Category: fear

Fear Nothing

 

 

I’m quite aware that this is very bold and very sure of itself.  But there is a urgency here that could propel us to a place where slothfulness of our hearts can be understood.

Dealing with the Ultimate Fear?

When I was a boy I was terrified of death.  The very thought of being six feet deep in a small box, with maggots, rottenness and decay terrorized me.  I also had an incredible fear that someone would make a

mistake and that I would wake up entombed in a buried coffin.  Just thinking about it now unsettles me.  It was an anxiety that required diversions. Which I suppose led me down the road of escalating drug and alcohol abuse.  It undoubtedly led to much of my psychological issues that I deal with today.

Here is 2 Timothy 1:10, “Which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.  Scripture says that  Jesus has ”abolished death”.  I have learned to love that word, “abolish”!  It means to nullify, eliminate or make obsolete.  This is a decisive and a dramatic word which soothes my fear, and calms my mind.

It’s like he pulled the plug.  Death does not operate for the believer, because he did a disconnect for us.  I used to think my terror was unique to me.  I felt like I couldn’t tell anyone that I had those moments alone when I would be overwhelmed by morbid thoughts of death.  But Jesus destroyed the devil!

“We are people of flesh and blood. That is why Jesus became one of us. He died to destroy the devil, who had power over death. But he also died to rescue all of us who live each day in fear of dying”,  Hebrews 2:14-15 NCV.

 “The fear of death is ingrafted in the common nature of all men, but faith works it out of Christians.“– V. Powell.  When an athlete goes into intense training he/she will develop in their muscles “lactic acid” (or for the geeks out there– 2-hydroxypropanoic acid)  Lactic acid is what causes the soreness and cramps in an overworked muscle.  Trainers will stretch and manipulate the athletes limbs to extract this acid.  Death has infused our souls, faith works it out of us.

Fear of death is nothing to be ashamed of.  Almost all of us have had those disturbing moments that seem irrational.  But it’s not a question of rationality, but of faith.  Do I really believe that Jesus unplugged death for me?  He made the deliberate decision to change the status quo for me.  It wasn’t an afterthought, but a definite act, purposeful and well thought out.

“I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone observes My teaching [lives in accordance with My message, keeps My word], he will by no means ever see and experience death.“ John 8:51, Amplified.

A tremendous promise for the believer, especially the believer who is anxious about death.  We are free now, free to live life in outrageous freedom! I proclaim Jesus’ promise to you, you are free!

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These are odds and ends that would not fit in this post. I didn’t want to trash them so here you go. <3

“Christian! Death cannot hurt you! Death is your best friend – who is commissioned by Christ to summon you from the world of vanity and woe, and from a body of sin and death – to the blissful regions of glory and immortality, to meet your Lord, and to be forever with him.”   –Wm. Mason

“Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there’s a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see.” —Helen Keller

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Take the Next Turn for Truth

 “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

John 8:32, King James Version (KJV)

 

This is one of those verses that seems like a cliché.  It has been sanded down and polished to the point where its beginning to lose its outrageousness and distinctiveness.  It still sounds noble though, and we do respect it.  Typically it is one of the first verses we commit to memory.

But what is it saying?  We  look around and see so much ignorance and fear, even among the ‘educated.’  There is the fear of cancer, the fear of misguided children, the fear of sudden poverty, the fear of growing old, and much more.  It seems human beings are attracted to fear like a moth is to a candle.

Ignorance is just as prevalent.  Many see, but few understand.  We make His message very simple, so all can know.  But the backlash is many are miffed by our simple message.  In Mexico, in one of those pathetic camps, I heard the most anointed gospel presentation I have ever heard in all my years in ministry.  A very young American girl stood up in front 80 kids.  She shared using a glove with five colors of the gospel.  I sat and I wept.  The nearness of the Lord was so strong, and the message was so real.

We are often a confused people. The Bible’s favorite metaphor is that we are misguided and misdirected sheep.  Sheep, mind you!  Much of the time our ignorance doesn’t come out of simplicity.  It comes out of complicating ideas and circuitous understanding.  We think we will be able to latch on to meaning and understanding if only we read difficult books, or take that course in philosophy. We are buffeted by the complexities. (But surely then we will grasp the truth!?)

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  One of the ways we come to recognize truth will be seen in a subsequent freedom.  Only people of the truth have real liberty.  And perhaps that is the best way there is to be a free person.  Bondage to sin is way overrated; ignorance and confusion puts you in terrible servitude to the whims of your sinful desires, and Satan and his kingdom.  But when we comprehend what is truth, it gives us an appetite for even more of His rule in our lives.

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Don’t Be Afraid, Just Trust

“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1, NIV

 

 I remember taking a ride  in a glass bottomed boat in the tropics.  Such a deep and vivid display rolled out before me.  It was beautifully complex, and my tiny view into the depths was quite exceptional.  To think, this is all unfolding even when we aren’t looking.  It is a world completely beyond our own.  There are several valid  and living principles embedded in these verses.  As we gaze into these depths we are magnificently drawn to Him in many ways.  These verses are sublime.   Thinking such thoughts is one of reasons we were created for.

The promises of God are really not that hidden or secret.  We only have to look into this “leather bound’  book.  When we look to the point of exclusion of everything else,  we are sure to see things that we never dreamed of.  In Joshua, chapter 1, we get a deep view of how God starts touching a human soul.  Certain issues get negotiated.  Joshua is brought into compliance to God’s intention.

And us.  What can we say?  Some of us may hold that Joshua was the exception and substantially distinct.  But I think, in a most sincere way possible, he was the norm.  When God deals most exceptionally with our open hearts.  He will always bring us to the compliance of Joshua.  What Joshua did was quite exceptional, and yet it was very ordinary and only moderately intense. Faith translates and makes the transition.

These verses somehow magnetically draw us to obedience.  The command is to courageous.  Courage is definitely a very rare commodity for us.  Joshua is brought to this point, and he must trust to the place of personal loss, or whatever it takes.

Success is being  highlighted.  And than the Word, and when you mix the two, it develops into something that is spiritually elegant and complete.  Meditating, or the original Heb. which means to ruminate, brings us to the delightful moment of digestion.  We can never just take in God’s Word.  We must “process it.”  That takes not just time, but chewing and swallowing.  It is not gulped, but it has to be assimilated.  It must be “intelligently chewed.”  We must nibble, and never try to gulp, no matter how sweet it is.

Joshua was requested to keep the Word, completely and situational in front of him.  Success would come, but only come if he would simply obey.  Obedience seems like such a bitter truth.  I must confess, I honestly hate obedience.  Christianity can be terribly hard it seems, especially so when it is active, real and “in place.”  I admit I’m not 100 per cent sure.  But I know enough that I should trust, but although it took me fifty years.

One of the main themes found in these verses is the idea  the idea that God’s presence is that it is specifically focused on me.  When He concentrates on me, when He makes me His bullseye, it has a momentum to transform me.  God’s rich presence starts to foment in me, I can transform into another person.  Joshua was changed as he processed rightfully the nearness of his Father.  Help me Lord, to follow you into this intimacy.  Give me your understanding, inject yourself into here, in my feeble thought and understanding.