Monday, May 1, 2023

Fearless

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2 Timothy 1:7  “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

 

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. These are the famous words of President Roosevelt in 1933. But, there is a whole list of phobias listed in the mental health journals. Yet, there are more than these psychological fears. There are social fears of rejection, healthy fears to keep us safe from dangers, and godly fear that keeps us humble, obedient and reverent to God – our Creator, Provider, Sustainer and Protector. Matthew 10:28 tells us, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” How big is your God? Psalm 91:1-6 assures us that He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.”

 

Living on the finite side of eternity in a material world of fallen humanity, we tend to think and relate to the people, places and things which we exists with and interact with daily. It is natural and easy to fall into the popular trends and the desire to be looked upon as a good person by popular world standards. But, we are never to quench or grieve the Holy Spirit within us by acquiescing to ungodly thoughts, words or actions in order to “fit in” with the “in crowd”. Being a born-again Believer means a future in Heaven, but our duel-citizenship begins at salvation, regeneration, transformation of the heart and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a child of God. Romans 8:14-17 confirms, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

 

Pastor Frances Chan states in his book Forgotten God, “ultimately, you need to stake your faith in God alone, not in the gifts that He gives (good as they may be). It really comes down to trust. Do you trust God, believe that He is good and doing what is best?” Pastor Chan goes on to say, “Take God at His Word and believe the Spirit is meant to dwell in and guide our lives.  Fundamentally, many of us do not want to be led by anyone other than ourselves. The whole idea of giving up control (or the delusion of it) is terrifying, isn’t it? Does the thought of letting go and listening to the Holy Spirit’s guidance scare you and only make you cling tighter to what you think that you have? The truth is that the Spirit of the living God is guaranteed to ask you to go somewhere or do something that you normally wouldn’t want or choose to do. The Spirit will lead you to the way of the cross, as He led Jesus to the cross. Our Helper  the Holy Spirit will mold you into the person that you were made to be.” 


God loves us to meet us where we are at, but also loves us to not leave us where we are at. With God’s love, what do we have to fear? 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” Be fearless.

 

In Christ, Brian

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