Let Fear Point You in the Right Direction!
Ever feel overwhelmed? Afraid of what’s next? Feel small or insignificant?
The other morning as we drove to Orlando to meet with a dear friend, God filled the sky with a freshly painted sunrise. As we looked at all of its beauty we couldn’t help but realize just how small we are …and the truth … we don’t have a clue how BIG God is.
Every morning and every evening He paints a new sunrise along with a new sunset, all across the world…in multiple locations…cities…nations.
As God painted a beautiful sunrise for us, we thought and even prayed together’ “Lord, how can we as finite beings ever truly comprehend that which is infinite! Our greatest attempts to understand or explain You, fails with every attempt. We can only ascribe You, by what we’ve experienced … but YOU supersede our greatest revelation.
As we embraced our smallness we realized that recognizing our smallness was a good thing. The truth is, when we come to grips with our limitations, it positions us to receive God’s promises. Our fears actually help us to place our dependency where it should be … ON GOD. Our focus isn’t on who we are and what we can accomplish, rather on the power of WHO GOD is and what HE is capable of. Fear and frailty, help us to recognize our desperate need for God.
So, how about it? Feeling afraid? Does fear attempt to stifle your faith? Does it whisper your impossibilities and imminent demise? Does it heighten your short-comings?
If so, good. You’re in a great place! Seriously! The truth is fear is inevitable; YET…Fear does NOT have to be our master.
This Week’s Thought, Scripture & Application
Romans 8:15-17 says, “you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (NIV)
Fear does NOT have to remain a constant tormentor; instead it helps to identify our frailty and points us to the need of our Savior. Thus, fear itself is NOT evil, after all as Psalm 111:10 points out: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.” (NIV)
So, as we go into this weekend, let’s harness fear by allowing it to be an indication of our need for God. Let fear point us to God in prayer and remind us God’s got our back. He sees our situation and has it ALL UNDER CONTROL.
This Week’s Prayer
God we know we’re not big enough but You are. We know we can’t but we trust that You can. Help us to take every thought captive to the cross and submit our spirit of timidity to YOUR endless authority and power. Fill us with FAITH and CONFIDENCE that YOU will NEVER let us down; we can trust in YOU! In Jesus’ name, amen.
|