Some days I choose to avoid things, places and people because I get afraid of those circumstances, and what could happen in those places. Those are the days I have taken my eyes off of Jesus.
"You did not receive a Spirit that makes you a slave to fear.." Romans 8:15
I have Jesus so I don't have to be afraid. I don't have to be afraid because He is bigger than he who is in the world, (the devil and all his demons) and those whom the devil influences to do horrible things.
If I stare at the circumstances and situations that this world has to offer, I will be paralyzed by fear. "What could happen?" "What might someone do?" These are the things that plagues almost every mothers mind after she hears of another school shooting, or some other tragic hit on humanity.
Fear paralyzes us.
Ignorance also paralyzes us. Not in the same as fear though. Ignorance allows us only to go so far in our thinking. It allows us to live in a world of lies. It also allows us to be afraid of everything.
Those who are in Christ, are told, we do not have to fear, because the One we serve, is bigger than all we fear. But what about those who do not serve the One who is bigger than all we fear? What of them? (my mind wonders..) What do they do when their afraid?
They probably do something nice for themselves that helps them to take their minds off the fear of the darkness and things that they can't explain or rationalize.
Those who do not fear the ONE an only One who can demolish every fear and stronghold, are in fear of the very One who keeps us out of fear.
Ignorance is bliss. Right?
It's easy to slip into a place of ignorance, and ignorance can appear or feel like bliss, but at the point of death, ignorance goes from bliss, to deadly. If we are not sure of what we are sure of, then we are not sure of anything at all.
So you know not what you think for sure about where you go when you die? Do you think you will care when your' dying? I cared. I cared when things got scary. I cared when answers were no where to be found, and fear arose on every side. In the blackness of the questions that could not be answered, I cared.
I cared when people I cared for died. That's when I cared.
OKAY. Now the hope.
Hope in Jesus cancels out fear. He is bigger than my fears. He's bigger than what I fear, and whom I fear. He starts by calming my fears, which creates the ability to see more clearly, He shows me His strength, which creates trust, and He shows me that He is in control, which helps me trust the plan, even when I don't understand.
Accepting His death, validity of it, is hand in hand with accepting our need for it, and the need is called sin. Sin creates need. Sin also breeds more sin. Which breeds more of what we fear.
It's a vicious cycle, but most of us will remain ignorant until it's too late.
What will it take for our nation to wake up from the slumber...( a statement not a question)
"I tell you my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear, (revere, respect) : Fear Him who after the killing of the body has the power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him. Are Not five sparrows sold for 5 pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs on your head ARE NUMBERED. Don't be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows." Luke 12:4-7
It is amazing to me how we run from the One who can save us. Someone has a lifeboat, and our ship is sinking, but we refuse to admit that the ship is sinking, or that we have need for a lifeboat. What will it take for us to admit we need the lifeboat? Will we ignore the water pouring into our nostrils? Will we look away or try to focus on other things as our lungs take in water? Will we say, "I got the last word" when we lay on the ocean floor dead?
What's it going to take for us to see we need Him. What this world needs is Jesus.
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