Friday, August 2, 2013

Freedom from Fear- Abounding Hope: Week 11

 
 
God did not give us a spirit of fear!!
 
A simple, quick search on BibleGateway.com of the word "fear" yields 336 results. Why so much attention to fear? If repetition is any indication, it can be said that the Lord did not want his children to be hindered by fear.
 
"fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" Isaiah 41:10 (ESV)
 
The Word instructs us not to fear, "don't be afraid", to be free of fear. But how does one operate free of fear? How can you stare down the circumstances and situations that fallen many before you?
 
"Don't be discouraged, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious hand. See, all of your angry enemies lie there, confused and humiliated. Anyone who opposes you will die and come to nothing" Isaiah 41:10-11(NLT)
 
Hold onto God! Hold tight to his Word, trust and believe in the might of God.  Seems simple in theory, but in practice…recognize what makes us fearful.  Recognize the conditions and settings that make us fearful, those moments that would seem hopeless, for it is in these moments we must hold tightest.
 
God wants us to hold to Him so that we can be courageous, secure, hopeful!  God does not want us to be apprehensive, full of dread or terror. We must keep in mind that there is no room for hope if we choose to hold onto fear.
 
"And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in the world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear…." 1 John 4:17-18
 
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1 comments:

Unknown said...

I have been fighting fears this week. A few close friends have shared with me that they have been, as well.
My close friend and I repented of fearing and asked for God to put His peace in our hearts. It was amazing- until 2 days later, when everything hightened in stress and fear and then came crashing down around me. I found myself weeping. And, there in the storm, it was just like God wrapped His arms around me and reminded me that He is kind and good.
Though I went to sleep a teary mess still, I woke up knowing that He was mighty and would take care of it all.
I decided to do what I could to fix the situations and then lean into God. I decided to let Him do the work, and if He "didn't" by the end of the day, then I'd think about it all again.
It wasn't easy...but literally, by that night, all the major things had been resolved and I had peace.
Out of that honest place, where I let the tears fall in front of Jesus, let Him know what I was really feeling, He was able to minister to me.
What a good, fearless God we have!

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