Saturday, August 14, 2010

A pocket of fear

We have just gotten home from a 16 day journey. In the last 16 days we have been in 9 states, 5 churches, and driven over 3,000 miles. Along the journey I found myself always reaching back into this "pocket of fear" and getting myself worked up. I would worry about small things, big things and things I can not control. So on the road from Mobile, Al to Springfield, Mo, I got out my Bible and began to look up verses about fear. Here is what I found:

Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makesth me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeith me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name sake. Yea, though I walk through the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me: thy rod and thy staff comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil: my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and i will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
No matter what God takes me through I don't have to fear it. He is always with me.
Psalm 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalm 34:8
O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Blessed is the woman, the mom, the wife, the sister, that trust God to lead her.
Proverbs 3:5-7
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.
Give it all to God!! Don't try to figure it out on your own. Live for God and He will guide you.
Proverbs 31:30
Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
Kindness from others will one day end and your youthful beauty will one day end, BUT the woman that fears God will be honored.
Isaiah 41:10
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Hebrews 13: 6
So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
After looking at these verses I found that need to let go of my fear. Let go and let God be God!! And then it dawned on my, this is yet another lesson in growing my faith in Him. If I fully trust Him to get us to Japan, to keep us safe on the road, to keep our bills paid, then I have to let go of the fear! So then I began to look up verses about faith. It is amazing what can happen when we let go of the fear and grab hold of the faith.
Matthew 17:20
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief; for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Do you know how small a mustard seed is? If I just have that much faith I could move a mountain!! What is your mountain? Right now my mountain is our house that needs to sell, the support that needs to come in, the safety as we travel, and I could go on and on. Faith!
II Corinthians 5:7
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
How many times do we see Jesus preform a miracle because someone had faith? A woman is healed just by touching the hem of his garment because she had faith. A child's lunch feeds multitude of people. A blind man can see. A Gentile woman's daughter is healed. All because of faith. What am I missing out on because of my lack of faith? What are you missing?