This Weeks IOTW Quote is:
In Other Words Tuesday
True freedom from fear consists of totally resigning one’s life into the hands of the Lord.
Quote by David Wilkerson of Resigned into God’s Care (on-line devotional)
Hosted this week at: Debbie’s blog, Heart Choices
I can list a lot of things that I’m afraid of.
- Windows without coverings (yes, I’m weird),
- mice (hey, never know what a mouse can do),
- snakes (did you hear the story about how a water moccassin was less than roughly 4 feet from me, in the garage, and hubby had locked the door “he was with me” because we were on the way to church that morning),
- heights (hahahhahaha), seriously, I”m afraid of heights. Can’t even sit on a counter without getting that not so warm fuzzy feeling
- public speaking
- private speaking
- what other people might think
- what other people do think
The list goes on and on and surprisingly what is my “theme” scripture for this year:
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7, New King James Version)
Hubby can’t even “flip me over” without me squealing in fear. Yes, I’m the ultimate scaredy-cat. As a matter of fact, each year, he makes it his mission to help me overcome my fear of heights so I would join him riding on the roller coasters.
I tell him that I’m perfectly fine riding the toddler rides while the kids are patting my hand and telling me it’s going to be alright and the awful choo-choo ride is almost over with, meanwhile my 3 year old is asking daddy if she could ride the gravity defying ride with him instead.
The MHC (Matthew Henry Commentary) looks into 2 Timothy 1:7 and shares its view that the scripture means that:
God has not given us the spirit of fear, but the spirit of power, of courage and resolution, to meet difficulties and dangers; the spirit of love to him, which will carry us through opposition. And the spirit of a sound mind, quietness of mind. The Holy Spirit is not the author of a timid or cowardly disposition, or of slavish fears. We are likely to bear afflictions well, when we have strength and power from God to enable us to bear them.
So, really, there shouldn’t be anything to fear about my arch nemesis: the roller coaster; Though really, watching hubby ride a roller coaster, while I’m sitting in a perfectly still bench situated on the non-moving ground is fine with me.
One great breakdown of what “FEAR” really means is that “Fear” stands for: False Experience Appearing Real; I’m still trying to figure out how that pertains to being suspended upside down more than just a few feet off the ground in a seat that is going around 60-70 mph and a group of strangers screaming around you.
We live a life of no guarentees when we think about it.
There is no guarentee that tomorrow will continue to be like today or yesterday.
Watch the news and see how fast life just happens in the blink of a second.
Yet, imagine that same life, enwrapped in the arms of our Heavenly Father, today, tomorrow and always that, that blink of a second, is absolutely nothing, compared to being wrapped in His arms forever, in His kingdom.
There are things that I’m working through (mice, snakes and roller coasters being pretty far down on my list of need to be worked through and more like avoided like the plague), and as I seek Him, I find myself slowly becoming less fearful and realizing…I can’t completely trust our Heavenly Father and yet, have the other foot root in distrust.
How can I tell someone, yes have faith in our Heavenly Father, He WILL see you through this, if I don’t allow the same thing for myself.
I find that as I let go more and more concerns about this world and just really the fact that everything around us is just temporary.
Our homes, our lives, they are just temporary illusions that when you think about it, can change in the blink of an eye or forbid it, a natural disaster, then where are we rooted in.
There is really one Rock, one firm foundation that once rooted, He’s never going to let you go, and it’s not that He wasn’t there before, we just didn’t let ourselves lift our heads up long enough to see that He was always there, just patiently waiting for us to come to our senses and open our hearts to Him.
Our Father is and will always be there.
We believe-No-We KNOW He IS the creator of everything.
That scary snake (that I really would love to know WHY did He have to create a water moccassin-why couldn’t he have done something about the fangs and the aggressiveness and I don’t know..make it a platypus that just hum and slither instead), serves a purpose.
To scare, I think. Verdict for the worse is still out on the snake, so maybe that is so bad an example.
How about the fact, everything is God’s creation.
No, not the wars.
That’s men’s creation because of our pride and sin.
But this world, this universe, from the first breath of our Father to the final end of the world we know, it was all and is created by Him, in perfect design.
So why fear.
People.
Well.
He already tells us. As much as they may make us feel good, people don’t matter and there goes another subscription, but the thing is…we should not nor should we want to desire another person’s validation.
That’s not who matters. Sorry.
Fear of others will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. (Proverbs 29:25)
What matters….is Him, our Father. The Big Guy. He loves us so much that while everyone else will abandon us, He won’t.
Think Paul had any admirers in his time. Nope.
Matter of fact, few wanted him out of the picture and not just temporarily either.
But in order for us to get there, we have to eventually have that moment, one morning we wake up and go “No more”. Stop being afraid.
I’m one to talk-trust me-I’m one to talk.
As a matter of fact, there are things in the dark little corners that for the longest time, I didn’t want to face, but realize eventually-I can’t keep pretending it’s not there because the more I pretend it’s not there and try to put it “out of sight out of mind”-It just grows bigger and bigger and becomes that 200 lb gorilla flying beside me.
Wait. That’s a commercial.
So what am I doing. I’m scared. Big time scare, but I love my Heavenly Father more. I care more what HE thinks than what my fear is trying to tell me to think, so I seek Him and go, yes those thorns look like they are going to hurt, but what makes it worth it, is what is on the other side. Him.
The refining, the conviction, the challenges, the cleansing, are going to sting, but what’s worth it, is Him.
He’s not going to let us go through this alone and will see us through.
1 But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:“ Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
3 For I am the LORD your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I gave Egypt for your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
(Isaiah 43:1-3, New King James Version)
God is so good and wants so much for all of us, that eventually we just got to stop with the pride and realize-we’re not perfect and we’re also not in control.
It’s not God doing what He needs to do with us, based on what WE let Him do, but rather, we humble our hearts and stifle our prides and let Him do what He needs to do with us by us just going…By Thy will not mine.
18 The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them. (Psalm 145:18-19, New King James Version
Personally, I think “Fear” is a pride and control issue.
Fear is something that we can control, hide behind, use for excuses. In “The Dream Giver” by Bruce Wilkerson, he writes,“After all, fear is a natural human response to a perceived threat. From the inside, where we’re comfortable, fear feels like a barbwire barrier that we should always respect and never climb over.”
Notice that Wilkerson uses the word “comfortable”. It feels, doesn’t it, actually safer to be in fear than to have courage. Wilkerson goes on to explain about courage,”….courage is not the absence of fear; rather, it’s choosing to act in spite of the fear. You could say that withotu fear, you can’t have geniune courage”.
I know this must have you scratching your head now, but really think about what He tells us through Hebrews 4:15:
15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15, New King James Version)
What you are feeling is NOT new.
The martyrs felt it; The people in the bible that you love and read, they felt it-our Heavenly Father FELT it. It’s nothing new and the great thing-He knows you, little old worthless me, anyone who fully trusts Him and just completely give it to Him, can get through this and He WILL see us through.
He’s not going to abandon you or like my husband does, tease you ( like hubby did to me the one time I finally got on a roller coaster ride (tip to husbands: telling your wife, wow that’s a long drop from up here, does NOT make us scream less and a pretty good guarentee when we dig our nails out of your arms after the ride is over that it maybe a while that we get that look of terror off our face and able to speak to you again).
Let Him have complete control.
Take your hands off the driver’s wheel and really let HIM, take over and drive. God is and can and will see us through whatever it is that ails us—except maybe roller coasters. I’m still working on that.
Eventually-only He knows when our time will be that He will call us home; Till then, let’s not waste the life He has blessed us with, listening to the enemy’s lies and letting His blessings slip away. He really does want us to live a rich, full life and it doesn’t mean a beach home in Costa Rica, or a multi-million dollar book deal-What it means is living the life He calls us to live in and through Him.
Everything else…is just small change. Though, Heaven for me…has an amusement land filled with kiddy rides…all geared for scaredy cats like me.
Praise the Lord! Happy are those who fear the Lord. They are not afraid of evil tidings; their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord. Their hearts are steady, they will not be afraid. (Psalm 112:1a,7-8a)
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