Forsaking Fear

The other morning I found myself pondering all the posts I see on FB that are fear based.  Fear for what microwaves do to food, fear about GMO's, fear about what/how the government is taking away our freedoms, fear that they may take away our guns and fear that we may loose our comfortable and easy way of life here in the United States.  As I ponder these things and the mentality of my fellow Christians, I was reminded of the words of Christ where he tells us that we are to take up our crosses daily and die to ourselves.  And he warns us that those unwilling to do so are unworthy of the Kingdom of Heaven.  That is some pretty heavy stuff.

We all have fears.  We fear what people are thinking and saying about us.  We fear the response of our loved ones such that we try to tell them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.  We fear the loss of comfort and we fear the loss of income and possessions.  We fear that the world may be coming to the end or that terrorists may attack us again.  I personally can remember fearing commercial aircraft for a while after watching the attack on the twin towers in New York about a hundred times on the TV.

Fear can be a good thing at times as it can helps us to be cautious when in dangerous situations and fear can stimulate the generation of adrenaline which can give us the strength and speed to get out of a potentially deadly situation.  Bur for most of us living in the modern world, away from animals with big teeth and sharp claws fear only paralyzes us and prevents us from living our daily lives.  When fear enters in and we have no outlet (nothing to run from and nothing to fight) it leaves us in agitated state that prevents us from thinking clearly and just leaves us stressed out.

In 1 John 4, the apostle  John writes in verse 28, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love."

This passage leads me to think that many of us have not reached perfection in love.  We fear loss, we fear pain and we fear separation.  These fears are part of everyday life for people but I also believe they are tools or schemes of the devil.  We are encouraged to not be unaware of the schemes of the devil.  Which means we should not be playing into his hand both rather looking for ways to resist the devil as we submit to God.

The Apostle Paul addresses this in his letter to the Romans in chapter 8 verses 15-16.  "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!”  He is reminding us that the freedom that we have been granted through Christ's death and resurrection has set us free from fear.  When we start posting fearful things on FB or recounting all of our fears, we are becoming slaves to fear.  We are making our fears greater than God's love and mercy.  We are turning our fears into personal idols.  Idols are anything that we give power over us.  Our fear of sickness or our fear of others become idols in our lives.  Proverbs tells us that the fear of others is a snare.  Our fears catch us and prevent us from experiencing the freedom granted to us by Christ and the Holy Spirit of God.

In Matthew 10:28 Jesus warns us, "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."  That is Jesus' way of telling us to fear God and not worry about the small stuff.  As the saying goes if Jesus is not Lord of all then He is not Lord at all.  We have to put Him first in our lives lest we become slaves again to fear.  This is a lifestyle not just something we acknowledge and then move on the next thing.  We must put God first we must fear him above all else (even though He loves us dearly and Jesus said calls us his friends).

We are no longer to be idol worshipers driven by fear and worry.  We are the Children of God, bathed in the love and mercy of All Mighty God.  We are new creations not designed to live as we once did.  We are recreated in the image of our One True God.  We are heirs of God's love and mercy and his greatness.  We are more than conquerors in his Name.

So I would ask you join me this coming year in refraining from re-posting articles that are inspired to invoke fear or shame or worry in people.  We are not people who are to live by fear.  It's okay to have concerns, but some of the things I read that have been posted by fellow Christians are nothing more than fear mongering.  We are children of the living God, the only thing that we should fear is God himself.  These articles may seem like they are encouraging discretion but to me, in my head, I can almost see people grabbing their heads and running about screaming "Oh My God, what are we going to do??!!!"

Faith transcends fear.  Faith says I trust God to work in all the circumstances of my life.  I trust his Power more than I trust humans and their plans.  Faith says I do not fret about the scheming of evil people, but rather trust in God's sovereignty to be with me.

Now what I am not saying is just wander through life without a care in the world.  Even Christ warned us "to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves".  Just don't submit to crazy schemes or walk through life without discernment. Whatever you do, do it as an act of worship unto God.  The world and the enemy work very hard to confuse and abuse us, but when we die to our selfish worries and concerns, we attune our ears and our hearts to the voice of our Master and Savior.

Fear not and be strong and courageous because our Lord has overcome the world.

Blessings, in Jesus Name

Preacher Al

52 Prayers for Greater Faith

Faith comes with the hearing the Word of God (knowledge) but it doesn’t stop there.  First we know about God, but as time goes on our faith leads us to knowing Him personally.  That knowledge doesn’t leave us where we are, but transforms us and changes the way we view the world and how we interact with it.  Faith changes how we act and how we treat others; without transformation there is no evidence of faith, there is only dead words and dead works.

The following was inspired by a post on FaceBook that encouraged me to write a responsive prayer.  I pray that this prayer leads you from mere knowledge about God to living for Him and to living by his principles.  Real faith is carried out not just in the mind or the heart but once it has taken root in our hearts is is carried out by our actions; it becomes our life.  Faith must bear fruit in due season.

Instructions: There are 52 individual prayers so you can use it for a devotion for the next year.  Read each line aloud stopping at the hyphen contemplate the meaning of the words then read aloud “Lord, increase our faith!”  I encourage you to journal each of these points as Christ works in your heart by his Holy Spirit to increase your faith.  Write out what the Spirit is saying to you and make a plan of action for how you are going to petition God for help in this area and what you want to change about your attitude and actions that currently doesn’t reflect living as a new creation in Christ.  As you read God’s Word, I also encourage you to write your own prayers as the Holy Spirit convicts you of areas that are not fully conformed to His will for you.  Feel free to reword the prayer if any line seems awkward to you.

I would also encourage you to ask yourself how knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior has changed your life.  I pray that you will have a holy dissatisfaction that will cause you to draw closer to the true source of faith and life which is found in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Faith is:

• knowing God knows what’s best for us - Lord increase our faith
• knowing Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God born of the Virgin Mary  
  - Lord increase our faith
• knowing Jesus was crucified for our sin - Lord increase our faith
• knowing Jesus Christ is risen from the dead - Lord increase our faith
• knowing Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit so that we might live for Him and by Him
  - Lord increase our faith
• knowing that Jesus Christ is the only true way, truth and life; there is no other way to God the Father - Lord increase our faith
• knowing Jesus is the Good Shepherd and following his voice - Lord increase our faith
• knowing that Jesus Christ is our soon and coming King - Lord increase our faith
• knowing that Jesus Christ is the one who baptises us with fire and the Holy Spirit -
  Lord increase our faith
• knowing that Jesus Christ is our Healer - Lord increase our faith
• knowing that the circumstances and people God allows in our life help us to become more like Him - Lord increase our faith
• knowing that trials and temptations can only make us stronger if we trust in Him - Lord increase our faith
• knowing that God is more interested in our character than in our comfort - Lord, increase our faith
• knowing that Christianity is not merely a philosophy but rather a supernatural relationship with the Creator of Eternity - Lord increase our faith
• knowing that God knows all the dark recesses of our hearts and still loves us - Lord increase our faith
• knowing that the Love of God transcends all things - Lord, increase our faith
• knowing that nothing can separate us from the Love of God - Lord increase our faith
• knowing that we are incompetent in and of ourselves but God still uses us - Lord increase our faith
• realizing there is nothing good in us apart from Christ - Lord increase our faith
• receiving Christ supernaturally in the communion elements - Lord increase our faith
• loving God with all our heart, mind, strength and soul - Lord increase our faith
• seeking first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness - Lord increase our faith
• always forgiving others because in Christ, God has forgiven us - Lord increase our faith
• worshiping God with our whole being; body, mind and soul - Lord increase our faith
• faith is seeing others as created in God’s image - Lord increase our faith.
• loving the unlovable because God first loved us - Lord increase our faith
• caring for the widow and the orphan - Lord increase our faith
• growing in love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control - Lord increase our faith
• suffering for righteousness sake - Lord increase our faith
• being condemned by the world while still living by the Law of Love - Lord increase our faith
• living out the good works that God has foreordained for us to do - Lord increase our faith
• not becoming tired of doing good - Lord increase our faith
• not judging our or other’s success by transitory worldly standards like wealth, popularity or physical appearance - Lord increase our faith
• being ministers of reconciliation - Lord increase our faith
• becoming slaves to Christ - Lord increase our faith
• being freed from the fear of man - Lord increase our faith
• giving up the right to avenge being wronged - Lord increase our faith
• dying to self, that we might live for Christ - - Lord increase our faith
• taking up our cross daily - Lord increase our faith
• giving up our perceived rights yet defending others’ - Lord increase our faith
• suffering abuse, while refusing to abuse others - Lord increase our faith
• proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those perishing - Lord increase our faith
• giving water to the thirsty, food to the hungry, clothes to the naked and visiting the prisoner - Lord increase our faith
• living by the Spirit and not by the letter of the law - Lord increase our faith
• respecting our parents and elders - Lord increase our faith
• seeing that our real adversaries are not human but rather spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly realms - Lord increase our faith
• not complaining about others but rather giving thanks in all things - Lord increase our faith
• blessing those who curse us - Lord increase our faith
• using our spiritual gifts to build up others - Lord increase our faith
• realizing that its not all about us - Lord increase our faith
• allowing ourselves to decrease that He might increase - Lord increase our faith
• considering others before ourselves - - Lord increase our faith