Tag: fear

What Are You Worried About?

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“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.  It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.”

Philippians 4:6-7 MSG

Worry is not meant to be the center of your life as a Jesus follower, He is. 

Worry doesn’t keep some things from happening but it does keep you from enjoying what is happening in your life. It keeps you distracted, depressed and in a cycle of anxiety.

My friend, dispose of worry from being the center of your life and put Jesus there. He is a much better Lord than worry and fear. Bring what you are worrying about today and put them in God’s capable hands. Instead of worrying, pray. Then allow a sense of God’s wholeness fills your soul.  Then get busy loving the people He has placed in your life.

What is worry stealing from you today?

What can I pray for you? 

Faith Journey

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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.

Are you living today in faith or in fear?

Fear will hold you back, faith will release 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 or dictate what you do or don’t do.

Going to the next level on your faith walk is trusting Jesus with all the unknowns and allowing Him full access and full authority in the places of your heart that are ruled by fear.

He will begin right where you are today and walk with you every day after to show you how.

What do you do with your fears? Take them to the cross.

“The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭2:20‬ ‭NIV

It is a good thing to live your life through Christ, it is a better thing to let Christ live His life through you.

His agenda, your body.

His purposes, your gifts.

His love, your hands.

What fears are blinding your vision?

What do you need to take to the cross?

What are you trusting Jesus for today?

Today, surrender your fearful vision of what might happen and ask God to give you His faith-filled vision of what can happen through Him.

Hope Now

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“Wait, Israel, for GOD. Wait with hope. Hope now; hope always!”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭131:3‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Hope now.

Right now.

Open wide your heart and let hope flood in.

Let it wash over your mind and fill your spirit to the brim.

Don’t wait for a better day, a better time.

This is the day the Lord has made, this is the time you have.

Don’t procrastinate hope, you have permission to hope now – no matter what.

What are you hoping for today?

In Love

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What drives out fear? Love does.

Don’t believe me? Think back to a time when you were in love with somebody. How bold were you? How much hope did you have for the future? Did you do any crazy things with them because you were in love with them?

Did you know you are loved?

You are loved with a perfect love from a sinless Savior who sacrificed Himself so that you could live unhindered by fear and live in His love.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭4:18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus came to the earth He created to perfect love. The word perfect here doesn’t mean flawless, it means complete…completed completeness.

Not infatuation, or an exciting feeling (which starts us out) but a deep developed love that stands the test of time and trial.

His was a love that bleeds when the lash tore open His back and the splintered wood of the cross dug into it.

A love that persevered through the unendurable physical and spiritual pain of the cross until He could utter the truth, “it is finished”.

His love has been made completely complete on the cross. The debt of sin has been paid and the great chasm between God and man has been crossed. Why? For you.

When fear rises up to dismantle your faith or weave it’s tentacles around your feet to trip you up, you must remember this fact: You have nothing to fear. You are in love. 

Christ took your punishment completely so that you could be immersed in His love.

It is perfect love and in it, you are made whole.

Jesus walked the earth, spoke truth to all who would listen, healed broken bodies and restored broken souls to God. It was His love that breathed life into the first lungs of man and His word that drove the darkness and chaos back before that and it is His love that sets you free to love as freely and completely as you are loved.

What drives fear out?
Love.

The love of Jesus.

Hang your hat on it and get down to the business of loving others with the confident abandon that comes with it.

Expansive Grace

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God’s love is so expansive that there is room enough for you and room enough for every person you know. The cross does not have a “Limited Space Available” sign on it. Jesus stretched out His arms for all. God has embraced you and placed you within the unearned luxury of His love.

“But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am.

And I’m not about to let his grace go to waste.”
1 Corinthians 15:10 MSG

Don’t let God’s grace go to waste.

Don’t let your insecurities dictate your obedience.

Don’t let fear hold you back from living and giving God’s love.

God has placed you where you are for such a time as this. Embrace it in grace. Engage in it with grace. Generously receive it and generously give it.

When you find yourself embraced in the center of God’s grace, you can’t help but reach out to those who don’t know that there is enough room in God’s love for them too.

Don’t waste a second.

Someone out there desperately needs to know it.

Be You

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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 – he was not Jesus.
Reminder: There is only one Savior,  Jesus Christ.
You are not tasked with saving people, that is His job and He is good at it.
Your job is to faithfully point people to Jesus.
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.
Pride burdens you with a sense of importance that only you can fulfill.
Pride traps you in perpetual misery about all the things you can’t do and about all the gifts you don’t have. Humility sets you free to do what God 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.
John the Baptist held tight to the attitude that defined his life:
“He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3:30‬ ‭NLT‬‬
It is all about Jesus.
Be honest with others about who you are and point people to Jesus.
Be who God made you to be and endeavor to fulfill what God has called you to do.
What have you been given from heaven to do?
Are you doing it?

Awareness

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“But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭13:11 MSG‬‬

If you are aware of anything today – be aware of God.

If you are afraid of anything – be afraid of getting so busy making a living that you miss making a life.

If you have to make a do to list – put living in the joy of the Lord #1.

Take care of what you need to take care of today but make room for God to interrupt, intervene and weave His perspective into each thing you must do.

Are you so busy that you are oblivious to God?

What does being aware of God’s presence mean to you?

How can you make that happen?

May the awareness of God supersede all else as you are embraced by a Savior who loves you unconditionally and completely.