Are You Riddled With Fear?

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Joshua 1:9

We have all heard and maybe memorized the Ten Commandments and probably feel like the Bible is full of rules of things for us to do and not to do. You might be surprised to know that the most frequent command in the Bible is “Fear Not” and “Be Not Afraid”. Together they appear approximately 88 times in the Bible. God tells Abraham, Hagar, Jacob, Joshua, Daniel, Joseph and Mary and many others to “Fear Not!” He speaks through Joseph and Moses, and many prophets of Israel, saying the same words. He also speaks to you, saying “fear not” and “be not afraid.”

We are a society riddled with fear and controlled by anxiety and worry. Think about your life and how fear rules you. We are afraid we will have any number of calamities to befall us. Some of those fears will come true, but most never will. We are afraid we will fail if we try, and we are afraid we will succeed. We are afraid of growing old, yet we are afraid of dying. We are afraid of loving and committing and then being hurt, and at the same time we are afraid we are not loved and never will be. When we have children, we open a whole new area to fear and worry about. The fears never stop no matter how old you are. Some people are so controlled by fear they fail to experience life and fail to live a productive life. God knows that when we are crippled by fear, we are unable to be useful to ourselves or anyone else. We fear and dread the death of our mortal bodies more than anything else. We try to care for them and keep them alive as long as possible. Matthew 10:28 says, “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. . . .” Jesus has already conquered death; therefore, we are victorious. When we cease to exist on this earth, we will continue to exist with Jesus. We have already died, and now we live in Christ. “Fear not, for I am with thee . . .”, saith the Lord (Isaiah 43:5).

Headed to Forty

“Oh, Lordy, Look Who’s 40!” is a stale idiom that is only funny to people who aren’t having a birthday. I have encouraged friends who were turning 40 and looked toward my own impending day and thought–“this is no big deal.” Frankly, I am grateful to have reached this age. I have seen many examples in my life of people who were not even allowed 40 years. Yet as the day keeps swiftly approaching, I feel a sense of impending doom. I always said this wouldn’t happen to me, that I would just have a big party and enjoy the day. I really do like my life, most of the time. As always there are things I would change if I could, but some things are as they are.

Why does this happen to seemingly everyone at this monumental birthday? Probably because at 40 you tend to be stuck right in the middle of your life. You feel bored, tired and ready to move on, but you know that the day after you turn 40 will be just like the day before. We tend to feel stuck in a job that is not profitable for us to leave. We may have children that we are toting around to ball games or other school activities. Maybe time alone is so infrequent that when you get it, you don’t know what to do with it. When we feel stuck, we sometimes start thinking of what we can do to move ourselves out of the rut. Sometimes people end up making stupid mistakes and ruining the life they had and end up no happier than they were before. So, as I travel down the road to 40, with my eyes wide open, I am looking to my God. He made me and He knows why I want to cry and run away and hide. He knows how many years I have left, and how they will unfold. He knows the situations that make me feel suffocated and stuck and I am waiting for Him to move me.

Some ways that I feel God moving me at the moment are to get healthy. It’s not news to me that I needed this, but I have begun to feel the urgency of it. I keep hearing of people in their 40's having strokes and heart attacks, and I’ve just realized that I am there. Another way God is moving me is to listen more to Him. I can’t know what He is wanting me to do if I don’t listen. I tend to fill up every moment with noise. It may not sound noisy, but I engage my brain constantly. I am reading or interacting on social media and sometimes the silence can be just as noisy as sound. We must pull ourselves away in order to hear God’s voice. I can’t complain that I don’t know what God wants if I didn’t wait for His answer. It’s been over an hour since I checked in on Twitter, yet the world still revolves.

Psalm 34:8 says “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” I dedicated my life to God many years ago, but in the hullabaloo of my life I have taken control of parts of it again. I really like my social media–in large quantities. I sometimes feel so bored with the same old, same old that I can’t motivate myself to even do those things that are required. So as I sit in the quiet and listen to God, I also ask that He strengthen my resolve to break bad habits and do better. I pray that he will refresh my zest for the life I have and help me to give it all I have once again. I hope to spend the next 40 years seeking God and taking refuge in Him.

Be Bold, Take a Stand

In Daniel Chapter 1 we see a group of Israelites, God’s chosen people, are taken into captivity by the King of Babylon, and then Ashpenaz, the chief Enuch, is ordered to take the best of the best–the nobles of the Israelites–and begin to groom them for service to the Babylonian King. We can only assume–that for the most part–if you had spoken to any one of these Israelites, they would have admitted to believing in the one true God, Yahweh. They may have also, and probably did, believe in other gods. The Israelites had been flirting with the world and the false gods around them for so long that they were beginning to look less and less like Israelites.

The Israelites in their covenant with God were strictly forbidden from eating certain types of meat–meats which the King of Babylon served freely and abundantly at his table. Daniel did not want to defile himself by doing something that he knew His God had forbidden him from doing. But of this whole group of Israelites in captivity, we only see one boy step up and take a stand for his God, and then of that entire group, only three others follow suit and take a stand with him.

Is it possible that you are in a group of Jesus believers who are starting to look a lot like the world around you? Can you tell the difference between yourself and the Babylon you live in? Sometimes we get so comfortable and used to the way we live, and the believers around us are living in the same lackadaisical, way that we don’t feel we are wrong. If you will listen closely, God is calling you out of your comfort zone into a life that is far more exciting and asking you to take a stand for your generation and those thereafter. Stand up and be different from the Babylon around you–Be like Jesus.

God Came To Clean Up Your Mess!

How many times have I told my family, “You can use the kitchen, so long as you clean up your mess.” As parents, we start teaching our children as toddlers that we clean up our own messes. We pick up our toys, blocks, and help clean up our spilled milk. As we grow older, and see people making dumb choices we sometimes say “You made your bed, now you can lie in it” or “You got yourself into this mess, you get yourself out.” Our human nature guides us to be responsible for ourselves, and clean up our own messes. This is the thinking that causes people to think they have to clean up and straighten up their lives before they come to church or before they come to God. We don’t feel worthy to ask God to help us out of a mess we made ourselves. To those who are already saved, and manage to mess up and make bad choices (as we always do), we think that God is going to rain down judgment and certainly won’t help us out of a bad situation we put ourselves in.

Fortunately, God is not human. Romans 11:33 says “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” The most awesome thing is that God came to clean up our mess. He knew we couldn’t do it, that we had made too big of a mess of our lives. Romans 5:8 says that “God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” He didn’t say, if you will change and clean up your life, I will die for you and save you. The only thing you have to do is believe that you need Him and that He is God and came to save you. Is your life in a mess right now? Do you feel like it’s more than you can handle, but you don’t feel that you have the right to ask God for help. Please remember God’s great love for you, and know that He wants to help clean up your mess!

Pop Quiz

This morning our pastor preached on how we should treat others. His premise was that God loves everyone and He died for everyone. He loves and died for the stinky bum on the street corner; the cruel bully; the snooty, rich man; the neighbor that you wished would move; and that person that “looks like he fell in a tackle box.” Tonight after church, God gave us a pop quiz covering that sermon. There was an old truck with some guys who had run out of gas right in front of the church and people could have easily judged them and been afraid to help, but we made sure they had gas and were on their way.

It’s so easy to judge those who aren’t just like us. Who says we are normal, and the good Lord knows we aren’t perfect. If we are Christians, we have a higher calling and higher expectations placed on us. We are expected to help those people God places in our path. It’s usually pretty clear, when you know God is asking you to help someone.

People are always in a quandary about when to help a stranger. I heard Beth Moore give these guidelines, and I think they are very wise. Don’t help when (a) You simply can’t give or do what’s needed or asked for. (b) your help just won’t help; (c) beyond the boundary is unauthorized danger. Knowing what is dangerous can be tricky, but if you are alone, it probably isn’t a good idea especially if you are a woman. Ultimately, God gives us common sense and He also wants us to listen to His guidance. If you are listening, you will hear Him talking.

God Loves You Anyway

I attended my 20th class reunion last week, and I guess I am waxing nostalgic. I’ve been thinking about the me of twenty years ago compared to me today. Spiritually, I have grown so much, but still realize I have so much more to grow. Twenty years ago, I thought as long as the pastor and my church members didn’t know the real me or what I did, then I was safe. Today, I realize it’s only God that matters. I have heard some people say, "I am so glad they don’t know what I’m thinking." The problem is that God does, but the awesome thing is that He loves us anyway! I don’t like being reprimanded by God, but I have never felt like God didn’t love me. For many years I thought it was more about looks than about substance. In the deep corners of my heart, I realized that God wanted more of me and wanted me to be real with Him. So today, I want to ask you "Are you being real with God?" He knows you better than you know yourself, so you might as well ‘fess up and just accept that you are a dirty, rotten scoundrel. But more importantly, you need to realize that God loves you despite your imperfections. He knows you are a dirty, rotten scoundrel, but He still died to save your soul and He wants you!

Looking forward to 2010

For the past year, I failed to post much. I guess I’ve thought that if I didn’t have an earth shattering revelation to share then I wouldn’t share anything at all. At the end of every year, I always reflect back on the months previous, and give my year a grade. This year, although it has been arduous, it has been blessed and well-spent. I’ve worked hard both at home and work, and had tragedies to deal with as well.

We did vote in a pastor this year. He and his family were already members of our church--the Hamilton family. Then finally sometime around the first of July, we moved into our house. I had thought it would never happen. We did move in a half-finished house–but it has been wonderful. In amongst the work of readying our home and moving, the boys grandmother and grandfather died within seventeen days of each other. We had to make 2 trips to Texas to bury them.

I’ve decided that maybe this blog should be a journal of my life. I hate writing longhand and much prefer to type. I’ve been studying Louisa May Alcott the past couple of days (Little Women has always been my favorite), and her entire family kept journals. My husband keeps a journal, and not only does it help others to look into your life later on, it helps you remember those things that get fuzzy to yourself. So for now I must say that 2009 has served its purpose and I can’t wait to see what will happen in 2010.