"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14: 27, NIV Our Sunday paper gets the insert magazine, Parade. Today right on the cover was "Let's Stop Scaring Ourselves" by Michael Crichton. Funny because he wrote Jurassic Park and some other "scary" books. The very message we received in church today was being freed from fear. Apparently fear abounds in the world today, but as Christians we are to be freed from the bondages of the fear that drives unbelievers. In fact, we can be free to share with unbelievers the freedom of Jesus, whether they threaten us or not. Paul said to live is Christ and to die is gain. Either way, as Christians we win! So what is there to fear really but fear itself. Fill in the blank here: the opposite of love is? What did you answer? Did you answer hate? If you answered hate, you'd be wrong. The opposite of love is fear not hate although hate is a part of fear. The opposite of faith is fear also. If we have fear our faith and love are greatly lacking. You see God gives us the love we have. It doesn't just manifest out of nowhere, God is infusing us with His love in order that we might love others as an extenstion of His love and grace. When we fear, we are playing right into the devil's hands. He wants us afraid and focused on anything but the love and grace of God. God does not want us to live our lives stricken with fear because then we are not living in faith. Fear affects us in so many ways, including phyiscally. Fear begins when we buy into the lie. That's what the enemy wants - for us to buy into the lie. I don't know what is going on in each of your lives as you sit and read this today but I can tell you what I've gone through recently. It rather tickles me when people tell me "Oh, you have your own business you must be raking it in!" The hours alone you put in when you run your own business or businesses is enough to make a 9 to 5er be sick. Well, I recently have grown a bit tired and yes, a bit frustrated. I've never been a patient person. Positiionally I'm in a great place but the waiting is agony! I got rather down. When I get like that, I always go to my knees. I "wrestle" in prayer, wanting to understand, wanting to fulfull God's purpose in my life NOW, lol! He just pats me on the head in His loving way and says, "Kim, just wait upon Me. My timing is perfect. Don't fret, don't fear." Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me." (John 14: 1, NIV). When we fear brethren, it will result in our disobedience to God. God wants us to step out in faith and He will give the victory unto us for the glory of His name. If we don't take that step though, we are not obeying Him. Our fear is hindering us which means that the paralysis of fear is equal to unbelief, not trusting God to fulfull His promises and that my dear brothers and sisters in Christ is sin. Fear can lead us down a road of compromise, not allowing God to work in our lives. We can imagine all sorts of things going wrong, fear starts to reside, and then our imaginations run rampant causing ultimately our disobedience to God, resulting in sin. But how do we face our fears?? We face our fears by seeking the Savior, Jesus. "You will keep in perfect peace him who mind is steadfast, because he trusts you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal." Isaiah 26: 3 - 4. We fight fear with fear. Huh? We fight this earthly fear with the fear of God. Remember the fear of the Lord leads to life. The Bible tells us that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. If you've ever read through the Book of Proverbs you'll see this constantly stated. Does it mean to tremble and go ill with fear? No, absolutely not. The word fear here means, to stand in awe of, in reverential respect and awe of our God. To know that He is in control of all things. If we die, we are with Him, if we live we are living out our lives for His good will and purpose. Like our pastor said this morning, we know the end of the movie. God gave us the final chapter in human history. We know how this world ends. We have nothing to fear if we are His. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Jesus IS the truth and He is the way. He IS eternal life. Satan is ever prosecuting us to God but because of the blood of Jesus, we can stand without fear of the eternal judgement of God. God provided us the way to eternal life with Him through His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus. We need not fear if we've recognized our need for a Savior, repented of our sin and relinquished our lives to Him. We don't need to stay in fear. Fall back on the truths of Jesus, and know that He dealt with death and sin on the cross at Calvary over 2000 years ago. Jesus IS eternal life. Jesus IS the way without fear. Jesus IS the Light. No fear. |
