Today’s Song: “No Weapon”- Fred Hammond
Nothing like fear to handicap us from seeing the big picture of eternity, and to hold our gaze captive in the here and now.
I have to admit to you right off the bat, that I am in the absolute thick of dealing with fear in my life.
Girls, I have been going through a period of heaviness in my life like I have never known before.
So much so that I have even stopped writing this for a few weeks.
Heavy, heavy stuff.
A weight of fear like I have never experienced in my life. But before I go into more detail about it, I want to ask you this:
What are your biggest fears right now?
*Fear of being alone?
*Fear of rejection?
*Fear of something happening to a loved one?
*Fear of government?
*Fear of death?
Those are just a few.
Our crazy world has given us plenty to be scared about, and our minds can just run with all sorts of grim scenarios. And every time we hear something that confirms it, it’s like a wrench turning in our stomach, as we’re sure that our greatest fears are coming closer to becoming a reality.
Do you experience that?
Without getting too detailed, I’m going share with you some of what I’ve been dealing with in terms of fears.
As you all know, there are A LOT of terribly sad and frightening things going on in our world; terrorism, war, persecution, starvation, and just a very grim outlook for the future.
For a long time my policy has been to sort of ignore those things.
To not read certain types of news stories, and when I hear something unsettling, to certainly not think too much about it.
What’s the point? I thought.
Why stress myself, have a broken heart and a stomach in knots over things that I can do nothing about?
I assumed that as long as I was doing my part in the way that God was calling me to do it, then I should just try to keep my eyes shielded from the rest of it, because I knew how it would get to me.
“I’m just too sensitive to it all,” I would say.
Too sensitive to really keep a close eye on what’s going on in the world around me.
It just makes me too scared and angry.
So I ignore.
And I’ve gotten quite good at it, the same way I got good at ignoring my #9.
But then, boom,
I got hit with something right smack in between the eyes that I couldn’t ignore.
Something too big and too close to home.
Something that seemed to string together every buried and unsettled fear that I had about government, our economy, where our world is heading, what my children will be in store for, and I couldn’t ignore it.
I cried and freaked out and just lamented from the pit of my stomach, on and off literally for weeks.
Nobody understood.
Everyone that I tried talking to about it did not see what the big deal was.
But I couldn’t shake it for the life of me, and to be honest a part of me didn’t want to!
Not that I didn’t want to feel better,
and settled and secure,
but I didn’t want to just coddle and appease my fear and then go right back into my regular lifestyle.
I wanted to actually deal with it.
I wanted to be changed!
And I knew that the actual situation was, and still is, way beyond my control to change..... so that meant that I needed to change.
Because I just couldn’t imagine having to live in that kind of stress, and fear and pain over it for much longer.
Does this resonate with anyone?
Deep down I knew that God was calling me, in the same way that He did in the situation with my #9, to really deal with the root of my problem.
But this time the root was fear.
And even though I am not yet all the way out of this particular pit of fear, I do know this:
God’s word says that, “perfect love casts out all fear” -1John 4:18
And I am still fearful, so that means that I’m not resting completely in His perfect love.
And place after place after place in the Bible assures me that God does not want me to live in fear of this world.
I know it in my head, but now it is just about getting down into my real, heart-felt belief system. Help me Jesus, I know that you are!
Because you see, ideally I should be able to hear or see the most terrible injustices, and still in the deepest part of my soul remain in the peace of God’s love- trusting in His righteousness, and knowing that He ultimately has control over all things.
So should you.
“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!”- Isaiah 26:3
But the thing about fear is that when we get tangled up in it, it takes our eyes off of Jesus and puts them on the problem.
And staring at an enormous problem through human eyes is the furthest place ever from peace.
In fact it is a downright awful place to be.
It renders us ineffective, because it keeps us sidetracked from going about the things that God’s called us to do in our life.
The enemy tries to keep us reactive to his things, instead of active in God’s things. Bank on it. That’s what fear is all about.
If the enemy can sidetrack you with fear, he knows that it will steer you away from the very calling that Jesus has over your life. Fear hijacks effectiveness.
As I have been going through all of these things and have been dealing with my fears, at times I find myself thinking things like:
“Why am I even bothering writing this book? Our world is coming into such a dastardly state, is this stuff even relevant anymore?”
But the thing is that I know that God’s called me to write this.
So wouldn’t the enemy love it if he could intimidate me out of it with his deceptions of fear?
What about you?
What kinds of things does the enemy have you all tangled up in over fear?
Listen to what God’s word tells us in Ephesians:
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breast plate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints……” –Ephesians 6:10-19
Chuck Smith says this about this scripture:
“It is important for us to realize that we are in a battle and that it is a spiritual battle.
Satan often uses his wily tactics to hide behind people or other physical things to make us believe that we are battling against flesh and blood. He wants to draw us into a physical battle with him. If satan can draw you into the flesh, he has the decided advantage over you. But if we fight against him in the spirit, with the spiritual resources and armor that God provides, we can’t lose. So it is vital that we understand the spiritual nature of our conflicts.” – Chuck Smith
Oh girls, would you read that one more time- and really just try to wrap your head around it.
Our physical bodies are not sacred and we need to stop seeing them that way.
“Your body is just the goat you ride around on, that is all.”-AW Towzer
That’s really all.
Remember our quote from back on Day 5?
“You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.”
Girls, we get so caught up in our bodies.
So caught up in the here and now that we lose sight of the fact that we are fading fast and that our life here on Earth is “but a vapor.”
Our spirit is what we need to be concerned about, girls.
That’s the real us.
That is what we need to strengthen and sharpen.
And we need to know that with Jesus the real us is eternally secure.
The enemy can’t touch us, and no matter what happens to you physically, he can never separate you from the love and closeness of Jesus. (Romans 8:38-39)
Girls, we live in a world where we are literally surrounded by physical death and destruction.
And it is so hyped up because the enemy wants to keep us in a state of fear, because if you don’t know Christ, what’s scarier than death?
But if you do know Christ, what’s better than physical death?
We need to start seeing it that way, because it’s the truth!
Not that we would just go out and try to die, of course not. God has appointed things that He wants us to accomplish here on this Earth.
But like Queen Esther said when she was walking boldly into her very grim-looking destiny,“If I perish, I perish.”
If I die, I go be with Jesus!
Hallelujah!
Don’t let the enemy threaten you with it.
If you believe in Jesus and have invited Him into your heart, then Girlfriend, you already have the victory!
Christ has conquered hell and death, and when we have been made alive in Him we have become alive in a way that cannot be killed by any force here on this earth, no matter how powerful.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33
God has overcome hell and death, what more is there to be afraid of?
Girlfriend, DO NOT let fear cripple you from your calling.
From being that whole, beautiful, and peaceful woman that God’s created you to be.
Yes, fear is a powerful tool of the enemy. But Jesus is even more powerful.
And if you pray to Him and ask Him for help, this too can be under your feet.
But you need to really do it!
Just like in ending your relationship #9, I’m not talking about just pushing the thing to the back of your mind somewhere, and just ignoring it and numbing yourself with distraction.
I’m talking about bringing the thing to the forefront with God and letting Him deal with you on it.
I’m talking about like God really does have things in this life that He wants you to do that are bigger than what you are now able to handle, but through Christ all things are possible and you DO NOT NEED TO BE AFRAID.
These are perilous days that we are living in, and we need to be armed with bravery, girls.
We don’t just like have fearlessness and an eternal perspective.
We need to go to God for these things and let him change us!
So let Him!! I’m begging you!
I want to see an army of brave women who refuse to be tormented by the enemy's threats because they know that he can’t touch them!
Women who know that their God is IN CONTROL.
Women who know deep down in their bones that perfect love casts out all fear.
Today’s Dare: Today I want to help you begin to face your fears with an exercise that I learned recently.
It begins by writing down three of the biggest fears that are plaguing you right now.
Next, find a quite place where you can go be alone and reflect. (A nice soak in the tub would be good for this one.)
Now I want you to go down that list, and let the scenario of each of those things you wrote down, play out in your head.
Like this:
“If __________ ever happened, then _________ would happen, then ______ could happen…” and let yourself walk it all the way out until it ends in either death and going to be with Jesus, or just trust in Him for circumstances that would be way outside of your control.
The point is that sometimes we get paralyzed by a fear because we never let our brain go through the whole process of if it actually happening.
So do that!
And really let the depth and pain of those fears come to the surface! (This could be a scream in your pillow kind of time.)
The point is to get us past the fear of our fear (if that makes sense to anyone), and also get those fears out there to God so He can start to heal you!
