Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
Really? "A real Christian would not be afraid or have fear." I listened quietly as the person to whom I was speaking uttered this statement. Many times in Scripture we are told "Do not fear" or "Do not be afraid." Jesus KNEW that we would struggle with fear -- it is part of that 'flesh' we deal with this side of eternity that rears its ugly head. And yes, this is in direct opposition to how the Father would have us think, perceive, and feel throughout our lives. The fact is, we will and do experience fear, even as Christians.
Recalling His Words. It is
important that we pursue the Word of God tenaciously and determine to
get to know the Father better through His Word. We will experience His
peace and assurance by remembering, studying, and allowing the Word to
renew our minds and transform us.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Reading. Perhaps
you are in a place where you do not have access or you are not in a position to actually hold a Bible in your hand. You can access the Bible through BibleGateway and likely get the Bible in your own language. No matter how you access the Word, when the Lord allows us to read and study, we need to be diligent and faithful with His Word and the time that He has given us. It is in this time of study that we gain a better understanding of Who the Father is and how much He loves us. We watch how His Son willingly gave up His own life for us on the cross as we enter this Easter season, and we watch how Jesus interacted with others and we suddenly gain a new perspective on God's character. This is definitely something we do not want to miss and something that can be given to others -- who do not yet have a relationship with Him.
Removing Fear, Replacing Peace
If we want freedom from fear, we need to pursue the Father in His Word, know more intimately His mind, His ways; then we can experience the removal of our fear with the replacement of His Peace.
Jennifer, I've noticed as I get older (I'm 59) that I worry less and less about life in general. When I was in my 30's and 40's I was frantic about the day of tomorrow. Then I was at the height of my powers, humanly speaking. Now .. well I've never earned less, and am disabled (again, humanly speaking) and I don't have a care in the world. I'm not strong enough to do that on my own ...
ReplyDeleteThank you for an inspiring blog post.
Gerhard
Through Pain to Victory
Gerhard -- thank you for sharing. It is definitely a journey where He leads and there are many bumps along the road. However, the faithfulness of God remains -- and as testament to what you shared, He is "making our paths straight" -- thank you for sharing that! Blessings.
ReplyDeleteAwesome post! Love your title too!
ReplyDeleteThanks Nina -- Have a Blessed Day!
Delete