January
22, 2019
Here
we are at week 3, and God has been doing a huge amount of cleaning in my
life. Right after Christmas, I began a
purge – of stuff that cluttered my household and my heart.
Then this study began. For me, it
began a bit earlier than 3 weeks ago, because I needed to read and research
each topic and scripture.
What
I’ve discovered during this clean up and purge is it all boils down to
Lordship. Seriously, there are a lot of
very good Christians around us and right here this morning with us. But if we are truly honest with ourselves and
each other, Jesus is not LORD over ALL of our lives.
Last
week I shared some of my anxieties (Read
Here) which God then led me immediately to where I am today. My anxieties are just that - mine. I own them.
I hold them. I carry them around
with me. But the remedy is so simple.
It starts with believing. Oh you can say
you’re a believer on Sunday, then go to dinner afterwards and discuss all your
troubles and go home and worry about your bank account, your job, your future
and your kids’ future. But you said you
believed – Really?
There is no fear in love
But perfect love (that’s God) drives out fear
Because fear has to do with punishment
The one who fears (that’s us) is not made perfect in love.
Here’s
the kicker – fear has to do with punishment.
We are usually afraid of something we sin – a behavior or something we
are doing (gossip, slander, porn, abuse {physical or mental or substance},
shopper, diet, exercise), whatever, and we have truly not confessed it. Maybe our fears are sins/behaviors we’ve
passed on to our children and so we are afraid of their salvation.
Perfect
love (that’s God) casts out our fear – you’re afraid of your past, and your sins are
never going to be completely forgiven – God casts them out (Micah 7:18, Psalm
103:12, John 1:29, Isaiah 38:17). God
casts them out and He doesn’t care where they land. Remember
the story of the demon possessed man and the pigs? Your demons are gone! Well, that is if you believe what Jesus says, then they are.
I
think we don’t quite associate our anxiety or fears with demons, but maybe we
should. We allow these demons to stay
inside of us instead of truly believing what we profess to believe.
Somehow
as I was studying, praying and learning about this, led me to read about Joseph
being thrown into the pit and sold into slavery. Some of us are sold into the slavery of our
fears and anxieties.
Satan is so incredibly clever that as soon as he sees a weak link in our armor, he moves in and whispers and we believe him.
“I think that if I had understood as I do now that this great King
really dwells within this little palace of my soul, I should not have left Him
alone so often and never allowed His dwelling place to get so dirty.” St. Teresa of Avila
Instead
of being held captive in your “what ifs”, you truly need to BELIEVE. And I’ll be the first to admit that this has
been difficult, but it begins with scripture – if you don’t know it and own it,
you will not have the fighting power you need to survive all your fears. We need to be more like Jesus right? When Jesus was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness, He was taken for a reason – to be tempted. Hello!!!
We will ALL be tempted. Life here
on this side of heaven will not be all rainbows, flowers and sunny days! We have been told there will be difficulties. But we have got to stop with all the excuses
(“Well, we are only human…”) Seriously,
we are believing the wrong person!
Instead
of cowering when Satan lies, we need to kick him in the teeth! I mean take the Word and kick him in the
teeth! He wants to take you down. He wants to take your family down. Instead we need to be like Jesus. Three times Satan tempted Jesus and Jesus
responded with “It is written” (Matthew 4).
Each
time you feel defeated and you allow yourself to live there in that pit of anxiety
or to be possessed by the demon of fear, Satan laughs all the way to the
bank. Are you really worried about your
bank account? Or are you going to turn
your eyes upon Jesus?
We have every reason to live in victory. There is NO FEAR IN LOVE and we can start by believing God. It starts with true belief. Belief in perfect love.
God
has a plan. He ordained my life as
well as my kids’ before we were ever even thought of (Psalm 139).
I
have never associated myself with boldness – but today, I see it as a lack of
fear. Having the courage to face the
trials or even the courage to face the day to day. It means trusting His sovereignty and not
leaning on my own understanding.
It
takes intentionality on my part, it takes making my trust bigger
than my fear/worry/anxiety. It takes fixing
my eyes on Jesus. It takes
repetition. Trusting God is not a one-time
thing. Over and over. Moment by moment. Learning to trust Him more. Oh for the grace to trust Him more!