Tag: fear | Page 4

Fear Not 365 – For God Gives Peace

April 1, 2017 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

I grew up watching kids the age of my older brothers and sister march for peace while there was clearly no peace in their hearts. That same generation has spent the last 30 years at war. Multiple wars. First was the war on drugs, followed by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The War on Terror. Each of these wars has the propensity to last forever. Those kids have never obtained peace.

That generation – my generation – learned more than “duck and cover” during their impressionable childhood years of the Cold War. They learned that by keeping a nation in fear, they could keep them bound in chains. The truly sad part is that, whether they realize it or not, those who create an atmosphere of fear are in the employment of Satan.

Yes, Satan uses fear to manipulate and bind believers. If he can plant fear in your heart, then you will begin to lose faith, doubt the power of God, fail to seek divine guidance, and take matters into your own hands.

God on the other hand creates peace in your heart, gives you comfort and guidance, even in the turmoil of this frightening world. And, He creates unity in the body of believers.
Fear Not, for when God rules your life, you discover peace in your heart and unity in the church.

Fear Not 365 – For Things COULD Get Much Worse

March 30, 2017 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

If you have been in the Church more than a couple days, you have likely heard the story of Jonah. If not, look it up, for it is an exciting read. Jonah, I think, has gotten a bad rap. He is called the Reluctant Prophet. It is often said that he refused to deliver God’s Word to the people of Nineveh because he despised them. I think it is more than that. I think he was also afraid.

Let me back up. God tells Jonah that the sins of the city of Nineveh have come to His attention and He wishes Jonah to deliver to them an ultimatum: repent of your wicked ways or be destroyed.

Nineveh sits about 500 miles east of Jerusalem in modern-day Iraq. Jonah does just the opposite. He buys passage to southern Spain, near Gibraltar, 2500 miles in the wrong direction.

Jonah later tells God that his reason for fleeing is that he didn’t want to see Nineveh spared. “That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”

What you may not know is that Nineveh was not just depraved, it was mighty, intimidating, and frightful. It had perhaps the largest army in the ancient world. It was in a constant state of war, and had conquered many neighboring nations. It was a real threat to Israel.

Nineveh had incredibly abusive laws. The death penalty was dispensed as easily as parking tickets in today’s world. To enter the gates is the city, one had pass through mounds of skulls, put there to inspire obedience to the king.

While Jonah no doubt hated the people of Nineveh, he would be a fool not to be afraid of them as well. He ran away and found that God delivered him to the ocean to be swallowed by a great fish.

God had showed Jonah that, though he may not like the job he had been called to do, the alternative was much worse.

The message? It is God who gives us life and salvation. It is God who sustains us. Without God, we sink to the bowels of the earth, to the deepest trenches of the sea.

It is God’s grace that delivers us, and He may give it to whom He pleases.

Considering God’s love and how He demonstrates it to us, we should be content with the situations in which He puts us, for things could be much worse.

Fear Not, for things could be much worse.

Fear Not 365 – Draw Near to God

March 23, 2017 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

Andrew was just a toddler when he was rushed by ambulance to a hospital 125 miles away. The cause of his persistent high fever had stumped the local doctors. Within a day he had been diagnosed with Kawasaki’s Syndrome, a rare disease.

As part of the treatment, they placed our boy under an oxygen tent to keep him cool, something that he was too young to understand. He was afraid. As parents it was difficult to watch him cry and reach out to us and not be able to hold him.

We neither one could resist; our son wanted us… needed us. One at a time, we would crawl under the oxygen tent and into bed with him. We held him and reassured him until he was ready to come home a week later.

If we, as fallible human parents, possess the irresistible urge to treat our children with such loving care, can we ever begin to imagine the loving care of our perfect Heavenly Father?

Reach out to Him, and he will comfort you and hold you.

Fear Not. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.