What Are You Afraid Of? Part 2
Our last post spoke of how fear can be used by the enemy to discourage us and keep us from walking in God's will and all that He may have in store for us. This post will focus on a couple of specific fears that most of us will struggle with at some point or another and what the Bible has to say about them.
This blog was inspired in large part by the principle that we need to listen to what God has to say and act on it in obedience, without concern about what man may say about it. With that in mind, the first fear we will look at is the fear of man and his opinions. Psalm 27 provides great encouragement for those who are tempted to fear what we my be facing from man. David asks, "of whom shall I be afraid?" With God as our light and salvation, we have nothing to fear! Another, even more direct verse, again in the words of David are found in Psalm 56:11 where he says, "in God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me?" One approach to dealing with this fear is the idea discussed in the space a while back about living for an audience of one. The "one" being God.
Another fear we all deal with at one time or another is the fear of death, or even just a lack of personal safety. There are volumes that could be written about this, but I will stick to just a couple of verses. In Matthew 8, Jesus and his disciples were in a boat when a large storm blew up. The disciples were afraid for their lives, while Jesus lay sleeping! Eventually they woke him and asked for his help. Immediately he calmed the storm and chided them for their fear and lack of faith.
Perhaps the most direct words the Bible has to say about death comes from what may be the most quoted verse of all, John 3:16... "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
There are many more fears that attack us all from time to time... Fear of failure, fears of loneliness, fears of poverty or lack... the list could go on and on. Our amazing and gracious God addresses all of these in His word. I encourage you to look to the Bible to see what God has to say about these fears. The Holy Spirit will lead you to a place of comfort when you trust Him with whatever fear you are facing. At the end of the day, the message about all of them is "do not fear". Our pastor told us the other day that the phrase "do not fear" is stated 366 times in the Bible. (Interestingly, that's once for each day, including leap year!) I suspect that more than one of those mentions is in regards to whatever you are facing today.
This blog was inspired in large part by the principle that we need to listen to what God has to say and act on it in obedience, without concern about what man may say about it. With that in mind, the first fear we will look at is the fear of man and his opinions. Psalm 27 provides great encouragement for those who are tempted to fear what we my be facing from man. David asks, "of whom shall I be afraid?" With God as our light and salvation, we have nothing to fear! Another, even more direct verse, again in the words of David are found in Psalm 56:11 where he says, "in God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me?" One approach to dealing with this fear is the idea discussed in the space a while back about living for an audience of one. The "one" being God.
Another fear we all deal with at one time or another is the fear of death, or even just a lack of personal safety. There are volumes that could be written about this, but I will stick to just a couple of verses. In Matthew 8, Jesus and his disciples were in a boat when a large storm blew up. The disciples were afraid for their lives, while Jesus lay sleeping! Eventually they woke him and asked for his help. Immediately he calmed the storm and chided them for their fear and lack of faith.
Perhaps the most direct words the Bible has to say about death comes from what may be the most quoted verse of all, John 3:16... "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
There are many more fears that attack us all from time to time... Fear of failure, fears of loneliness, fears of poverty or lack... the list could go on and on. Our amazing and gracious God addresses all of these in His word. I encourage you to look to the Bible to see what God has to say about these fears. The Holy Spirit will lead you to a place of comfort when you trust Him with whatever fear you are facing. At the end of the day, the message about all of them is "do not fear". Our pastor told us the other day that the phrase "do not fear" is stated 366 times in the Bible. (Interestingly, that's once for each day, including leap year!) I suspect that more than one of those mentions is in regards to whatever you are facing today.
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