No More FEAR!

As I sit here listening to “No Longer Slaves” by Jonathan David & Melissa Helser, I find myself really listening to the words. We are no longer slaves to fear. Those words are so important. I know in my own life, I have missed out on too many things because of my own fears. I feared unusual things, and what many would consider to be ‘normal’ things. We find in 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” It does not say that it is okay to fear certain things! God sent His son to die on the cross for all those fears, no matter how rational you think they are. I do not like bugs or heights, but I don’t fear them.

God does not want us to live in any sort of fear. Give your fears to Him! He has given us a sound mind. I can’t tell you what that scripture means to me having lived with massive anxiety for too many years. Don’t give up this life because of your fears. Go outside and enjoy God’s creation. Look at things with new eyes. Go to the top of the Empire State Building and see what beauty you can find there. Go to the ocean and find the beauty there. Go to your mirror and find the beauty there. Go for a drive and revel in the beauty of nature.

Beauty is everywhere. You will find it more easily if you are no longer a slave to fear. You will see the beauty in others as well as this world. We have enough to overcome in this world than to let fear control us to the point we can’t leave our homes, or even our towns.

Your fear died on the cross with Jesus. It is time you left it there. When Jesus rose, all our sins and fears were washed away. His blood saved us and to this day spares us from all fear and anxiety. Let’s rise up and walk together as one body of Christ without fear. One day without fear will turn into two. Two days will turn into three and before you know it, you will be walking in complete freedom from fear and anxiety. You can do this!

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Just Doing Nothing

I am one of those people whose mind is constantly going; never stopping. I second guess myself all the time. I study for tests and even though I memorized everything I should, I find myself second guessing if I am really remembering it correctly. I listen to a sermon on Sunday morning and by that evening I fully believe that I am that person who has horrible motives and simply cannot be trusted to do anything! I don’t really know why I am like this, but I don’t want to be. I have found in the last few years, that I have second guessed myself into doing absolutely nothing. If I want to do something, I am ambitious. If I feel a need to do something, I have bad motives. 

I know there are times we all struggle with wrong motives, or become too ambitious in the church. If I am honest, I don’t think that is where I am at today. I have attained the position of, “I can’t do anything right; I am not right; I must be doing something wrong; I am thinking wrong; I have dreams that weren’t really from God.” The list goes on and on. I am sitting here just doing nothing. I realize I have become a person of extremes. 

I don’t want to put myself out there and make new friends because it will look like I am up to something. I keep quiet at church things because if I say that I want to sing or lead worship sometime, I must have bad motives. I feel like I have been in this place these last few years where I am actually missing out on life. That is not what God intended for my life. It’s not what He intends at all. He wants me to live life. He wants me to follow my dreams; the same dreams HE gave me. Now, I will follow the counsel of those wise people God put in my life, but I will no longer be afraid to live, to speak, to dream. I will no longer be the person that sits there just doing nothing. I will trust God and trust that I am in His perfect will. If I step out and fail miserably, He will pick me up and He will love me just as He always has because He is love. Don’t allow the enemy to steal your dreams or your life.

“The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come that they may have life, and life more abundantly!!!!” John 10:10