When I was a little girl and was scared, the place I wanted to be most was in my mother’s lap. It was my “hiding place!” In fact, a huge fear I have had all my life was living life without her….losing her. We called her the “rock” for a reason. We found assurance and a strength in her. She wasn’t easily shaken. The best thing she ever did for me was point me to her Source of strength…the Lord. Her faith was quiet but let’s just say…it had the silent “roar of a LION!”
As I reflect, and compare my adult life to hers, I find myself thinking, “How did she do that?” When I go through things as a Back 9’er, I think of the things she walked through. Her near death experience which happened twice and both times put her in the hospital for months. Her ongoing rheumatoid arthritis. My dad’s indictment and being falsely accused of bribing state highway officials, which lasted for years in the court system before it was resolved. Her mother being hit by a car and the long road of recovery and my mother’s constant care for her (she lived with us for a year). Her father’s sudden heart attack and death. My dad’s two heart attacks and two brain tumors. Her brother’s sudden death.
All of these things happened before the age of 60. Then she faced the horrible debilitating disease that took her life. There is more I could write about…but I look back over her life and many times she could have let “fear” become the “thief” of her faith, but she didn’t.
That’s what fear is, a “thief”. It is just one of the many emotions Satan uses to paralyze us and rob us of our faith. Fear is a crippling force.
It steals our joy.
It runs down our hope and it keeps us from living in the moment. It robs us of today.
Thus, if we don’t recognize fear…and deal with it…it can rob us of the abundant life God has for us because fear causes us to project our life into the future with bad outcomes…which is really unknown to us. If Satan can do that…we are totally ineffective in the present.
So fear is a mighty and powerful tool of the enemy. We have to replace it with faith. Having a strong faith doesn’t mean we won’t experience adversity, heartache and pain which is the result of sin in us and sin in the world. Knowing Jesus and having a relationship with HIM is His provision for us to live a life of significance, free of fear and full of abundance which is found in the Faith we find in HIM.
In John 20:19-21 Jesus appears to His disciples who were afraid because they knew the tomb was empty. They knew the Jewish leaders might come after them thinking they had stolen Jesus’ body. Read what happens for yourself. “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’”
God’s intent is that we fear less and TRUST God more. What can we learn from Psalm 121:1-3?
“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber;”
1. Focus my/your/our attention on God. HE instructs us to lift up your eyes to the Lord…to the mountain. Take your focus off the fear and look to God.
2. Understand God is control and you are not. God is the maker of heaven and earth…not you. Jeremiah 29:11 states, “For I know the plans I have for you…” Remembering it is not OUR plan but HIS…the “I” is key in this verse.
3. Remember, you are not alone and God is not asleep. God has you.
It is so easy to let Satan entrap us with fear. Fear is normal but in God’s economy, and as Christians, we are owned by God thus, He owns our fears. Let’s give back to God what is HIs…our fears….and allow our FAITH in the Maker of heaven and earth…to take care of us.
Remember, God is saying to us, “I’ve GOT THIS.” Don’t let Satan rob you of one more minute of your life. Allow God to have what is His…my.your.our fears. HE has this.