For we live by faith, not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7
During 2026, Peachtree Church is inviting everyone into Cultivate, a churchwide discipleship plan centered on the fruit of the Spirit and the kind of life God longs to grow in us. Throughout the year, we’ll explore how love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control take shape in everyday life through the Spirit’s work. Cultivate brings together worship, Scripture, group guides, and meaningful practices designed to meet you where you are and support growth in ways that fit your season. These twice-weekly devotionals are one way to stay connected, offering reflection and grounding for daily life with God. Whether you engage in many ways or just one, you’re invited to be part of this shared journey of becoming more rooted in who God has created and called you to be.
Devotional
When my brother was in sixth grade, he was part of a Boy Scout Troop that built a climbing wall and a rappelling tower on the church campus where they were based. One night each week, the tower was open for use by the scouts and their families. The first time I strapped on a climbing harness and went up the ladder to the lowest part of the rappelling area, I was scared out of my mind. I didn’t trust that the ropes were secured appropriately and was convinced that when I leaned back off the wall, I would fall the twenty feet, not to my death but to a broken arm or leg.
It took time for me to learn to have faith, not only in the physical safety features of the repelling tower, but in my own ability not to be afraid, and I am now at the point where I want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane with nothing but a parachute attached. In the places in our lives where we are afraid, we overcome our fears with faith in God’s presence, which will carry us through.
Earlier in the week, we read a passage from Numbers where Moses sent a group of scouts into the Promised Land to explore the area prior to the Israelites’ return. The explorers are overcome with fear at the size of the land’s inhabitants (and their response to that fear is at least part of the reason the Exodus took as long as it did). When the Israelites finally enter the land of Canaan, they sweep through these enemies, not because anything has changed in their ability, but only because they put their trust and faith in God’s guidance.
In the moments where we are afraid, we are called to have faith in God. For most of us, the move from fear to faith is a gradual one. It takes time to move our eyes away from the sources of our fears and rest them on the Lord. That particular reality of it taking time can be one of the hardest aspects of this shift (remember it took forty years of wandering in the desert before the Israelites could face the descendants of Anak who had so frightened them).
For Reflection
- What helps you to keep your eyes upon God in times when you are afraid?
- How can you look towards your community for support in these times?
Prayer
Lord God, we want to keep our eyes on you, to live by faith rather than to allow fear to pull us away from you. Build our faith and help us to be patient in the times when we must wait to see our fears replaced with our reliance upon your presence. In Jesus’ name we pray; amen.
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Devotionals