Category: Daily Walk with Christ

Fear Not 365 – For We Will See Our Loved Ones Again

May 3, 2017 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

My biggest fear in life is losing a child. I suppose that is every parent’s greatest fear, even those whose children are grown, like mine. I have friends who have endured such pain and – even decades later – they still grieve. I don’t know how they survive. Only, by the grace of God. I pray I am never forced to endure such loss.

Still, we all endure loss. Some more than others, but it is a universal experience. As someone who is middle aged, my experiences with death are probably quite common. I have lost all my grandparents, both parents, a handful of friends, a couple of childhood playmates, an old high school girlfriend, and a couple of coworkers. Still, I have always had this nagging feeling – as we all do – that death has a particular grudge against me, and that few others have witnessed so much death as I.

The Bible tells us that it is appointed unto man once to die; every one of us shall die. Job declared,

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Take another look at that passage. You have probably heard it at funerals. You almost always here it on television depictions of funerals. “The Lord giveth… and the Lord taketh away.” The part that I find astonishing is that Job praises God. “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Can you praise God in the midst of such tragic loss? Can I? Can we look death in the eye and say, “I don’t understand God’s plan, but I will praise Him nonetheless?”

I could if it is my own death to which I refer; I have been ready to go for a while. What kind of faith does it take to say that when faced with the death of someone as close as a spouse, a son, or a daughter?

Church tradition tells that the Apostle Peter’s wife was led first to her death at the hands of Emperor Nero. As the guards led her away, Peter called to her, “Remember the Lord!” What faith. What wonderful faith!

In correspondence with a friend from Africa who has seen friends and family martyred, he has reminded me that we can be certain of a few things pertaining to death. Take comfort in them:

Everyone will die, even those who persecute us.
Death is not the end, look at the story of Lazarus. Our bodies will be restored at the Return of the Lord.
The very day that we die, we will see Jesus is Paradise.
We will see our loved ones in heaven. 2 Samuel 12:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:17

Death is certain, but so is eternal life for those who have aloud Jesus to be Lord of their life. I have always known for certain that God took my mother because He loved her too much to allow her to suffer longer.

There is one more thing I know for certain. We must faithfully love those whom God has given us, because they are just on loan to us. He will want them back again someday.

Fear Not, for we shall see our loved ones again.

Fear Not 365 – Rather Give Thanks.

May 2, 2017 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

It comes only once a year, and, like Christmas and Easter, Thanksgiving Day has been corrupted and commercialized. Thanksgiving is not about turkey, football, and parades. Nor should it be confined to the fourth Thursday of November.

The Bible tells us in Philippians 4:6 to approach God with thanksgiving. It says it this way :

If we want to be rid of fear and anxiety, then we must…

Pray
Plea earnestly
Give thanks

Giving thanks is not always so easy.

This week torrential rainfall hit the central parts of the United States. I know of one family whose home floated off its foundation and was destroyed. They were left only with an automobile and the clothes on their back. It’s easy to say they should thank God they are alive.

It is not so easy when it happens to you. Giving thanks takes sincere introspection. It takes dialog with God. Ask Him to search your heart and show you those things for which you should be thankful.

It’s not enough to make list and read it off. Thanks should come from the overabundance of joy within your heart. When you can speak to God like that, candidly and joyfully, then you begin to overcome all fear.

Fear Not, rather be thankful.

Fear Not 365 – The Lord Is At Hand

April 28, 2017 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

I loved staying at my grandma and grandpa’s farm when I was a kid. I loved to sleep in their large screened porch with a tin roof, especially on a rainy summer night. Because they heated their home with a wood stove, winter nights were spent completely covered in a bed warmed with a brick that had been heated atop the stove. I rarely stuck my head out of the covers, but, when I did, I could see my breath. It sounds miserable, but it was not; it was an adventure.

My grandparents raised most everything they ate. I often helped Grandma make homemade egg noodles and peanut butter cookies. I resisted trying some of their recipes, though. I steered clear of hogshead cheese. I begrudgingly ate zucchini or spaghetti squash. I was fooled into eating pumpkin pie made of squash. I liked rabbit, however. It tastes like chicken.

My job when visiting their farm was to collect eggs. More than once, I faced off with black snakes that wanted the eggs worse than I. I even helped butcher the chickens and pluck the feathers.

I think that someday, when I am old and my memory has faded, the thing I will remember most about that farm will be keeping the newborn piglets warm under a heat lamp in the wee hours of a cold winter night. I laugh when I think that I named them. I may as well have named them Bacon, Ham, or Pork Chop. I was maybe nine years old, so what did I know? I made friends with the piglets and the sow (mother pig).

I only thought I made friends with the sow. I feel asleep in the barn. Later Grandpa carried me into the house. The next morning, I went out to check on the piglets. Grandpa had already let out the sow. As I crossed the barnyard, she was busy at the slop trough. Before I could enter the barn, she snorted and squealed and chased me to the gate. This hog was no friend.

Instead of opening the gate, I dove for a small gap under the fence. I thought I was safe. I wasn’t. The sow bit into my leg. Grandma spent the next couple hours doctoring it. I spent weeks milking attention from it.

That sow was vicious, just the opposite of the verse in Philippians 4:5 –

Let your gentleness be known to all men…

That verse brings to mind Christ’s words in Matthew 10:16 –

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

The verse in Philippians is part of a larger context that speaks about the peace of God.

Don’t worry… Be gentle.

Don’t fear… Be meek.

Don’t fear… Be like a lamb.

Stop being anxious… Be like a dove.

That begs the question, then, how does gentleness bring one peace?

Take a look at the rest of that verse –

…the Lord is at hand.

The Lord is at hand.

He is by your side. Within reach. He’s your Guide. Protector. Defender. You have no need to worry. Your wellbeing is His concern. Vengeance is His concern, too.

Fear Not, for the Lord is at hand.