Posts Tagged ‘ Fear ’
Worship the Lord with reverence And rejoice with trembling.
Psalm 2:11, NASB
God is so much more powerful than we could ever imagine, and holier than we could ever understand.
Realize how your sin has affected your relationship with Him, and you will tremble before Him. Realize how His grace has saved you, and you will ever remain in awe of Him.
I know (for most of you, at least) that you read ” the opposite of love” and think “is hate.”
I disagree. (And if you already know what I think about this, please hold your comments until the end. Thanks.)
Hatred comes from one of two places.
The first is loving something/someone so much that you want to protect that love. Anything that interferes with or threatens that bond or the well-being of the object of love is rightfully hated.
“do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord.”
Zechariah 8:17, ESV
As a reminder, this does not mean we hate people. People are acting out from the real problem: sin, the evil within.
We hate the sin. (We can have another conversation at another time about the saying “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” Also, another another conversation can be had about jealousy.)
What is this?
I will ask a few questions to get us there:
Hopefully you see it now!
Fear leads to all kinds of craziness, such as avoiding others, making mistakes, hurting others, and even hatred.
This is not to say that fear always leads to hatred. Hatred can come from misplaced love (loving self or something more than is good) or ignorance (both innocent and willful ignorance). This is a mixture of the first source of hatred and fear.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
1 John 4:18, ESV
Loving others frees us of hatred and the fear of what they may do to us.
Love also frees us of the fear of God’s punishment for our sin, but only when we see the truth that He loved us and showed it by coming as a man to sacrifice Himself for the forgiveness of our sin. This is also what empowers us to love others. (1 John 4:19)
It is also what reminds us that, while we are born into and perpetuate the sin of Adam and Eve, we are freed from that sin.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
Psalm 42:11, ESV
Praising God is the best way to get out of a funk of depression, worry/anxiety, confusion, and fear.
Hope in God, your salvation.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
1 John 4:18, ESV
When found in Christ, we are no longer condemned. The fear of punishment is gone.
We should still tremble before a mighty God, but our fear should transform into not wanting to disappoint our loving God who first loved us.
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:10, ESV
A 7th Grade student once told me to live a weak life.
If you have a weakness – illness, disability, fear, inability – Christ may use it to glorify Himself through you. Let Christ use you.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”
Matthew 6:25, ESV
It is easy to worry about things in this life.
To fight this, we should be so focused on The Life (Jesus) that we cannot help but trust that He is taking care of us.
“For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”
Isaiah 41:13 ESV
Trust God to work out everything in His time and His way. It may not look how we expect, so have faith that He is helping you. At the very least, ak for strength and wisdom, which He gives willingly and abundantly (James 1:5).
Back in the first year of this blog, I did a short Christmas series, beginning with this post.
Shall we relive the memories? Okay!
It is time for a special series … THIS WEEK ONLY!
Yeah, I kind of gave into some of the materialistic hype. This special is only available the week leading up to this Christmas.
I have a seen a few similar series going around, but mine is better because … uhhh … I am doing it this week? This series is about how people responded to the birth of Jesus.
God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.
Luke 1:26-38This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Matthew 1:18-25
God clearly chose these two to raise the boy Jesus for a reason. Other than being descendants of David, they also were kinda righteous, as humans go.
Take Mary:
Now Joseph:
What can we learn from these two?
What about you? When you have doubts do you listen for God’s leading? Do you ask God any of the who, what, when, where, why, or how questions expecting a reply and being open to the answer? Are you willing to move forward in your confusion and lack of understanding? Do you trust God? If you do, amazing blessings await. To be fair, the blessings may not appear until eternity, but a lifetime of worries and pain is worth an eternity of peace and joy. (Think of a road trip someplace, like Disneyland or to family you have not seen in a while. It may be uncomfortable getting there, but the joy and experience of getting there almost help you forget it or even make it worth it.)
In all things, seek the wisdom of God, and get started at Proverbial Thought!
I am a fan of Mikeschair, and I have posted about their music before over here.
When many preachers and teachers talk about God assisting people, they like using the stories of Jesus walking on water (John 6) and calming the sea (Matthew 8, Mark 4, Luke 8). These are stories that show God’s power and sovereignty over creation, therefore showing His power and sovereignty in your life.
One verse I have always enjoyed since reading it many years ago is Isaiah 43:1-3a (ESV):
But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”
Knowing we have a Savior, One who can control our circumstances, who sees our brokenness, hurts, and fears, who saw our hopeless state of sin and rebellion against Him and sacrificed Himself for our forgiveness, we can follow Him in confidence and hope!
Don’t know where to begin
It’s like my world’s caving in
And I try but I can’t control my fear
Where do I go from here?
Sometimes it’s so hard to pray
When You feel so far away
But I am willing to go
Where you want me to
God, I trust You
There’s a raging sea
Right in front of me
Wants to pull me in
Bring me to my knees
So let the waters rise
If You want them to
I will follow You
I will follow You
I will follow You
I will swim in the deep
‘Cuz You’ll be next to me
You’re in the eye of the storm
And the calm of the sea
You’re never out of reach
God, You know where I’ve been
You were there with me then
You were faithful before
You’ll be faithful again
I’m holding Your hand
There’s a raging sea
Right in front of me
Wants to pull me in
Bring me to my knees
So let the waters rise
If You want them to
I will follow You
I will follow You
I will follow You
God Your love is enough
You will pull me through
I’m holding onto You
God Your love is enough
I will follow You
I will follow You
Ohhh
There’s a raging sea
Right in front of me
Wants to pull me in
Bring me to my knees
So let the waters rise
If You want them to
I will follow You
I will follow You
I will follow You
Ohhh
a simple man of God 