His strength is most clearly displayed. The chapter—and the book—ends by confronting our darkest imagined possibilities. We look at suffering from the outside and see only pain, danger, and loss. What we cannot yet see is what God may place inside the trial: strength, comfort, peace, sustaining grace, and His presence when they are actually needed. The Christians who endured before us were not made of stone. They valued life, felt pain, and often knew fear just as we do. Yet God carried them through. Flavel therefore closes by calling us to stop tormenting ourselves with imagined troubles that have not yet arrived and to entrust the unknown future to God. The more we learn to live by faith, the less power fear has to enslave the heart. #JohnFlavel #PracticalTreatiseOfFear #SinfulFear #FearOfGod #FaithOverFear #OvercomingFear #TrustingGod #ChristianCourage #GodsGrace #GodsProvidence #Puritan #PuritanTheology #ChristianAudiobook #ChristianClassics ➤ Explore more sermons from Charles Spurgeon:    • The Writings of Charles Haddon Spurgeon      • Spurgeon Sermons From James: Faith That Works      • From Palm Sunday to Easter: Holy Week Mess...   ➤ Subscribe to Immeasurable Grace for more Christ-centered preaching: https://tinyurl.com/ImmeasurableGrace 📌 For a full outline and reflection guide, see the pinned comment below. 📺 All sermons are curated for spiritual reflection, theological depth, and the exaltation of Christ. #CharlesSpurgeon #SpurgeonSermons #PrinceOfPreachers #ChristianSermons #ReformedTheology #GospelPreaching #BiblicalTruth #FaithComesByHearing #ChristExalted #ImmeasurableGrace