Fear Verses Faith

There is no fear in love; 

but perfect love casts out fear, 

because fear involves torment. 

But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 

1 John 4:18

Apart from God there is much to fear! We live in an unsafe world! Our constantly changing world is only growing more and more unsafe. Every effort to try to create a sense of safety is futile. Nothing can stand the test of time, nothing except God! 

I watched a deer cross the road this morning in front of on coming traffic. The cars slowed and came to a stop as the graceful animal slowly crept across the street to the thick bush. I watched and thought of how many deer have failed to cross the road safely. I thought how brave of that animal and yet how ignorant as well. Isn't that the case with us? We creep and even dart out into our daily routines as if we are untouchable. How bravely foolish we are. There is much to fear in the simple acts of daily life and yet even the deer of the forest seem to be able to shake off fear and march forward into possible danger. 

How I struggle with fear. Fear loves to torment! But God the Creator of us all says, "Do not fear!" How are we, how am I to shake off this fear that is ever tormenting me? 

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

Being tormented by fear is no different than any other plague or sickness of this world! Fear has been over come by our Lord and Savior! What do we fear? Death? He is risen!!! Praise the Lord! 

Father how I long to be free from fear! I know God Your words are true because You are truth! God let my heart be made well by Your great love for me! I believe You can save me from these fears! Help me to live Your truth! Lead Your fearful daughter in to Your perfect Love that will cast out all of her fears, in Jesus name AMEN!

And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.” (Mark 5:34)

Truth and Lies

 For though we walk in the flesh, 

we do not war according to the flesh. 

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,

 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, 

bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

I have discovered, as I am sure you have, that it is so much easier to believe a lie than truth! The crazy thing is I think sometimes we prefer the lie over the truth. Why? To be completely honest, as painful as this is to admit, self pity satisfies some fleshy part of us. Believing we are worthless and dwelling on our shortcomings and failures is something we can hold onto and carry through out the whole of our lives if we so chose.  Believing the truth that Christ has made us free from the bonds of sin is an attack on our love affair with self pity!  But it's time to end this dysfunctional relationship with self pity and accept Christ's love!

Jesus is the way the truth and the life it says in John 14:6.  On the reverse of that scripture we see that before we come to know Jesus we are traveling down the wrong path and believing a lie and it leads to death.  

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:30-31)

Sounds so simple doesn't it? But it is the hardest thing to do sometimes! The act of believing means taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ! Every single tiny miniscule insignificant thought must be taken captive and washed in the light of God's truth! Wow, that is a lot of work! Yep, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! (Phil 4:13) Do you believe that? Because if you don't believe you can do all things through Christ who strengthen's you then you've already lost the battle!

Trust is hard for us fearful humans to do! I know my own issues with trusting. Pain and heartache in our relationships with other people wear us down. We see how people have failed us and believe the only person we can count on is ourselves. Let me just assure you right now, this is a big LIE! There is One we can trust above everyone, Jesus is the way the TRUTH and the life. He will never lead us astray He will never let us down an HE will never leave us! But we can leave Him... We can chose ourselves over Him. We can create any belief we want to in our own minds and convince ourselves we are right. "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive."

Neil T. Anderson says in his book, The Bondage Breaker, "It is your individual responsibility as a believer to repent and believe the truth that will set you free. Nobody else can do that for you. I can't put on the armor of God for you, believe for you, repent for you, forgive others for you, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ for you."  Lets face the truth! WE ARE NOT GODS! We didn't create ourselves and we certainly can't save ourselves, so lets look to the One who can!

Lord You know these spiritual struggles we face everyday! You made a way for us to be victorious in everything we face. You gave us Your Son, You gave us the Holy Spirit and Your Word, help us to put on the whole armor of God as it says in Ephesians 6:10-18. God with You we needn't fear because Your perfect love cast out all fear! Lord Your ways are perfect and good give us the desire to be obedient to believe the truth instead of the lie!

The Whole Armor of God

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—
(Ephesians 6:10-18)



 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Meditate on These Things!

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 
(Philippians 4:6-8)

God You Already Know!

I know I am weak! I know I fail everyday! I know I am only dust, here today and gone tomorrow!
Lord I have nothing to offer You! Everything I offer You comes from You first! You have brought me here to this place and provided and protect me and my children up to this day! Please Lord be with me still. Keep me always seeking You and Your will! Thank You for loving me!

The Reason Why

 Imagine if you will a child asking why?

"Why do I have to eat my vegetables?"
"Why do I have to go to bed?"
"Why can't I have a puppy?"
"Why do I have to brush my teeth?"

What is the most common response a parent will give to the child's question of why? If you're thinking, "Because I said so," is the most common response than you are tracking with me!

Why oh why do we ask why?

My son asks me a certain "why" question a lot. "Mommy, why did dad have to die?"

What does a mother say to her child when she asks the same question from time to time?
"I don't know why."

I do know why people have to die, because of sin.
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Genesis 2:15-17

Just a little side note... the woman wasn't even created when God gave the man this commandment...for all you who solely blame Eve. ;)

Anyways, we have all heard the story of how Eve ate the fruit and gave it to her husband and he ate too and their bad choice led to our falling into this place of disconnect with our Creator God.

So that's why! God said do not and we did! But why can't I eat the fruit God? "Because I said so!"

But even knowing that we still question, why? I wonder if in cases of suffering and pain, that there is more behind the question than we realize? God help us to understand the cry behind the why!

Maybe there is a deeper search inside of each question of why. A missing piece to the puzzle of our lives makes us always wonder, even if we don't come right out and say it. What am I here for? What is all this pain for? Why does it feel like something is still missing? Maybe there is something deeper or perhaps we are just ungrateful children!

The truth is we were created to have a loving and pure relationship with God! We were created to worship God! God loves us and He gave us the whole earth but we rebelled and broke His heart. And instead of admitting our fault and asking for forgiveness we ran and hid ourselves from Him. Typical human heart! We didn't want to see what we had done in the face of love. So out of sight out of mind.
But that God of great love is still seeking us out. He has paid the highest price to win our hearts! Jesus Christ His beloved and perfect Son shed His blood to pay for our sin and to return us to our Creator God.

If you've ever lost someone you love you know the pain that comes from such a loss. God willingly suffered a greater loss for the sake of saving us from ourselves and from the chains of sin and death.

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Romans 5:7-10

What are we here for? To get a good education and find a great job, start a family and go on vacation once a year...hmmm? That to me just doesn't seem to fit anymore! Those things are wonderful gifts that we get to enjoy but certainly not the reason why we are here! What would you do if you found out that the only reason you are alive today is because someone gave up their life for you? How could you go on being satisfied with anything besides devotion to that one by trying to live for them?

What about the pain of life? Bad things happen in this fallen land but; "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

It has certainly been seen through the ages how great men were born out of adversity. What if these sufferings and pains of life were somehow for our good? Can we receive beauty for ashes? I believe it's the only way! When we read stories and watch movies there is always some conflict for the main character's to over come. What would be the fun in a story where no fight no battle no destination needed to be reached or sacrifice made? Why do songs strike the cord of our hearts unless we can relate to the message behind them be it anger or sorrow or love or joy or whatever?

Let's face it, a life of pain and heartache beats watching paint dry! Faith is the key to overcoming this life! We will all be given the free will choice to have faith or to be full of fear. Hardships will either make you better or bitter. Author Randy Alcorn once said, "A faith that can't be shaken is the faith that has been shaken."

Praise the Lord for the chance to live a life full of love!

Love Assumed Isn't Love

Do you know Love?

Love is supposed to be the most amazing feeling we will ever experience. Love is supposed to fix all wrongs and cover all sins and be the ultimate goal of our lives. I don't know what you've experienced in this life, but I've come to know with certainty that, that kind of love isn't very common! No, if that is love than our world doesn't know of love! 

1 Corinthians 13:1-8a says; Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;  does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. 

So if we don't know this kind of love, what do we know? Maybe we assume to know love? Have you ever had a fight with a person you loved only to find out that the whole fight stemmed from an incorrect assumption? 

We study to know these hard equations and theories, we spend years and years perfecting a skill or trade to try to have some security or certainty in this risky world we live in. But, do we know the reason for life? Do we, in all our striving for successes and picture perfect lives, ever stop to consider our foundation? What are you grounded in? What is the ultimate end of all your striving?

1 John 4:17-19
Love has been perfected among us in this:
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment;
because as He is, so are we in this world.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear,
because fear involves torment.
But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
We love Him because He first loved us.

This bit of scripture is referred to as the "Consummation of Love."

~Consummation defined; 1  the act of consummating <the consummation of a contract by mutual signature>; specifically : the consummating of a marriage. 2  the ultimate end : finish.~

Have you ever seen evidence of a perfect love? Perhaps not? Well be of good cheer because there is such a love!  

Look at that scripture again....Love has been perfected among us, love is here! He is here, Emmanuel! Christ came and dwelt among His creation and died in order to save us from our sins. If we would only believe, have faith, that He loves us enough to save us from ourselves and from the chains and bondage of sin. We are forgiven the moment we ask of Him and He makes us new. Then Christ Himself takes up residence in our hearts and it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us! And love, real love is revealed to us in Him. Love like you've never known, you could never know otherwise! God loves me that much! He loves you that much! He loves them that much! 

There is no way to tell you in mere words of His love! You can't sing about it enough and you can't meditate on it enough! You can't stop His love for you! 

Do you believe in His love for you? If there is any sign of doubt in your mind then fear is blocking your path to His love. Fear is the opposite of faith. Fear doesn't believe and fear leaves you hopeless. Maybe you're like I was and you think, "the act of faith takes such courage, only the bravest of souls could have faith in an invisible God's love!" I say to you now, Even the tiniest faith is enough! 

Give up your fear, trade it in for faith. Don't let fear torment you a second longer! You are loved more than you know, more than you deserve!

Mark 9:23-24; Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Eucharisteo

Wow! God's word is living and active. This morning I read Genesis 20-22. Our church is reading through the bible in a year, again. I've read this bit of scripture many times before, but this time I was armed with my journal. Thanks women's ministry for "The Devotional life" bible in a year journal!

God's timing is always perfect. He does the most amazing things to prepare us to partake of His word. Since my beginning He has been gently revealing Himself to me. But this meal of His divine bread was especially longed for over the past year. I'm not sure why some seem to grasp truths like these at different ages and stages of life. I just know I am now blessed to have received this hidden treasure into the depths of my soul, never to be forgotten!


Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”  And he said, “Here I am.”  Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22:1-2)


I've never understood how Abraham could even think about doing this seemingly cruel and heartless thing.  To offer up your own flesh and blood to a God that previously promised to give unto you. When I was little, and I know this isn't politically correct thinking but bare with me, I learned the phrase Indian giver (click the link to see what Wikipedia has to say about this phrase). It was meant to describe a person who gives you a gift and then wants it back. I guess I somehow bound that phrase with the passage of scripture where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his one and only son whom he loved.

Wrong perception of God indeed, and this was the day the Lord was going to correct that ignorant thinking of mine. Abraham knew he was created by God and for God. He knew that God was good and that He was just. Abraham trusted God!

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him...Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. (Gen 22:3&9)

My heart aches at the thought of willingly offering up a person I love so much for a sacrifice to a God I've never seen or held or known the way I know my loved one. How could love do something like that?


But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”  So he said, “Here I am.”  And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”  Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” (Gen 22:11-13)


Well, love did. And in that one obedient act of devotion to God the Father; ...the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (Genesis 22:15-18)

Wow, OK, way to go Abraham. Adam and Eve procured for us a pretty horrible curse with their disobedience but you've gained us some major blessings!

There do you see it, hidden between a curse and a blessing...between obedience and disobedience? Perhaps you need some magnification...

A promise was made. A gift was given. The One whom created it all gives a gift to the one He created. To One all belongs and the other nothing was owned. Abraham knew he was born poor and naked. He brought nothing into the world and he would surly take nothing out. Everything he had was on loan from God. He knew without God he was nobody with nothing but with God he was somebody with everything.

Last year my husband died. God seemed harsh and cruel to me even though my eyes had read in His book that He wasn't, my heart bled those thoughts. How could God allow me to experience such pain and grief and suffering? My oldest son who is 9 has been talking about death a lot lately. In fact just yesterday he asked me if I thought Déjà vu happened right before a person dies. He has been plagued with déjà vu's recently and like his mother, tries to explain the unexplainable. I told him, no of course not!

With death being the recent topic of choice around my house, I started having anxious thoughts, especially after reading how God asked Abraham to offer his son. My mind raced with what-ifs and while my son was away at a restaurant for a friends birthday party this evening I felt afraid. But then something odd stirred on my heart. It was peace. It was strange! I thought about how I lost my husband and though I might have said that I had accepted it, there were still times when I most assuredly, did not! I thought how Abraham must have suffered and agonized over what he was about to do. I thought of how God freely offered up His perfect Son to pay the ransom price for us sinners. And then I thought of Job who lost everything and in one courageously painful statement declared; “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)

All that said, after my fear had ceased completely, I picked up my son from his birthday dinner and when we were safe and sound in our home once more I hugged him and swayed him with an overflowing heart of thankfulness! Then later that night the Spirit, still swirling about me had one last thing to say. I picked up a book I had disowned to the bookshelf last year for whatever reason. The title, One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp. I read the word Eucharisteo which is the original word used in Luke 22:19 where it reads, "He gave thanks." The author's spellbinding description of thankfulness was God's final awakening to my blind eyes.
"Thanksgiving--giving thanks in everything--is what prepares the way for salvation's whole restoration. Our salvation in Christ is real, yet the completeness of that salvation is not fully realized in the life until the life realizes the need to give thanks. (One Thousand Gifts page 40)

There it is! The hidden truth between the fall and the blessing, between disobedience and obedience. Thanksgiving. In an instant every bad thing that has ever happened drops away like a dead leaf and makes room for the blossoms of spring. Wow, God is good! God knew that when we were given everything we wouldn't be thankful. God knew thanksgiving needed to be cultivated. Who can understand a grateful heart? Not one who is given everything, but one who struggles and suffers and fights for his bread.

There is no way we could earn our right standing before a Holy and perfect God. He doesn't ask us to sacrifice any blood because He's already provided the perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ! Though He is worthy of all sacrifices, His great love for us is that He made a way for us to be reconciled through faith in the shed blood of His greatest sacrifice.

I hope and pray you were able to discover His truth through this post! God is good and works all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28).

Amazing Love

Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:1-12

 “Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed;
Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame;
For you will forget the shame of your youth,
And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
For your Maker is your husband,
The Lord of hosts is His name;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel;
He is called the God of the whole earth.
For the Lord has called you
Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Like a youthful wife when you were refused,”
Says your God.
“For a mere moment I have forsaken you,
But with great mercies I will gather you.
With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment;
But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,”
Says the Lord, your Redeemer.

Isaiah 54:4-8


God, You are... there aren't enough words to sing Your praises! I am so amazed by Your sacrificial love for me! You have done so much to bring me here. You moved mountains to keep me safe! You provide for my every need and bless me with more! You restore me, You heal me, You grow me closer to You! I couldn't imagine a love like Yours!
God Your love is so gentle and sweet. I might have missed knowing Your love if You hadn't beckoned me and drawn me in with Your mysterious leading. God thank You for loving me! I don't deserve Your love! Your love is limitless and everyday I discover more about You. God You make me love You.
My God let me know You more. I want more of You!
I am in love!