"When your cares are pulling your mind,
will, and emotions in every direction imaginable, God is there to help you pull
yourself back together. When your heart is so distracted by problems that you
cannot focus on what and who really matters, God is there to help you regain
your focus on Him. When the burden of your fears becomes so heavy that you are
just about ready to buckle under its pressure, God is there waiting for you to
heave that burden off your back and onto His shoulders... Because He
"cares" for you!" - Fear
Not by Rand Hummel
As this week started, I was preparing to write
on anger and how God is changing that in my life, but God really worked in me
this week and is continuing to work in me with how I fear and I decided to
write about this instead. Thanks to a dear friend and the book Fear Not by Rand Hummel God has really
been working in my heart and transforming me (changing me drastically) when it
comes to how I handle Fear. A dear friend said to me, "Isn't it great we
don't have to be afraid because we have a God who cares and wants what is best
for us?" I agreed but did I really? As I began to evaluate my heart for
the next couple of days, I knew I was struggling with that. In this trial I am
facing, which is the most difficult trial I have ever faced, I had found myself
living in fear and worry. I was being consumed with fear and worry of the
unknown of the future and I knew that wasn't right, but how do I fix it? Then I
read this in Fear Not: "Those
who fear rejection either do not know or forget that we are to cast every care
we have on God because He cares for us, they forget that God does not love us
with a conditional love based on our behavior or performance, and they forget
that God's thoughts of us are far more than we can even imagine. Why fear with a
God like that? The more you fear, the less you know God."
It hit me like a ton of bricks: I was struggling with being overwhelmed with fear because I was believing false things about God. I was struggling with believing that God had my best in mind and that He knew what was best. I had made myself a god in that sense, and my pride came out and I thought I knew what was best. But oh how wrong I was. I am so thankful for friends and family who say the hard things to me because I need them and the Lord is teaching me to take those things with humility and grace.
After realizing my sin I immediately repented from it to the Lord and gave thanks for His forgiveness and for the friends who spoke truth in love to me. So then what? Then I knew I had to change my thoughts to reflect truth. I had to get rid of those false thoughts about God and replace them (renewing my mind) with who God actually is. In his book, Rand says, "Attack your fears by studying the character of God. God protects. God provides. God passionately loves. Why fear with a God like that?" One of the biggest things I have always believed is that believers today are so shallow in their faith because they do not truly know God. This is the case because we do not make God a priority. How do you get to know God? You get to know Him by spending time with Him, in His Word and in prayer. Just like in a physical relationship here on earth, we must take the time to get to know the other person. It is the same with God, we must invest in our relationship with Him. Many don't do this today because they are afraid of having to change from what they are already doing, and are afraid that they may see sin in their life and do not want to deal with it.
Sadly, I fell among these people. As I evaluated myself after reading all of this, I realized I had been giving into fear for several years. I had been consumed with the fear of loneliness, the fear of the unknown, the fear of the future and the fear of never being enough, and that's just to name a few. My fear drove me to be so proud. I wanted to control so much of my life and others and I did everything I could to make myself feel secure. My sin of fear, manifesting itself as me wanting control, corrupted and destroyed me as a leader, it destroyed relationships, and it drove others away from me. I am sure I looked like a fool for living in such fear, letting it control me. But no more!
II 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." I cannot say how thankful I am to the Lord for showing me my sin and convicting me of it and changing me to no longer let sin have any dominion over me. I am continuing to search the scriptures but also have begun reading the book Knowing God by J.I. Packer again. I am also starting to study the names of God again, and man, I remember when I did this before and it really changed my life and I am looking forward to changing to be more like Christ every day through knowing who He is!
It hit me like a ton of bricks: I was struggling with being overwhelmed with fear because I was believing false things about God. I was struggling with believing that God had my best in mind and that He knew what was best. I had made myself a god in that sense, and my pride came out and I thought I knew what was best. But oh how wrong I was. I am so thankful for friends and family who say the hard things to me because I need them and the Lord is teaching me to take those things with humility and grace.
After realizing my sin I immediately repented from it to the Lord and gave thanks for His forgiveness and for the friends who spoke truth in love to me. So then what? Then I knew I had to change my thoughts to reflect truth. I had to get rid of those false thoughts about God and replace them (renewing my mind) with who God actually is. In his book, Rand says, "Attack your fears by studying the character of God. God protects. God provides. God passionately loves. Why fear with a God like that?" One of the biggest things I have always believed is that believers today are so shallow in their faith because they do not truly know God. This is the case because we do not make God a priority. How do you get to know God? You get to know Him by spending time with Him, in His Word and in prayer. Just like in a physical relationship here on earth, we must take the time to get to know the other person. It is the same with God, we must invest in our relationship with Him. Many don't do this today because they are afraid of having to change from what they are already doing, and are afraid that they may see sin in their life and do not want to deal with it.
Sadly, I fell among these people. As I evaluated myself after reading all of this, I realized I had been giving into fear for several years. I had been consumed with the fear of loneliness, the fear of the unknown, the fear of the future and the fear of never being enough, and that's just to name a few. My fear drove me to be so proud. I wanted to control so much of my life and others and I did everything I could to make myself feel secure. My sin of fear, manifesting itself as me wanting control, corrupted and destroyed me as a leader, it destroyed relationships, and it drove others away from me. I am sure I looked like a fool for living in such fear, letting it control me. But no more!
II 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." I cannot say how thankful I am to the Lord for showing me my sin and convicting me of it and changing me to no longer let sin have any dominion over me. I am continuing to search the scriptures but also have begun reading the book Knowing God by J.I. Packer again. I am also starting to study the names of God again, and man, I remember when I did this before and it really changed my life and I am looking forward to changing to be more like Christ every day through knowing who He is!
I don't know what those of you reading this may
be going through, but I know we all have our own fears and worries. Many of us
are letting those things consume us and rob us of our joy. Am I going to say fighting
against fear and worry is easy? Goodness no! It is a battle for me every hour
of every day but I am striving to change my view of God to be one that matches
up with His Word. To many times we create our own views of God, like I did and
they are erroneous and sinful and we must replace it with the right view of
God.
Be of Good Courage, we do not have to live in
fear of anything! Not the future, not any problem in front of us, nothing!
Because we have a God who holds the heart of kings in His hand (Proverbs 21:1)
and who can part the Red Sea and who can raise the dead to life and who can save our sinful and wicked souls. God can do anything and has your best in mind
because He loves us more than we even know. Choose to believe things that are true and not give into expecting the worst and going down the path of discouragement. Place your trust in Him and not in
yourself, let Him change your life every day!
So how well do you truly and honestly know God? If someone asked you, "Who is God?" How would you answer? If you can't list many attributes or it is taking awhile to think of some, maybe you dont know God as well as you should. Relationships require sacrifice and sacrifice (what you spend your time and money on) shows what is most important to you. God is waiting for us to draw near to Him and spend time with Him and give Him our burdens, for his yoke is easy and His burden is light. (Matthew 11:30) I'm not saying I am better than anyone because I am not. I am as Paul says, the chiefest of sinners. I am learning this right now also and I am humbled because I may be able to recite attributes of God but my actions showed I didn't know much about God. Actions speak louder than words and I wasn't believing it and wasn't living it out in my life. But no longer! For now I am striving every day to trust God completely and give my burden to Him, and apply what I know about MY God. I hope you can do the same today.
So how well do you truly and honestly know God? If someone asked you, "Who is God?" How would you answer? If you can't list many attributes or it is taking awhile to think of some, maybe you dont know God as well as you should. Relationships require sacrifice and sacrifice (what you spend your time and money on) shows what is most important to you. God is waiting for us to draw near to Him and spend time with Him and give Him our burdens, for his yoke is easy and His burden is light. (Matthew 11:30) I'm not saying I am better than anyone because I am not. I am as Paul says, the chiefest of sinners. I am learning this right now also and I am humbled because I may be able to recite attributes of God but my actions showed I didn't know much about God. Actions speak louder than words and I wasn't believing it and wasn't living it out in my life. But no longer! For now I am striving every day to trust God completely and give my burden to Him, and apply what I know about MY God. I hope you can do the same today.
I finish with this song link and encourage you
to go back now and read the quote at the top of this blog and please listen to this song for both have been a
huge encouragement and challenge to me.
In Christ,
Mark Cannon
Psalm 27:14
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