NO FEAR

Where fear is present, wisdom cannot be.- Lucius Caelius Lacantius

 

To our surprise, the small town we lived in was having trick or treat hours the day before Halloween.  It was a Sunday and I was getting ready for the evening service at church.  My wife was tending to one of my twin daughters while the other one was standing at the big plate glass window looking out into the front yard.  Suddenly I heard a scream and watched as my young daughter with a look of terror step away from the window and then with a burst of speed ran to me and she clung to my legs tightly with all the strength that she could muster.  I lifted her to me and she wrapped her arms around my neck tightly and buried her face into my neck.  A sharp rap sounded upon the door and before me I saw a group of kid dressed up in face paint and mask.  Before me at the door were ghost, goblins, and zombies.  My daughter had fallen victim to the age old motif of Halloween: fear.  God did not give us fear.  “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7).  So often we are guilty of letting fear control our days and our circumstances, yet a Christian life should be a life without fear.  There should be no fear because of His protection.  In the heat of the battle and the darkest of night, He is with us.  He shields us in the arms of His love and wraps us tightly in the embrace of His grace.  No matter what circumstances we are faced with, He invites us to come to Him and to leave those problems at His feet.  A hightower, a fortress, a shield, a buckler, a refuge; in Him can all these things be found.  No matter our high the floods rise, I have no fear, because my high tower can take me higher above the waters. 

He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.  You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.  A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.-  Psalm 91:4-7

Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. – Psalm 91:14-15

I have no fear because of my past.  The guilt of my past will no longer be held above my head.  I have been released from the fear of my past due to His mercy which endures forever.  I have been clothed in His righteousness.  I do not need to look back to my past, for that is not where I am going.  Where I am going is not behind me, but in front of me.  The sins and guilt of my past has been removed far from me.    

“As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). 

I have no fear because of the days ahead.  He sets my path.  Though at times darkness seems to beset us on either side, I will cling to Him whose light shines far into the days ahead.  I will cling to His promises of what lies ahead.  Death may come, but victory will and shall be mine.  The saints of old have long since experience that victory, and I have no fear because that same victory has been promised to me.  No fear.  What the world has to offer, Heaven’s deal is sweeter.  In this world, all things are temporary, but in heaven, life is everlasting.  There is nothing this world can say to me that will bring fear.  There is nothing this world can do that will bring fear.  I place my trust no in the hands of creation, but in the hands of the Creator.  So we may boldly say:“ The LORD is my helper; I will not fear.  What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6).  On this day, a day magnified on fear, I will cling to the promise of Jesus to His disciples many centuries ago. 

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.   And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” John 14:1-4

Sing the Heart's Song

There is a song in my heart.  It does not matter what occurs in life, my heart is filled with a song.  God is so good.  One night, I stood in the cool autumn air grilling a delicious dinner.  The sun had long hidden beneath the horizon.  I gazed at the many stars twinkling like a blanket of Christmas lights decorating the Midwestern sky.  My heart began to sing.  “God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He’s so good me”.  His creation sings its song along with me.  The slight breeze rustling through the crisp brittle leaves splashed with color hanging to the branches with its last strength prolonging the inevitable bringing a sound like a thousand applause carried across the harvested fields of the Midwestern plain.  God is so good.  The birds in the trees resting for the night before continuing their long flight southward lifting its song sung since the beginning of creation like a majestic choir, its melody carried along that same breeze soars into the highest heavens.  God is so good.  As we ponder and reflect upon God’s goodness, our hearts should be filled with a song of freedom.  Once shackled by the heavy burden of sin, our soul, our hearts, our guilt, our conscience have all been set free by his redeeming blood shed on the cross of Calvary motivated by His undeserved love for us.  Endowed with the promise of eternal life, no longer are we under the bondage of fear.  God is so good.  Our songs should be a song of fortitude.  John Newton wrote “Through many dangers toils and snares, I have already come.  Twas grace that brought me safe thus far, that Grace will lead me home”.  As the days have passed in the years of our lives, so also have the difficulties come and gone.  Through it all, we have never faltered nor did we quit.  Our journey continues until our time is done.  The beaten body of Paul in the dreary dark prison of Philippi still managed to muster up a song in the darkest of night.  A life was changed.  Job in the midst of his troubles says, “But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night;”. (Job 35:10).  God is so good.  Our worship should not be just one day out of the week, but everyday.  Lift your praises to Him.  By the grace of God, we are what we are today.  Only He can give you the song.  When the sun shines, he gives you the song.  When the winds blow, He gives you the song.  When the dark clouds roll, thrust yourself into the secure arms of God and let Him give you the song.  He has brought you safe this far, He will take you even further.  God is so good.  Psalm 96:8 -Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.  You are not a victim.  You are a victor.  In him is victory.  Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will[a] have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).  Why are you fighting the battles?  Let him fight it, you just sing the song.  God is so good.  Worship him, because of His grace and His majesty.  Worship him because of His power and His knowledge.  Do not contain the song within you, but let it flow from within.  Let the world know of His goodness in your life.  Sing.  Let your heart’s song be heard in the valleys and on the mountaintops telling others what goodness has been wrought in your life.  Stand on the sandy ocean shores and sing across the waves the glory and the honor of God.  Albert Barnes said, “Praise now is one of the great duties of the redeemed. It will be their employment for ever.”  Praise is merely a preparation of us for what is to come.  The moment in eternity when into the far reaches beyond time, when time is no more, we shall still find ourselves at the marvelous throne of God still singing our praises.  Sing.  God is so good.  Our testimony is our song.  God is our subject.  The world is our audience.  Let Psalm 96 be our standard of worship, not today only, but everyday.

O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth. Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day. - Psalm 96:1

You are Carrying Too Much

One of the things I became impressed with about my wife during the early days of our marriage was her ability to pack up for a week long trip in one suitcase.  Now, things have changed.  On a recent weekend, a two night stay in Saint Louis found our van bursting at the seams, with little space for much else.  A family trip now takes more than half a dozen trips from the house to the van to pack.  Sometimes, I feel like we are carrying everything.  You can almost hear the shocks and struts groaning beneath the weight of our belongings that are being carried.  Having three small children will do that to you.  With the worries and cares of this world resting squarely upon our shoulders, much like the shocks and struts of that van, we groan beneath its weight.  One of the most valuable lessons that I learned while unpacking the van at the end of the trip was the discovery of unnecessary items.  I found items that we did not even need.  Do you know why your burdens are more than you can bear?  Because you are carrying something God did not ask you to carry.  I Peter 5:7– “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you”.  How soon we forget that the burdens that we carry are not for us to carry but to place at the feet of God.  He did not give us burdens to carry, He gave us burdens so that we can learn to trust Him to carry it for us.  Sometimes we suffer the same symptoms as Martha in Luke 10:38-42.  She along with her sister had Jesus and His disciples in her home.  She was so busy scurrying and tending to the needs of her disciples that she forgot one of the most important and needful things.  Her sister on the other hand was sitting along with the disciples hanging to every word of Jesus.  How similar is that to so many busy Christians.  We get so caught up in our services to the King ready to do whatever necessary and seeking to impact others for the cause of Christ, that we forget something so important. Sometimes the burdens of our service begin to slowly weigh us down.  Should the burdens, worries, and anxieties build up, it could do so to the point that we will reach the danger of burnout.  When that point is reached, we will be rendered ineffective. Cast your cares on Him, for He cares for you.  Even our lives of prayer should enable us to lay our burdens at the feet of God.  Philippians 4:6 – “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;”.  Why worry?  We have no need to worry.  The world is filled with worries isn’t it?  We worry about sickness, death, hurts, relationships, finances, etc.  Yet being surrounded by all that, we don’t have to worry.  Remember the first part of Philippians 4:6 tells us to be anxious for NOTHING.  Worries bog us down.  It robs us of happiness.  It robs us of sleep.  It robs us of strength.  It robs us of faith.  Sometimes our worries are mere molehills made into mountains.  Our worries make problems bigger than they really are.  No matter what you are worried about, you are carrying too much.  You do not have to carry it.  Give it to God.  Trust Him.  Let Him take care of them for you.  Remember, God is bigger than any mountain we can face.  He created the mountains.  He can move them.  A preacher once made a worry jar.  For every problem that began to worry him he would write down those worries on a piece of paper and place them in the jar.  Every Tuesday he would go through the jar and deal only with the problems on that day.  To his surprise, he discovered that many of the problems he faced had already resolved themselves.  The lilies of the fields and the sparrows of the air are well cared for in the omniscient Creator.  With that great truth the realization that you are not alone should come.  Much like His eye is on the sparrow, His eye is also on you and He cares for you.

Wisdom in Waiting

George Washington Carver says, “There is no short cut to achievement. Life requires thorough preparation - veneer isn't worth anything”.  David was ordained to be the next king of Israel, but before he was to ascend to the throne, he had to bide his time.  David had a long period of transition in his life.  He was waiting on God’s plan to be fulfilled.  One of the most beloved Psalms of David is Psalm 27.  It is in this Psalm in which you find a verse so fitting.  It is verse 14:  “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD“.  His time had not yet come nor would it come until the reign of Saul was to end.  Until then, David waited.  We are waiting ever so anxiously for God’s promise to be fulfilled or his plan for our lives to come to fruition.  Days and weeks, sometimes month and years will pass before we can ever see the light of His promise.  Where is the wisdom in waiting?  We strive to trust in His omnipotent and His omniscience and rely upon His majesty and His power.  We spend much in prayer claiming His promises for our lives and seeking guidance in His will.  As each day passes, we feel that our prayer has yet to be answered or His promises have yet to be fulfilled.  Has he forgotten us?  Is He ignoring us?  Those are sometimes the questions that we dwell upon in the moments of our human weaknesses.  Have you ever considered that now is not yet time?  In all the moments that David was waiting on God’s promise and plan for Him were to be fulfilled, David was being prepared.  When we are striving to achieve His next phase for our life or clinging to His next promise to be fulfilled, God is taking this time to prepare us.  A dear friend of mine made this comment: “Need to find the needle in the haystack?  Burn the haystack.”  The comment was made in humor, but more often than not, it is how we feel in life.  We tend to live in a microwave society.  We want everything instantly.  Even today, a home-cooked meal is more flavorful and more filling than one microwaved from a frozen state.  When one makes a meal, the melding of ingredients and flavors can be improved with each step until the final prepared product is ready to be cooked.  Whereas, in a microwaveable meal, more often than not, you are relying upon the flavor enhancement of the manufacturer which is often diminished or weaken in the frozen state.  By the time the meal has been cooked, any attempt to enhance the flavor will be too late or too weak.  The preparation of that home-cooked meal is what makes that meal all the more special.  In Christian life, the preparation during our phases of waiting ensures that we are ready for the next phase of His plan or promise.  David during his transitional phase, while waiting on God’s plan was being prepared as the next king of Israel.  His waiting was not in vain.  God has not forgotten His promises to us; even to this day He still keeps His promises.  Is that not the lesson of the ants in Proverbs 30:25?  What they lacked in physical strength, they made up for in preparing themselves for the winter ahead.  Our strength is not able to get us to where we need to go, but our strength comes in trusting in God and allowing Him to prepare us for what is ahead.  God is not ignoring our anxious pleas; He still rejoices at every word that we pour out at His throne as we lift our voices to Him.  God is still at work in us.  We are an unfinished work.  Before we can reach the next phase, we must allow Him to prepare us in this phase.  It does get emotionally and mentally difficult to wait doesn’t it? Yet, the rewards of waiting far outweighs anything else life could ever possibly offer us.  Want to know something amazing?  As a whole, our life, our entire Christian life is but a preparation for the eternal life that is to come.  The things we are waiting on, it has not happened because God is still preparing us.  Let him work in you something greater and then when the time comes, the windows of Heaven will be thrown wide open and the wonderful and merciful showers of blessings will fall upon us and give us the needed refreshment and renewal for the journey ahead. 

Unknown Future, Known God

Corrie Ten Boom says “Never trust an unknown future to a known God”.  Each day that I awake, I have to keep reminding myself that while I may not know what lies ahead, God does.  I am in a stage of life known as a transitional period.  It is the stage when a person earnestly seeks out God’s place or plan.  That is where I am.  Each day, my wife and I continuously pray for God to make His path clear for us.  It is not easy.  Through all of this, I have learned to be patient.  Rely on Him.  Trust Him.  God knows what is best on Him.  Being patient is letting God do His work and us trusting in His work.  This week, during our devotions, my wife and I have been coming to terms with understanding what faith really is.  Sometimes we get so caught up in talking about big faith that we underestimate a profound truth.  Jesus tells us that it takes faith the size of a mustard seed to move a mountain.  The profound truth is not the size of our faith but the size of the One we put our faith in.  How can we not believe that the same God who created the mountains cannot move them?  He put those mountains there, and they were placed there for a purpose.  Whatever obstacle is placed in our path has a sound reasoning for its existence.  Remember Romans 8:28?  You know?  The one that says “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose”?  Sometimes it is hard to see, but God is not in the business of having us to ask Him why.  When we are faced with those moments, we are simply to ask Him what.  They are there for a purpose.  James 1:2-4 says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing“.  When I looked up the word patient, I had to have a bit of a chuckle.  When you view the meaning of the word as a noun you will find it means:” a person who is under medical care or treatment.”  The archaic definition for the noun is “a sufferer or a victim”.  Then there is the adjective version of the word which means: “bearing provocation, annoyance, misfortune, delay, hardship, pain, etc., with fortitude and calm and without complaint, anger, or the like”.  How often do we find ourselves as a patient in a waiting room not be patient?  Many times the lack of the adjective on my part is due in part to the long periods of waiting as a patient.  Whoever said the Christian life is easy is reading the wrong book.  Since His birth, our Master, our Savior faced one trial after another.  There was Herod who put a hit on His life by ordering all children under the age of 2 to be slaughtered.  Prior to beginning His earthly ministry He was tempted by Satan.  Of course, there is no secret of what He endured at the hands of His own creation days leading up to His creation.  He is the standard bearer.  You can be sure that because He went through difficulties, so shall we.  Where is life taking us?  What lies ahead?  I do not know.  God does.  I am just going to trust Him.  Let Him do His work.  I have said that each day of our life is but a brushstroke of a masterpiece in which God is painting called our life.  I am being a willing canvas to let God perform His great work within me.  Whatever plan God has ahead of us can only be better than our finite minds can imagine.  My future is unknown, but at least I know God.

A Faith of a Child

There is something beautiful about the faith of a child. Waiting with their noses pressed on the panes of glass with their arms resting on the windowsill for their promise to pull into their drive. On Christmas morning, they rise early before the rising sun has dawned upon the frost kissed ground to see if their long expected gift had arrived. When in the darkness of night, no light shines upon the path in which they tread, they grasp the hands of their mother or father and trusts them to lead them to the safety of their front porch after a late night of shopping and errands or they simply cling with their arms tightly around the neck after a unsettling noise startles them in the night. Yesterday, I was able to share the glorious announcement that my stepfather’s cancer is in remission. Today, I read with sadness of a young seven year old girl who had been battling brain tumors for two years had gone to be with Jesus. I sat and looked out of the window at the sun rising to waken the landscape around me with life teeming beneath its rays. Why did God spare the one but take the other, I ask. I was glad he spared my stepfather for a little while longer, but couldn’t he have done the same for the little girl? As I reflected on the words of her mother as she took others along on their journey and opened up a window to their world and to let us share the emotions as she experiences them each day, a thought dawned upon me. God answered a prayer. She was ready to meet Jesus. She was tired of all the hospital visits and procedures. She was tired of all the pain she was enduring. It is so hard for us to fathom, for we do not walk in her shoes. Today, she is now in the presence of the Great Physician walking pain free down the streets of gold. There are no more procedures for her, just everyday praising. There is no more sorrow or sickness. Then another thought dawned. In the journey that had been shared with others, her life has touched hundreds if not thousands of people who have followed along with each step. As I read post after post after post, I got a glimpse of the emotions of people who have never met her but who had been truly inspired by what they read. This little girl and her parents whose faith never wavered through even the darkest of the stormy nights touched the lives of many people. Her life was not lived in vain. Through it all, God used her to encourage and to inspire many, including yours truly. As I reflected on her posts, there was one that stood out and I want to share it with you. It is in the words of her mother:

"I remember that Tuesday when she was being admitted into the hospital for the shunt placement surgery. We were in the admissions waiting area and she asked me why she had to be in the hospital. I gently explained to her the need for the shunt and treatment plan. She agreed with her sweet little nod as tears streamed down her precious, puffy decadron cheeks. "I am tired of all this. I'm ready for my life to be over. I'm ready to go home", my oldest child and only daughter shared with me. I so understood her homesickness.
 
I'm ready to go home, too. This earthly life isn't as appealing as it used to be. The past 2 years have been filled with MRIs, doctor's appts., IVs and such. She longs to go home and that's OK.
 
I think He's wooing her to Him. ~♡~ I'm glad He is her first love.
 
I still believe God performs miracles. Sometimes He chooses to deliver His children by taking away the thorn. Sometimes He delivers the miracle through the thorn. I think the miracle He's performing in my life is what He's doing in my heart. Perhaps the thing that He's doing that is far more abundantly than all that I can ask or think (as described in Ephesians 3:20) is the rooting of faith with a deeper understanding of His unfathomable love for us ~ it's a heart thing. He's bringing about an eternal perspective I don't think my hard-headed, stubborn self would learn any other way.
 
For this I am grateful."

Through her life, a mother’s faith was deepened. Today, a prayer was answered. Hopefully we as children of God also have that same child-like faith as that young girl. Faith, the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen as described by the author of Hebrews. Today, that hope and that unseen promise is a reality for young Lydia Byrd