CWW Week 10 - Day 7 - Fear
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Fear
Scripture:
Fear
Scripture:
Isaiah 41:10 [NKJV]
“Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you with my righteous right hand.”
The acronym for F E A R is False Evidence Appearing Real.
How many things have you been afraid of that never eventuated?
In a world where we have, as a people, become addicted to safety, then we have two drugs of choice in our addiction. Fear and an aversion to risk.
We spend countless hours mining for fear inducing darkness as we strive to remain wrapped in cotton wool. We are running the risk of becoming what we behold. Fear leads to coercion and control and it robs us of our serenity. Remember the Serenity Prayer? We play right into the hands of evil when searching for it. Also remember my analogy of making sure not to look at the powerlines when I flew under them?
In my life of faith, Jesus is teaching me to look straight at him when I walk to tightrope between the cliffs of life. He tells me to “just focus on my face and don’t look down. I will get you home.”
This is what this scripture is about and why it’s the perfect one to wrap our our devotional week on FEAR.
We already know from our journey over the past ten weeks that God is with us always. He sent the comforter when Jesus made His ascension remember? The Holy Spirit means we are never alone.
“Be not dismayed for I am your God.” We understand the nature and character of God now too. We shouldn’t be dismayed because we are seeing His mighty power in all things.
“I will strengthen you.” This is the good news. We can be a ten pound weakling but in God’s strength we are conquerers. Remember back to Philippians 4:13? “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me?”
“Yes I will help you with my righteous right hand.” What does that mean or should we ask, who does this refer to?
This is wonderful so lets find out about the right hand of God. Where better to get this information than the Bible itself.
Go to Mark 16:9
“So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into Heaven and sat at the right hand of God.”
Jesus had just spent His last time on earth with the disciples after His crucifixion. He was consoling them. Here we can see clearly that Jesus is the right hand of God.
Lets go now to Psalm 110:1
David writes here. “The Lord says to my Lord.” ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool at your feet.” This clearly refers to Jesus as the righteous right hand of God. He is our mediator before the Father. David says “The Lord says to My Lord.”
His Lord was Jesus even though Jesus had not yet come in Davids’ time, he knew that Jesus was there at the beginning and will be until the end.
Our saviour; your saviour, is the righteous right hand of God almighty. He is the one who came to show us the character of God through His own perfect character of love. He is the means by which FEAR is cancelled and life eternal is gained. When you know that you have eternal life through Him then what is there to fear but fear itself?
How do we cancel fear?
We love each other as Jesus loves us. We live by His design principles of love and life. We give our cares and worries to Him and we throw ourselves at His mercy as twigs on the banks of a mighty river.
Is fear a totally bad thing? Well of course not. There is a healthy fear that stops you from doing stupid and deadly things. That’s called respect. I love the ocean but I respect it’s awesome power. Remember that’s how we fear God. It’s called reverence and respect. But satan counterfeits all the good things of God and distorts them.
So how do we deal with the ugly fears. Those such as the fear of rejection and being in a world that seems to be totally unsafe. We give that fear to Jesus. We feel the fear but in Him we do it anyway.
Life will always present us with enormous challenges but we know that God will never give us a challenge that He can’t and won’t equip us to handle. The choice as always is ours.
Will we stand with Him in the light, or cower with the devil in the darkness. A choice to do neither is a choice for the dark.
God never wastes a hurt.
Questions
- A simple one to start with. Do you choose life in the light or death in the darkness?
- Are you ready to put fear to the sword in a loving relationship with Jesus?
- Are you afraid of forgiveness?
Prayer
Dear Lord, Papa God.
Strengthen me with your almighty power Lord. Grant me the awareness and respect that goes hand in hand with Your power. May You always be glorified in any strength I hold up against fear. May You be honoured in my courage because it comes from You, and may I accept Your perfect love that casts out all fear. For this I pray in your mighty name. Amen
Graham Hood
