Fearless

Margot Woelk was one of Adolph Hitler’s food tasters.  Her job was to sample the foods of the German Nazi leader before he ate them to ensure they were not poisoned.  For nearly three years,Margot ate the most delicious foods known to man.  In her later years, feeling convicted about her service to the Nazi leader, she decided to speak about her horrid experience.  She said, “The food I ate was the most delicious I have ever eaten in my life.  It was only the best vegetables, asparagus, bell peppers, rice, pastas, and about everything you can imagine. The only problem was I could never enjoy it.  For nearly three years I lived in constant fear surrounded by the best the world had to offer.  My job was to eat the best foods that could have been poisoned.  Every day I ate and never enjoyed the food because I feared that meal was going to be my last.”

What do you fear?  People are paralyzed every day by constant fear.  Fear of death, sickness, people, rejection, intimacy, failure and many more rob from people every day.  2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”  Fear is not from God but from Satan.  What are you afraid of?  Fear is a paralyzing spirit.  It will keep you from fulfilling God’s calling on your life.  Satan uses fear to terrorize you.  1 John 4:18 says, “Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.”  God is love and drives fear away.  The Amplified Bible says in 1 John 4:18, “full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror!”  If you are being tormented and are terrified of the fear that is robbing your life then you need to trust in the Lord to remove fear and replace it with His perfect love.

Fear comes to us all in various forms.  My kids were once, and are sometimes still, scared of the dark.  What helped them?  Light!  When Satan throws the dark fears of this world at you, counter it with the light of Christ.  His Word!  Do what David did in Psalm 56:3.  He said, “When I am afraid, I will have confidence in and put my trust and reliance in You.”  So when Satan berates you with the fear of loneliness you come back at him with, “God will never leave me or forsake me” (Hebrews 13:5).  When he tries to scare you with the fear of death, remind him, “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54).  When the fear of lack comes on you, just recall, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).  Whatever phobia you may have, Scripture has an antidote.  

There are many storms in life that are seemingly scary.  Sometimes God calms the storm.  Sometimes the storm rages on and God calms the person.  God can calm you in the roughest of storms.  Fear doesn’t have to captivate you any longer.  God has made you to have faith, not fear.  Worry, anxiety, and doubt are minions of fear.  Don’t bow down to them but have faith and confidence in the Lord.  Isaiah 41:10 reminds us to, “Fear not, for I am with you.  Be not dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, I will help you, and I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”  I encourage you today to face your fear and don’t run from it or hide in it.  Remember that Jesus is with you.  Don’t be paralyzed by fear but go forward in faith.  If God is for you, who (or what) can be against you (Romans 8:31)!  

What To Do When You Dont Know What To Do

Difficulties and uncertainties are both assured in this lifetime. Expecting trials is an irony in itself since no one desires them and when they come we desire them to leave. But they do come and often with fury and burden. How do you face tough times? How do you make difficult decisions when you just want to escape?

Is this your current life motto? “I need direction.” “I don’t know which decision to make.” “I feel like I’m in a fog and don’t know how to get out!”

When you don't know what you should do, because it's not specifically stated in Scripture, you can know what to do about not knowing what to do, because that is specifically stated in Scripture. Read that again. I know it may have sounded like a tongue-twister but Scripture is full of what to do when you don't know what to do.

1. Pray
2. Seek the Lord
3. Turn to the Scriptures
4. Be filled with the Holy Spirit

Jesus said in Matthew 22:29, "Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God." There is only one way to see (prevent spiritual blindness) and that is through studying and applying scriptures thus inviting Jesus in and accepting the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

I am writing this on my iPhone (so excuse the spelling and grammar) from the hospital with my dad. He will be fine but not a lot of answers for a lot of problems - but definitely a lot of the Holy Spirit and a lot Scripture to stand on. Great faith in a great God produces great results. We walk by faith and not by sight!

Read 2 Chronicles 16:7-9. “Relied” is the key word that brought victory. When Asa relied on the Lord, He gave victory. When Asa relied on other things, defeat was the result. We must rely on God and nothing else.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (MSG) says, "So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever."