Tag: fear

Faith or Fear?

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Tuesday-DW

Are you living today in faith or in fear?

This faith journey with Jesus is just that, a faith journey.

It is not a fear journey.

Faith and fear are both ways to walk into the unknown and I have a secret to tell you – every new day is unknown. You don’t know what will happen. It could go as planned or go completely different. Sometimes better different, sometimes not so much.

Fear holds you back, faith releases you forward.

I’m not suggesting that you ignore your fear or be in denial of it. I’m encouraging you to not let fear decide what you do or don’t do.

Give Jesus all your unknowns and allow Him full access to the places in your heart that are ruled by fear.

Let His love flood in and wash away the fears that are holding you back today.

 

Don’t Miss It

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Wednesday

“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him”.

Philippians‬ ‭3:8‬ ‭NLT

At the end of your life, you may or may not have human praise but if you have gone after a real relationship with Jesus, you will have so much more than that.

You will have rich relationships, miraculous moments, great faith adventures as well as the single most important thing you can have with you as you step into eternity – Jesus Himself.

Don’t waste your life by pursuing goals to make yourself more comfortable, more secure or safer.

Live the life you were created for by pursuing the one goal of knowing Jesus.

Not just to know about Him but to know Him in every area of your life.

Not just to work for Him but to work with Him.

Keep this goal as the top priority and all the other goals will quickly fall into their proper perspective.

Truth

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Friday

“..and in truth”.

1 John‬ ‭3‬:‭18‬ NIV

God will never ask you to love someone and lie to them at the same time. 

He does not ask you to avoid the truth or use His love as a cop-out to deal with the truth.

He does not ask you to stay locked in a silent prison of fear while you “act” love out.

Sometimes it is harder to love in truth than it is to love in action. 

Whether that means talking or listening, truth is the only foundation of love. 

Be brave.

What is Weighing on You

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Tuesday

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”   ‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭5:7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

When you are focused on what you can’t control and what you are not strong enough to carry, you are captured by the weight of anxiety.

When you are focused on the presence of God and His incomparable love for you, you are captured by the weight of His glory.

He cares for you more than you can comprehend. 

When you are in the middle of a fierce storm feeling out of control and tossed around, you may be asking Jesus, like His disciples did in Mark 4:38, “Do you even care that we are in this storm?” 

The answer is yes, He cares. 

Yes, He knows.

Yes, He can handle it.

The word “cast” in 1 Peter 5:7 is a word picture of holding something very heavy, then throwing it to get it out of your hands.

Jesus can handle whatever you are carrying.

He who has carried the weight of your sin can absolutely carry the weight of your anxiety.

Little Snares

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Thursday
“My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare.”
Psalm 25:15 NIV
Sometimes a small cord of fear becomes a snare that holds you back.
Sometimes a resilient string of hurt traps you from moving forward.
Maybe a trap of bitterness has wrapped itself around your ankle.
And if you don’t acknowledge it, it may become crippling.
Look to the Lord to release you from the snare that is holding you back today.
He is the only one who can heal your heart.
He made it, will remake it, and will continue to bring up the little snares that need to be healed because they hold you back from who you are created to be.
Who are you looking to heal your heart today?
If it is anyone else but Jesus, you will be disappointed and frustrated.

Your Call

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Friday
John the Baptist faithfully fulfilled what God had called him to do without looking to others in envy or for acceptance.  More than once John was asked if he was the Messiah.
He replied with this:
“A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’”
‭‭John‬ ‭3:27-28‬ ‭NIV‬‬
John the Baptist knew who he was and he knew who he wasn’t.
Knowing who you are and who you are not is vital in carrying out your own God-given assignment.
When God lays a burden on your heart, it will always be bigger than you and it will be something only He can do through you.
Fear traps you in perpetual anxiety about all the things you can’t do and about all the gifts you don’t have.
Faith in Jesus sets you free to do what He has called you to do without looking to others in envy or for acceptance.
You are called to faithfully fulfill the assignment God has given you without trying to be someone you are not or function in gifts God has not given you.
Live your call.
Use your gifts.
Leave the rest to God.

Unclinched Fists

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Tuesday

“I pray to GOD —my life a prayer— and wait for what he’ll say and do.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭130:5-6‬ ‭MSG‬‬

What does it mean to pray with open hands?

It means that instead of trying to hold on so desperately to what you are afraid of letting go of – you let it go and give it to God.

Trust God with it.

Present your requests, heartache, fears and hurts to Him and then let Him do what only He can do – the impossible.

Release your expectations of how you want Him to  answer while at the same time knowing that He will answer you. 

He is for you.

He wants to heal you.

He wants to  transform your life.

He wants to.

He will – if you allow Him to.

If you trust Him enough to say yes when He asks you to do the next hard thing.

That thing that you have been putting off but know is the right thing. The thing you don’t think you have the strength to do.

He will give you the strength to do it.

Go ahead – unclinch your fists of fear and give them to God.

Open you hands in faith and receive His stregth to do it.

What are you afraid of today?

How hard is it for you to leave the results to God?

What Are You Thinking?

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Tuesday

“For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:5-6‬ ‭NET‬‬

There is a war for your thoughts and for your imagination.  God gave you the ability to imagine and shape your thoughts.  He gave you the ability to imagine your day, your tomorrow, your future.

Many people believe that you can’t control your thoughts or the direction of them but that is not what the Bible says in the verse above.

The imagination nourished by the Spirit of God is life and peace.

The imagination shaped by the flesh is fear and death.

The thing is, you get to choose.

You have free will and God will never take it from you.
What you think, how you think is up to you.

This is not about creating your future with positive thoughts. This is about consciously choosing to fix your mind on Jesus Christ and allowing Him to shape your outlook.

“Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭12:2‬ ‭NET‬‬

You have permission, my friend, to take a mental vacation from fear and set your imagination free to dream some God-sized dreams today.

Where is your head?

What is it filled with?

What does it mean for you to set your imagination free and let God dream for your life?

Don’t Let Fear Stop You

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Tuesday

“By an act of faith, he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents.”  Hebrews 11: 8 MSG

Fear will hold you captive in your comfort zone.

The only way to break fear’s hold is by an act of faith.

To go after all that God has called you to, you are going to have to move beyond the fear that holds you there.

Fear can be overwhelming when it is a general mass of unknown anxiety so you need to name it.  

What are you afraid will happen when you step out in faith?

Define it or one part of it.

Narrow it down.

Find the core.

But know this: facing the fear doesn’t take away the emotion of fear but it allows you to see what it is and lie behind it.

When you name the fear you disarm it of its power but it takes a while for your emotions to fall in line with your faith.

You may not know where your journey will end up but you can be sure that God will be there with you every step of the way.

God is calling you forward, don’t let fear stop you today.

Faith is choosing to trust God with the path, the detours, the disasters and yes, the destiny of where you will end up.

Courage is feeling the fear and stepping out in faith anyway. 

What is God calling you to do? 

What is stopping you from stepping out in faith?

What is the name of your fear?

 

What Your Faith Rests In

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Friday

“So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men (human philosophy) but in the power of God.”    

1 Corinthians 2:5 AMP

When your faith rests in the wisdom of man, it will falter because at it’s best, it is a human attempt to explain divine power.

When your faith rests in your own feelings, it will surge and wane like the waves of the sea.

When your faith rests on your past experience, it can morph into whatever you have experienced, good or bad.

When your faith rests in the Son of God it is like a solid rock upon which the waves of emotion break, the wisdom of men shatters and He becomes the foundation of truth that gives your experience perspective.

Don’t make your decisions based on how you feel, what others say, or what happened in the past.

Ask the Lord to lead you and He will. The One who died for you rose again and sits at the right hand of God will show you the way forward.

He is bigger than your fears, knows what to do with your worries, and is working behind the scenes to bless you.

May today be filled with the promise of the finished work of Jesus and bring you to a new level of faith that is not tossed by emotions but anchored in God’s unchanging love for you.