First described by American physiologist Walter Bradford Cannon, the fight-or-flight response is an organism’s response to a perceived threat, attack or harmful situation. When faced with such a threat, the body produces adrenaline and other chemicals that help it move and think more rapidly as well as helping it make the determination to stay and put up a fight or to flee to safety.
The fight-or-flight response occurs almost instantaneously and the underlying physiological processes that take place while it is under way are amazing to behold from a scientific point of view. The way that God designed our bodies to react and adapt points to his creative and perfect design for mankind that must now live in a fallen and imperfect world due to sin’s influence.
Fight-or-flight may be a physical response but there is another, more important spiritual response that must also be present in the life of the believer in times of trouble. That response is the faith response and it is the greatest weapon that we have to fight against the enemy and against the effects of sin in our world and in our lives.
The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 8 that we have been set free from the power of sin and death and that is an awesome truth that should be pondered daily by every believer. But as long as we live and walk in this world we will experience the effects of sin be they pain, tiredness, sickness, heartache, sorrow, temptation (and the list goes on) and how we respond in those times will determine our life’s course and our success or failure as children of God.
We can either respond in the normal, human way (in the flesh) or we can respond in faith and by trusting in God’s power and God’s provision to overcome (in the Spirit) every obstacle. “Take it to the Lord” should be an everyday, all-day event for we who are redeemed. And not just for problems but also for praises and in response to every good thing that God allows us to experience. The more we practice responding in faith to our circumstances the more God can work in and through us and the greater our impact for good will be on those in our circle of influence.
The faith response is not automatic and is not always easy. We must practice it in the things both large and small and we must learn the futility of responding in our own strength (often times the hard way). Yielding to the Spirit’s power and influence will cause the fruits of the Spirit to be born while pushing ahead in our own strength will never yield the fruits of the Spirit.
Every day and in every situation we have a choice of how we will act and how we will respond. Challenges and trials will come and no matter who or where we are we can either ask the Spirit for help and strength, praise Him for his power and provision or ignore Him and try to do it all on our own. My prayer is that every response we have will be a response from faith and from our love and gratitude to Jesus Christ our Lord.