Fear

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September 10

Tuesday, September 10th, 2024

“Faith Over Fear.”

If there was one saying that was prominently used during the COVID desert it was this one. The most prominent-at least among Christ-followers-was “God’s got this.” But I’m thinking this ran a close second.  Sometimes it might be seen in a symbol: big letters FAITH on top of a line over the letters FEAR.

Simple enough: I believe it. I John 4:18 says, “Perfect love casts out fear.” (ESV)

Last week I spent time with an old friend. He was a bike-riding friend of mine of about 4-5 years when suddenly he ghosted me. A conspiracy theorist, he didn’t like it when I told him to be careful of making an accusation against someone and putting it in writing because he was setting himself up for a charge of slander. That was 2014. Ghost time. About a year or so ago I felt a burden to check up on an old friend. He was basically living a life of a hermit, paralyzed by his fears. I went away burdened but decisive that I was not going to put myself through that again. Last week he called me out of the blue asking a favor of me. Even though my day was full, I said yes to his request. When he asked why later, I told him, “Because I want to be Jesus to you.” He didn’t say much to that but what I learned is a leopard doesn’t change his spots. I won’t go into details, but long story short, he asked me if I was afraid.  I told him no. “Not afraid? Of COVID? No. Evil? No. Sick people? No. Why? “Because the Bible says, ‘Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world.'” “That’s a lie,” he said. I disagreed and respectfully tried to explain it to him. “I tried it your way Bill. It didn’t work.”

There was more-much more-but I left saddened…again. I also left resolved to keep toxic-thinking people at arm’s length. And I left even more convinced that I have nothing to fear. I refuse to live my life afraid of my own shadow. Because, you see, I believe that no matter how much evil there is in the world (and I don’t deny there is), faith conquers fear.

I do know who wins in the end. And it ain’t the enemy, Satan.

J.E.S.U.S.  W.I.N.S.

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July 8

Monday, July 8th, 2024

Do you know what a kissing cousin is? Please don’t give the obvious answer. 🙂

No. A kissing cousin is an idea, thought or action that is similar to or often goes hand-in-hand with another. For today’s devotion, I thought of two words/emotions which are kissing cousins: Fear and worry.

We all know what it is like to be gripped by fear. It can paralyze us. It can make us irrational. It can make us combative. Fear can also freeze us in our place, make our mouth go dry and send chills up and down our spine. Watch a really scary movie and take note of your reaction. (I’d rather not thank you very much).

Fear has a kissing cousin: worry. They often work in tandem. This past weekend I was speaking with a young man and he was talking about the company he worked for. I talked about the commercials I have seen and how well done they are and how they show people working together. Happily, he praised the PR/advertising folks and he also talked about their product and how he liked working for them. Then he made a sobering statement which set me back.  He said the economists with the company were predicting a recession, a slowdown in the economy at the end of ’24 and the beginning of ’25. In fact, they said it was going to be worse than the recession of ’08. My first reaction was one of “Oh boy.” Not positive but negative. Part of me wanted to hunker down; part of me said, “What am I afraid of?” As the pastor of a church that wants to-needs to-and he been planning and saving for an expansion for over 4 years, I started thinking, “Is that wise?” “Should we stop saving and planning?” “Should we become ultra-conservative?” “Should we continue saving and keep waiting to see what happens?  (Fun fact: we have been saving over 4 years because our plans have always been to build as we have the money),

Fear and worry can paralyze us. Corporately. Individually. The truth is we have nothing to fear. As people used to say a lot in the recent past: “God’s got this.”

Fear and worry take a back seat when I believe that He is in control and that I trust Him. Instead of letting fear and worry hold hands in the back seat, let’s put them in separate car seats. Better yet, let’s banish them completely.

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October 2

Monday, October 2nd, 2023

If there is one thing I know for sure, it is the fact that there are many, many people today who are missing one key ingredient in their life: peace. I recently finished a two month sermon series focused on anxiety, worry, and fear.

I cannot begin to tell you how many people asked me to pray for them because of one of those three emotions. Those who seem to have it the most “together,” who give off the air that “I’m cool and all is okay,” those who exude confidence, were some of whom came to me and asked me to pray for them.

You see… anxiety, worry, and fear show no favorites. Young. Old. Well-to-do. Struggling financially. White. Black. Hispanic. Male. Female. No respecter of persons.

There are some great examples in the Bible of people who found a calm and a peace in spite of circumstances.

Three Hebrew boys- Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego- were faced with a furnace made 7 times hotter because the king was so ticked off they would not bow down and worship the king’s idol. They refused and even the king stood in amazement as a 4th figure appeared in the furnace and they were removed unscathed.

Daniel spent the night in a lion’s den. Hungry lions, who the next morning had a great meal of Daniel’s antagonists, never bothered him. He got some good z-z-z-z-z-s that night.

Even Job, who lost everything, except his relationship with God, refused to curse God and die (per his wife’s suggestion). Job kept his eyes on God.

All three of these example are just snippets of people who trusted in spite of circumstances. They exuded a peace we are often missing in our “know everything” age. Sadly, the one thing many don’t know, is how to find peace.

I do. It is found in the One who said, “My peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled.”

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