Power In The Word

The summer of 1973, my family was living in West Boylston, Massachusetts, and my parents were the directors of Camp Woodhaven.

In July, on a steamy summer day, they loaded us children into a 1964 Ford Econoline van and drove us three miles to Lake Waushacum to go swimming. Coming home, there were a dozen of us kids sitting on the floor riding in the hot van with all of the windows open. A red Cadillac ambulance with a white roof and red flashing lights with the siren wailing came racing east on Route 110 in the opposite direction of us driving home. As the ambulance passed by, I yelled out sarcastically to my older cousin Jackie Doherty, “Somebody just kicked the bucket!” She scolded me: “Georgie, you shouldn’t talk that way.” When we got home we found out that my 80-year-old great-grandfather, Angelo DiPietro, who lived in a farmhouse behind our home, had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. By evening, the news came that he had passed away. He had lived alone. That night, the old farmhouse was dark. It was a long time before anyone ever lived in that house again. After the funeral, I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and I thought I saw my great-grandfather in the dark hallway. But it was just my imagination. I screamed and woke up my father. He came running. “George, what̓s wrong?” he asked.When I told him what happened, I started to cry. He taught me a Scripture from 1 John 4:4, “Greater is He that is within you than he that is in the world.” My father made me repeat it three times. “Say it again; louder, he demanded. Ok, now go back to bed. Whenever you̓re afraid you quote that Bible verse.” “Greater is He that is within me than he that is in the world.”

That experience stuck with me as a boy. Throughout my life, a thousand times I have shouted out that Scripture whenever I was struck with fear.Our fears are destroyed by the Word of God. In our greatest moment of fear, when we don̓t have a plan and don̓t know what to do, we can declare the Word of God. We can put all of our faith in Him. And in that moment we can take a leap of faith. We don’t always know what to do, but we do always know what we should think. Your fear can be a catalyst to faith. “There were twelve spies that were sent to spy out the land of Canaan. Ten of them said, ̔There are giants in the land. We are like grasshoppers in their sight.̓ But Joshua and Caleb saw the land as an inheritance flowing with milk and honey.” (Numbers 13) Instead of thinking what you can do, imagine what God can do. The Word of God is filled with the promises that are our inheritance as believers. And in that moment think on God̓s Word and His promises. Declare His word as an act of faith. Our feelings are real—but not always true. God put fear in the bunny rabbit to run away when he senses danger. He put the fear in us to have faith in Him. Your greatest act of faith could come when you are experiencing the greatest emotion of fear. ~George DeTellis, Jr.