"For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." 2 Timothy 1:7
Tim Bittle is a Pastor in California. He visited our church last June, and again this weekend. He was the speaker at our youth winter retreat. The camp was so close to town, that they got him to come speak on Sunday for our services.
Let me just tell you..his message blew me away! The Scripture I posted above is the one he challenged us to memorize. I have heard this Scripture many times, but the way Tim unpacked it is intriguing to say the least!
As Christians, we've been called to live a life of faith. Faith, we know, is believing without seeing. Some times, for us mere humans, it's hard to walk by faith and something you can't see.
Our enemy knows this, so that's one area he attacks.
God has also given us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, which we affectionately call the "fruits of the Spirit". These are listed in Galatians 5:22-23.
Those things are always in us. Sometimes, we don't guard them, so the enemy gets our mind off of them and onto our problems and we forget.
Fear is a peace thief. But guess what else it is? A SPIRIT. Re-read that Scripture posted above. "God did not give us a SPIRIT of Fear."
Tim said, "Fear is a WHO, not a WHAT. Because we think we are fighting a what, we fight with natural things. Medicine, counseling, alcohol, drugs, etc. Peace doesn't come from a pill."
Medicine and counseling are not bad, and they do help some people with certain issues. Please don't think he was putting that down at all.
The point is, we try to fight fear with natural things, but we can't, because it's not natural.
We must fight it with Spiritual ways. What are those? I'm glad you asked!
- Worship. We are called to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ daily.
- Pray. When we pray, that's us talking to God.
- Read your Bible. God's Word is active and alive, it's one way He speaks to us.
- Memorize Scripture. Hiding His Word in your heart will help you when you need it.
365 times in the Bible, God pretty much commands us to not be afraid. Almost every time He says it, afterward it says, "I am with you."
So, we shouldn't be afraid, and we should remember that God is with us. I need to remember this each time the weather gets bad. I seem to freak out and look at how nasty the storm is instead of remembering that God is with me.
Our enemy wants us to think we are alone. That's a lie. Don't buy into it.
95% of the things we fear never happen. That's a HIGH percentage, wouldn't you agree?
Before I close, I want to mention memorizing Scripture. We need do that this so that when we are struggling or tempted, the Holy Spirit can bring a Scripture to mind to help us.
For example, if we are struggling with our self esteem, the Holy Spirit might bring a Scripture or Scriptures to your heart like, "You are God's masterpiece, created for good works." or "You are fearfully and wonderfully made."
If you don't have those memorized, He can't bring them to your heart. I do not have a specific Scripture to memorize weekly, but I need to start doing that.
Anyway, I hope this helps someone today. You do not have to live in fear. You can fight back!
God bless you today and always.
No comments:
Post a Comment