"Fear not, little flock..." How is fear trapping you?

Fear – it can bind us in so many different ways.  There is a fear of the unknown or our future, sometimes even our past, death, and in times of trouble.  We’re scared of things that we shouldn’t be, but you know, it’s human-nature to fear things that aren’t in our control.  I’m not talking about ghosts or zombies either.  What I’m talking about is a fear that will inevitably keep us from trusting that God has things in His control.  But, He ALWAYS has things under control. 

Our future is something that we will always be concerned about – especially when things aren’t going the way we want for it to.  Our life can take an unexpected turn, and then, boom, the devil is whispering in our ear telling us to be scared – that God has forsaken us and left us.  So, we end up FEARING the unknown future because we think that God has tossed us aside because we aren’t getting what we want in our life.

Proverbs 29:25 NKJV says, “The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.”

Let’s begin with the first line of this verse.  “The fear of man brings a snare…”  A snare is a trap.  It’s a trap that will keep us from trusting in the Lord.  Fear binds us from where we need to be in our steps with God. 

There was a time that I feared dying more than anything else in my life.  I feared that one morning my nieces would walk up stairs to wake their Auntie Em and find that I had died in my sleep.  But why should I fear dying?  Why should I let Satan trap me by making me fear the one thing that would bring me to God?  This had become a constant battle with me as I lay my head on my pillow each night.  I would lie in bed crying at times because it scared me so badly.  But one day, I let it go.  I let that fear go and began trusting that God would protect me and keep me in His loving arms. 

“…But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.”  And I’m still here.  I haven’t died, and I’m living to tell a story that someone needs to hear. 

Fear is a trap, and we just have to cut ourselves out of it by trusting the Lord.  Oh but trust is so hard!! How can we trust that our future will go where we want it to?  How can we trust that we’ll live through the night to see another beautiful day?  How can we trust that our past is really behind us and won’t rear its ugly head again? 

That’s were faith comes in.  Hebrews 11:1 NKJV says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Faith is believing that things are taken care of, believing that whatever it is you are fearing is in God’s control.  God has His hands on your life.  He will protect you.  Just seek Him.    

Psalm 34:4 NKJV says, “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.” 

God will take these fears away.  He knows that we’re only human, and that it’s in our nature to worry and fear.  But, what He wants from us is to trust Him, seek Him, and believe in Him because he has our best interests at heart. 

One Sunday our pastor said, “Faith is a motivator, not fear.”  It’s true.  Faith will motivate us.  Faith will cause mountains to move.  Fear will cripple us and trap us inside our own minds. 

Luke 12:32 NKJV -  “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”  God is watching out for us.  He has our best interests at heart.  Why should we fear when all we have to do is seek God and His kingdom? 

I will leave you with this verse. 1 John 4: 18 NKJV “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.”

Be made perfect in love, the Love of God.  God is perfect love.  He casts out the fear in our lives, so we won’t be tormented.  God doesn’t want us to be miserable.  He wants us happy.   

“Fear not, little flock…”  

Where is God?

Have you ever felt like you cannot be comforted from whatever it is that is bothering you?  Maybe you feel like nothing will ever be right in your life again, that whatever hurts you will forever hang over your head.

You cry out the words, "Where is my help?"  And the verse may come to mind, "My help comes from the Lord."

You think, where is God in this?  Don't fret.  You aren't the only one who has thought that.  Even in the Bible, say in Psalm 119:82, it says,

"My eyes fail from searching Your word, Saying, "When will You comfort me?"

Sure, there are answers to your problems in the Word of God.  There are times, though, that you can read through the Bible and not find anything to help you deal with your problems.  Or, you find them but they don't alleviate your worries and concerns.

So you keep praying, and you keep searching. Good.  Keep doing do that.  Because, you WILL find GOD the more you read the word and search for Him.

He hasn't moved.  The problem is us.  We aren't casting all of our worries on God.  We aren't letting go of our problems and giving it to Him.

I've done this.  I've prayed and prayed until I felt like my prayers were bouncing off of the ceiling.  I felt like God wasn't hearing my cries for help, and I felt like if He was hearing them, He wasn't answering them.

That of course wasn't the case.  The answers I wanted weren't in God's will.  He was hearing me, and He was answering my prayers.  He just wasn't answering them the way I wanted Him to, but after some thought, and a good read through Psalms, I knew that I had to "Let Go and Let God."

He wants to help us.  He wants to comfort us, but we won't let Him.  We, as humans, want to fix the problems ourselves.  We want God to take a lead from us and follow our directions, but we can't do that.  We have to follow God's directions for our lives - the Word.

When you feel like God isn't near, I beg you to reconsider your thoughts.  God is right there.  Waiting.  Waiting on you to come to Him and let Him be the Father that He wants to be.  He wants to comfort His child.  It isn't His will to make us suffer.  We make ourselves suffer by not giving into Him and falling into His loving arms that are waiting for us.

Psalm 121: 1, 2

"I will lift up my eyes to the hills - From whence comes my help?  My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth."

I encourage you to read the rest of Psalm 121.  I encourage you to read through Psalms when you're hurting.  God wants to help you.  God IS your help.  Just call on Him, cast your burdens on Him, and He will deliver you.

Psalm 55:22

"Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved."

1 Peter 5:6, 7

"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for He cares for you."

Cry out to the Lord

 

Guys, sometimes it's hard to remember that no matter the storm we're traveling through, there is a light amidst the storm.  God will calm the storm and will bring us out of the things that distress us the most. 

Feeling Unworthy of Forgiveness

Last time, we covered feeling unworthy of love.  Today, I’d like to cover the feeling of unworthiness of forgiveness.

Maybe you can’t see your own worth because of the mistakes you’ve made in your life.  But let me tell you something – You are not perfect.  Once you accept this, you’ll see that it’s easier to move past your mistakes.

Notice I said easier.  It won’t be easy.  This I know, but eventually, the pain will end, and you’ll move past it.

No one is perfect.  Let’s look at this phrase a little closer.

We are only human.  There is no way we can be perfect.  Sure, we ought to strive for perfection, but we’re going to screw up.  It’s just us being human!

No matter how hard we try not to sin or mess up, chances are we’re going to at least once or a couple of times our life. 

Romans 3:23

 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God

That verse proves that God knows we’re all sinners.  We mess up at times.

Psalm 78: 38, 39

But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, And did not destroy them.  Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, And did not stir up all His wrath; For He remembered that they were but flesh, A breath that passes away and does not come again.

See, God knows that we’re only human.  He is compassionate, and forgiveness is ours if we only ask for it.  But that hardest part about seeking forgiveness or feeling unworthy of forgiveness is the unwillingness to forgive ourselves.

Sometimes, we feel like we have screwed up our lives so much that we aren’t deserving of a good, happy life.  But that’s not true.  God has forgiven us when we repent of our sins.  Why can’t we forgive ourselves?

Psalm 103:12

As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

That’s a good question.  One I struggled with for years.  I couldn’t see past the mistakes I’d made.  But, they happened.  I had to learn to accept that.    

Sheila Walsh in “Let Go” says

“To say that we don’t deserve to be forgiven is to make our sin more powerful than the blood of Christ. If God forgives us, then we must forgive ourselves…. Every sin was covered by the lifeblood of the Lamb.”

She also says, “…forgiveness means being comfortable with ourselves, the good and the bad.  We don’t have to be perfect.”

And she also says, “It’s vital, though, that we separate what we did from who we are.”

It’s hard to see our mistakes as a separate entity.  But that’s just what it is.  We made a mistake, but we don’t have to let it define us.  It’s separate from us.  We have to forgive ourselves to get peace of mind and healing from unforgiveness. 

Say this every day, “I’m not perfect.  I don’t have to be perfect.  If I mess up, I will ask for forgiveness, forgive myself, and live life.”

Learn to let go and forgive.  You are forgiven.  You are free from this unforgiveness trap.  Just accept it.

Just Let Me Forget!

Have you ever just said, “I want to erase the memories of those last few months” or something along those lines?  Do you just want to forget ever making those mistakes that haunt you or forgetting that boy or girl who broke your heart?  And you find yourself almost praying that God will let you forget.

But do we really need to forget those memories?  Sure, it would be a lot easier to forget, but those memories and our pasts will eventually make us stronger.  I know it’s hard to see now, but eventually living life with those memories will get easier.  But if you focus on something – sadly, my focus has been on being angry with the people who hurt me (I’m not saying that I don’t care for them or their souls.  I just feel like being angry helps me get past it.  And I don't suggest anger.  It's not healthy, and I'm working past that.) – it helps to deal with the past. 

I don’t think God wants us to forget our pasts because we’re human.  We learn from what has happened to us.  We grow, and we learn what not to do in our future to keep us happy. 

But how do we move on?  Pray.  Study your Bible.  Focus on God.  Sure, those memories will cross your minds from time to time, but if we keep our focus on God and what He wants from our life, we’ll be much happier.  Also, know that He has forgiven us of our sins if we've ever asked for that forgiveness.  He loves us more than we can ever comprehend.  

Everything happens for a reason.  We may never know the reason for what has happened to us in the past, but God does.  God knows what we need, and He knows where we’re going.  Just have hope.  Hope that it’ll all work out in the future.  Because without hope, how can we have faith?  Without hope and faith, life wouldn’t be worth living.

So, although it would be easier to forget, it wouldn’t be as helpful for our futures if we did.  I have to constantly remind myself of that.  I want to forget.  I want to forget my past relationships and mistakes I’ve made.  I wonder continuously why it even happened if it was only going to end in heartache.  All will be revealed in time.  I just have to wait which isn’t one of my virtues.  Patience is something I’m not good at, but then again, it’s something I’ll have to learn.    

Finding the Sun in the midst of the Storms

Thursday night, as I was headed to meet my best friend before we hit the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises, I drove through some storm clouds.  It was around seven o’clock at night, and I had no expectations of seeing the sun again until the next morning.  But I was wrong.  I could see the sun, shining brightly ahead of me and a wall of black clouds directly behind me.

Since I was by myself and the songs on the radio were making me sad, I got to thinking about my current situation in life.  I don’t know where my life is going, and right now, I’m not sure I want to try and figure it out.  Because every time I try to plan out my life, it never goes according to MY plan, but that doesn’t matter.  My life is going according to GOD’S plan. 

This is the picture I took on Thursday. 

Seeing the sunshine ahead of me and the dark clouds behind me though, reminded me that no matter what I’m going through the storm clouds will eventually be on the other side, and the sun will be right ahead of me.  I may not see the sun until the next morning, but it’s there.  Always ready to come back up and shine.

God is like that.  We may be in the middle of a storm, but God is there waiting on us to show us the way, the light. 

I’m not saying whatever your storm cloud is will be easy to drive out of, and I’m not saying your storm will only last a night.  But what I do know is that God is there to help us during the storm and after the storm. 

This reminds me of a quote from Joyce Meyer’s book, The Battlefield of the Mind.  “It’s easy to quit; it takes faith to go through.”

How true is that statement?!  It’s so easy to give up, and the storms overtake us and toss us around.  We believe the lies the Devil is spreading, and we have no idea how on earth to find our way to the Son again.  We question the storms.  Why are they in our lives?  Why can’t we have what we want?  Why?  Why, God, Why?  I’ve been here.  Very recently in fact.  I had too much time to think last night while waiting for the movie to begin at midnight and driving to my best friend's house.  Why am I here?  Why am I facing the trials and storm clouds that I am?  I don’t know.  I don’t have the answers.  God does, and in time, He’ll reveal that to me I hope.  But until then, what I have to do is keep living my life for God, to keep having the faith that He has the storms in His hands, and He’ll deliver me from them.  And the sun is just on the other side of those thick, black storm clouds. 

I will leave you with these verses.

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (NIV)

And here is the last half of Psalm 30:5 “…weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (KJV)

Your joy, your sun will come in the morning.  He didn’t say what morning, but He knows which morning.  And that’s all that matters.  Have the faith that God will bring you through these storms because in the end, all things come together how they were meant to be.