Facing Fears

Why is it that when we feel as we are on the right tract something happens and fear slips in? Fear is defined as an unpleasant emotion by the belief that someone or something dangerous is likely to cause pain, or a threat.  There are many things that cause that immediate sinking feeling of fear.  For example when swimming in the ocean and something touches you and you think a shark is about to attack, or when you are home alone and you hear a noise and you think you are about to witness someone breaking into your house.  Yes these things can cause fear and if not dealt with can cause a crippling lifestyle of being afraid of everything.  But I am not talking about those every day fears, I am talking about the fears that come along with a Christian walk.

When we decide to follow Jesus and make Him our number one, there is a sense of fear that comes along with that decision.  What if I fail Him? What if I can't do that? What if I don't have the words to say?  What if I don't want to be uncomfortable?  God does not want us to have those fears even though the world may say those are "valid" fears.  No matter what happens the fear of the unknown is always scary for us, but fear defined in a Christians life is an outburst of unbelief.  When we are saying "ok I am afraid", it is telling God I don't believe that you can handle this. God has designed a specific purpose for each and every one of our lives.  There is a reason why we are placed where we are and with the people we are with.  Acts 17:26 proves that, it says: "He determines the times set for them and the exact places where they should live".  God never puts us in a place where we are not supposed to be.

There are a group of people in the Old Testament that are constantly stricken with fear.  The Israelites are the prime example for us to see how fear can take over someone's life.  Of course it is funny, because most of the things that they were afraid of were brought upon themselves by trying to take matters into their own hands and not following God's commands (because His commands seemed scary or impossible).  They had been shown God's protecting hand over and over again and they still chose to do it their way.  In Joshua 1 we see that Moses had just died and Joshua was now in charge.  The Lord was commanding him to gather the Israelites and cross the Jordan because they were about to receive what all had been promised to them.  God commanded Joshua to be strong and courageous, for the task at hand was something bigger then Joshua could have imagined.  The Israelites were terrified for the change.  And thus having fear of the unknown sink in. 

There are a few things that we can meditate on when we are facing the fears of whatever life may bring our way.  One is that God has a promise land for each of our lives, and that promise land is where we get to see the fruition of those promises that God has placed on our lives fulfilled.  So when we are fearful what is exactly at stake?  When we are fearful, we are letting Satan put his nasty rotten feet in our promise land.  And when he is treading on our turf he will do whatever it takes to keep us from getting to the rewards God has for us.  So how do we tackle fear, and prevent it from happening? 

We need to realize that the past is the past.  A lot of our current fears are developed from something that has happened to us in the past.  We sometimes project an old fear onto a new day and that is not what God has commanded of us.  Isaiah 43:18-19 says "Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing".  Where God wants to take you, you have never been before.  To beat that old fear, trade it with the fear of missing God.  We need to move forward with God, and if we are living in a fear of the past we stay in the past.  The only way we can move forward is to overcome the fear of saying yes to God.  Our God is an again kind of God, but pride rooted in our fear will hold us back.  So remember when you are afraid you are going to fail, God will NEVER fail you! 

Oh God, You Are My God

Day 9:  Ok so the hardest part of making a commitment is not necessarily keeping it, but to me the hardest part is starting it again when you fall off.  I will be honest, there are 2 reasons why it has been about 2 weeks since my last post #1 being that I was in the Keys and I did not have internet connection down there but I honestly woke up every morning and did my daily reading and #2 being my pride.  I have been sitting here in Lynchburg for a week thinking to myself I do not want to post another entry because when I get back on people will know that I fell off, and at least by now they have forgotten and the disappointment is over.  But in all reality, I am not disappointing any of y'all,  I am disappointing myself and most importantly God.  I am more concerned about what people may think about me then what God thinks.  That right there is a very dangerous place for me to be in!  I do not want others approval and I do not want a pat on the back for doing my quiet time.  In all reality I should not be concerned about what anyone may think, but I should be excited to get back into the swing of things.  I am ashamed of falling away for the last week not because people are not viewing, commenting, or discussing about this blog but because I am one week behind on my relationship with the Creator of me!  Like I said, this blog was not intended to be used as an advertisement on how Holy I may be but I created it as a tool for me to use.  As I sit here thinking about how God is always here for us standing right by us with open arms I am thinking of some lyrics and they go like this:

"May my prayer like incense rise before You.  Im lifting up my hands as sacrifice.  Oh Lord Jesus turn your eyes upon me, for I know there is mercy in your sight.  Your statutes  are my heritage forever.  My heart is set on keeping your decrees.  So still my anxious urge toward rebellion, and  let love keep my will on its knees.  To all creation I can see  a limit, but your commands are boundless and have none.  So your Word is my joy and meditation, from the rising to the setting of the sun.  All your ways are loving and  faithful.  The road is narrow but your burden light.  Because you gladly lean to lead the humble, I shall gladly kneel to leave my pride."

These words speak volumes to me right now, and I cannot begin to describe how powerful the last few lines are! It amazes me to think that no matter how many times I may fall away... God is always there!  Here is another song based off of my favorite Psalm! 

Rules

Day 8:  In this chapter we see Jesus readdressing an issue that was presented in chapter 5.  In chapter 5 Jesus heals the lame man by the pool on the Sabbath, and everyone got their panties in a wad because Jesus was breaking the “Keep the Sabbath Holy” law.  Well the Law also says that a boy was to be circumcised on the eighth day, and what if the eighth day fell on the Sabbath?  You better believe it that they circumcised on the Sabbath, and Jesus brings it up.  He asks how can you sit here and be angry with me for “not keeping the Sabbath holy” when you yourself don’t keep it holy by the standards you are holding against me.  Today this still goes on… people want to keep certain laws to please God, but not all of them.   We think we know God, what He likes and doesn’t, and we make lots of rules to keep people in those boundaries of what we think God would want.  And some of the rules we make can be honoring to the Lord but at the same time, we can keep others away from God with our rules!  We don’t get to know God by the rules we keep, but we get to know Him by spending time with Him by reading the Scriptures and praying.  Only then when we are in tune with Him should we make our own judgments for OURSELF on what pleases the Lord!  I am not talking about rules that the Bible clearly says to do it a certain way like premarital sex, but the Spirit moves differently in everyone so why should I try to make rules for someone else to follow when the Spirit may be leading them in another direction. 

Bread of Life

Day 7:  Well oops… so last night or this morning I guess you could say at around 2 am I remembered that I had not read my chapter for the day!  And naturally at 2 am I was really exhausted so I said I would do it tomorrow.  And here we are!  Chapter 6 is a very long chapter of 71 verses and after reading it I was kind of silent after I had finished.  I just sat there for a moment and really did not know what I was going to write about just because of how much there is in this chapter.  In the middle of the chapter Jesus talks about being The Bread of Life.  Even though I understand what Jesus was saying by calling Himself that, but at the same time I ask myself do I really know what He meant by that.  I guess what Im saying is I know what He was meaning in the sense of saving the world but do I know what The Bread of Life means for my life aside from salvation?  I am going to reflect on that for a while, and I am going to ask God to show me what He truly means to me in my life!