Point: WHATEVER we are dominated by, takes OVER us! IF we ALLOW fear to dominate, we are LOST in that fear! When we are LOST in something, our FAITH is not present! When our FAITH is not present, we are NOT in *GOD*, and our POWERS of HIM, are diminished, THEN we are in the very clutches of enmity! Seems so complicated, doesn't it? Yet, this is an IMPERATIVE area of Christian growth, development, and victory!!!
HE KNOWS firsthand, and for sure, that we WILL be afraid, HOWEVER, we DON'T HAVE to be consumed, and overtaken by this fear, INSTEAD, we TRUST HIM IMPLICITLY to LEAD us through, and to KEEP us unchained by what makes us afraid!!!
There are about 88 BIBLE verses "Do not be afraid", 7 for "Fear not", 68 for "Have no fear", 33 on Fear, and on it goes! Let's take a look at a couple, along with the theological interpretations behind them...
ISAIAH 41: 10...
'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'
God speaks with tenderness; Fear thou not, for I am with thee: not only within call, but present with thee. Art thou weak? I will strengthen thee. Art thou in want of friends? I will help thee in the time of need. Art thou ready to fall? I will uphold thee with that right hand which is full of righteousness, dealing forth rewards and punishments.
There are those that strive with God's people, that seek their ruin. Let not God's people render evil for evil, but wait God's time. It is the worm Jacob; so little, so weak, so despised and trampled on by every body. God's people are as worms, in humble thoughts of themselves, and in their enemies' haughty thoughts of them; worms, but not vipers, not of the serpent's seed.
Every part of God's word is calculated to humble man's pride, and to make him appear little in his own eyes. The Lord will help them, for he is their Redeemer. The Lord will make Jacob to become a threshing instrument. God will make him fit for use, new, and having sharp spikes. This has fulfillment in the triumphs of the gospel of Christ, and of all faithful followers of Christ, over the power of darkness.
God has provided comforts to supply all their wants, and to answer all their prayers. Our way to heaven lies through the wilderness of this world. The soul of man is in want, and seeks for satisfaction; but becomes weary of seeking that in the world, which is not to be had in it.
Yet they shall have a constant supply, where one would least expect it. I will open rivers of grace, rivers of living water, which Christ spake of the Spirit, Joh 7:38, 39. When God sets up his church in the Gentile wilderness, there shall be a great change, as if thorns and briers were turned into cedars, and fir-trees, and myrtles. These blessings are kept for the poor in spirit, who long for Divine enlightening, pardon, and holiness. And God will render their barren souls fruitful in the grace of his Spirit, that all who behold may consider it.
What, then, can we say about all of this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
That is good for the saints which does their souls good. Every providence tends to the spiritual good of those that love God; in breaking them off from sin, bringing them nearer to God, weaning them from the world, and fitting them for heaven. When the saints act out of character, corrections will be employed to bring them back again. And here is the order of the causes of our salvation, a golden chain, one which cannot be broken.
1. Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestine to be conformed to the image of his Son. All that God designed for glory and happiness as the end, he decreed to grace and holiness as the way. The whole human race deserved destruction; but for reasons not perfectly known to us, God determined to recover some by regeneration and the power of his grace. He predestinated, or before decreed, that they should be conformed to the image of his Son. In this life they are in part renewed, and walk in his steps.
2. Whom he did predestine, them he also called. It is an effectual call, from self and earth to God, and Christ, and heaven, as our end; from sin and vanity to grace and holiness, as our way. This is the gospel call. The love of God, ruling in the hearts of those who once were enemies to him, proves that they have been called according to his purpose.
3. Whom he called, them he also justified. None are thus justified but those that are effectually called. Those who stand out against the gospel call, abide under guilt and wrath.
4. Whom he justified, them he also glorified. The power of corruption being broken in effectual calling, and the guilt of sin removed in justification, nothing can come between that soul and glory. This encourages our faith and hope; for, as for God, his way, his work, is perfect.
The apostle speaks as one amazed, and swallowed up in admiration, wondering at the height and depth, and length and breadth, of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. The more we know of other things, the less we wonder; but the further we are led into gospel mysteries, the more we are affected by them. While God is for us, and we keep in his love, we may with holy boldness defy all the powers of darkness.
WE allow ourselves to worry, to be anxious, to fear, to live in the negatives which abound around us, because we WAVER in our CONVICTION OF THE ALMIGHTY POWERS OF THE LORD! We lose SIGHT OF HIM in what disturbs us! We give IN to what we should NOT! We ALLOW that which is of the world to OVERTAKE our KNOWLEDGE that we HAVE a CHAMPION NOT OF this world, whom WILL LIFT US OVER whatever is of this world IF we simply, TRUST HIM!!!
No doubt about it, it is most difficult for us to slide out of the clutches of what causes our emotions to rule us, but FAITH SAYS *GOD* RULES! There are SO many reasons to BUILD, and STRENGTHEN our FAITH, and to alleviate fear, and it's many components, which is primary TO our well-being, safety, and overall relationship with THE LORD!!!
Fear IS enmity to *GOD*, and an arsenal of weaponry for the enemy to use against us, that we are captivated, thus captured! WHEN we are afraid, our RECOURSE IS PRAYER, TRUST, BELIEF, and THANKS TO THE LORD, even when it seems we can't find a second in the suffering to do so, WE MUST, for HE, and HE ALONE, SHALL LEAD US THROUGH, and PAST, THEN INTO THE HEALTHY BALM OF LIGHT...
Let us PRAY, let us PRAISE THE LORD, let us WORSHIP HIS HOLINESS, let us REJOICE IN TRUST OF HIS LOVING CARE for us, let us be THANKFUL, and GRATEFUL, and let us HONOUR HIM IN our ways, all of our days, let us BELIEVE HIM OVER all else!!!
REV. LWINSOR © 2014
BIBLICAL, and/or other references marked BOLDLY IN COLOURS
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