Tag: fear | Page 3

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.

Fear Not 365 – Instead, Rejoice

April 27, 2017 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

Don’t you just love doctors? Yes, I mean that facetiously. A surgeon who, two years ago, cut a sarcoma the size of a baseball from my leg is my favorite physician to both love and hate. I mean, he saved my life and saved my leg, so I am compelled to love him. I hate him because he never remembers me or anything about me, and always mistakes me for another patient. However, he never forgets to mention the great job he did on my leg. He is unbelievably vain.

When I speak of loving the doctor or hating the doctor, I am, of course, using hyperbole; I merely mean to say that we have a choice in how we view every situation in life. Within that one man, I find reason to rejoice or to begrudge. I choose to rejoice in the things I love about that doctor.

The Bible tells us to rejoice. Always! Rejoice in the Lord (Philippians 4:4).

Just two breaths later, Paul tells us to worry about nothing (Philippians 4:6).

Rejoice always. Be anxious for nothing… Be afraid of nothing. Those are tall orders. Some would say those are impossible orders. Yet, here is Paul writing to the Philippian Church and telling them to be anxious for nothing.
The two thoughts are tied together, rejoicing and the lack of anxiety. One may live more easily without fear and anxiety if she rejoices in everything. One worries less if he sees the bright side to even dire situations.

What was the bright side about removing a cancerous lump on my leg that even today gives me so much pain that I cannot walk more than a few yards without having it spasm? At the time, I could only rejoice in the fact that the doctor saved my leg and my life. In hindsight, I have much more to celebrate.

Had it not been for that cancer in my leg, the doctors never would have found colon cancer lurking silently in my gut. At least, they never would have caught it in time.

Had it not been for my leg, I would not have grown into a much deeper relationship with God.

Had it not been for my cancer, I would not have grown so much closer to my wife.

There are many more positive things that I could tell you that came as a result of a grave situation. I don’t have to list them; you see what I mean.

Fear not. Instead, rejoice.

Fear Not 365, For God Will Show Us Kindness For Christ’s Sake

April 25, 2017 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

Mephibosheth was born into the royal family of King Saul in ancient Israel. To be precise, he was Saul’s grandson. His father was Jonathan. He was only five years old when his grandfather gravely sinned and fell from power. During the transition of power from King Saul to King David, nearly every one in Saul’s family was killed, including Mephibosheth’s father. The boy had been hidden away by his nanny, but he was injured when they fled – the nanny fell with him – and Mephibosheth spent the rest of his life unable to walk.

Jonathan and King David had been close friends, and, while it was out of David’s control, the death of his friend greatly disturbed him.

Years later, in God’s perfect timing, David approached a man who had been one of King Saul’s aids. He asked the man if Saul had any descendents remaining.

The man told King David about Mephibosheth, who was now grown, and still unable to walk.

David asked the man to bring Mephibosheth to see him.

When he came before David, Mephibosheth fell on his face.

David called him by name.

“Here am I,” said Mephibosheth, “your servant.”

David adopted him into his own family. He welcomed him to his table, the king’s table.

Like Mephibosheth, you and I were hurt by a fall. In our case, it was not the fall of our nanny, rather the fall of all mankind through Adam. Mephibosheth could never walk again, while you and I are unable by our own strength to walk in righteousness.

Like he, we were exiled, unworthy to sit at the King’s table.

Because of the covenant that David had made with Jonathan, David went looking for even just one descendent who remain alive and found Mephibosheth. Because of the Covenant of Christ, God went looking for and found you and I.

When Mephibosheth entered the presence of King David, he bowed before Him, knowing that he was worthy of Death because he was in the line of Saul. He felt that he did not to deserve to be in David’s house because he could not walk. He knew that he had no standing in the court. You and I, of our own merits, are unworthy to be in God’s presence and humbly bowed before Him.

God called Mephibosheth by name. He calls us by name. He calls us to repentance.

Because of David’s love for Jonathan, Mephibosheth was adopted into the family of David. He was given a place at the King’s table for a long as he should live. We, too, have been adopted into the Family of the King. We have a place at His table.

So David said to [Mephibosheth], “Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake…” 2 Samuel 9:7

Fear Not, for God will surely show us kindness for Christ’s sake.