Fear Factor
Ξ October 10th, 2008 | → 3 Comments | ∇ Christian Living, End Times |
Welcome back!
The country and the world, for that matter, are gripped in fear at this moment. Fear is running the tanking of the stock markets all across the globe. Tanking. What a word. The definition is that super fast slide downward and it doesn’t appear to want to quit anytime soon. This is the worst sliding down that anyone has ever seen. It is now time to sit up and take notice, something that most people have not done in all these years. When I say “all these years” I am not referring to just the few years since the black Tuesday of the depression. Oh no. I am talking about in all the years since Jesus walked the earth.
I should like to point out here that fear is a destructive force and it should by now be quite evident to everyone just how much. In the New King James version of the Bible, the words “fear not” appear 375 times from Genesis to Revelation. In my experience with the Lord, I have found that the more a statement or phrase comes up, the more emphasis God is putting on it. Now, that does not discount those that are only spoken once or twice. Oh no way. But He is very clear that certain phrases and words are to be continually noticed. “Fear not” is one such phrase. Wonder why? Perhaps you can guess just seeing what happens when fear takes over as it has at Wall Street and in the financial community at large.
Why would God say “fear not” so much? Fear takes over. Fear runs from God. When someone is fearful, it’s very hard to get through to them about anything. You have to get their attention first. Sometimes, people actually look out of it with their fears. And the enemy loves for you to be afraid since that is the opposite of faith. Often, the fear will come upon you without warning. I know that one. Your heart starts to pound, adrenaline courses through your veins and everything is focused on what started the fear in the first place. So God says:
(Heb 13:5-6) Let your way of life be without the love of money, and be content with such things as you have, for He has said, “Not at all will I leave you, not at all will I forsake you, never!” so that we may boldly say, “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me.”
Do you see that this verse actually answers the whole crisis here today? Do you see that if only we would follow THIS VERSE, we could feel joy in the face of this world wide crisis? Those who started this whole money crisis were greedy to the point of not caring what it might do to family, friends, company or world. They did not do anything to stop it when they could. Now, it is a world wide epidemic for fear is an illness of the spirit, spiritually driven by the enemy. We can deal easily with this crisis by not allowing ourselves to have a love of money and be content with what we have available to us right now. That is not so easy when the bills stack up but if we just put our trust and faith in the Lord, He knows the end from the beginning, He can handle your own particular crisis though it may not be the way you would like it to be. God gives you what you need, not always what you want. If your car that you could hardly afford or not afford at all is being repo’d for instance, it would not necessarily be saved by God.
You must allow God to work in your life, not try to direct His path in the way YOU would like Him to go. And how do I know you are doing that? Heah heah. I know since I have been guilty of that myself. You panic because the payment is coming in a day or two and you do not have the money. Fear takes over. You can’t think what to do. On the corner is this really great payday lender who can help you out at so much interest on your loan. Hey! An answer! Thank You, Lord! Wait just a minute. Is God really in that or are you grabbing at straws because you cannot see what other solutions could possibly be there? Uh huh. Just as I thought. That lender is not your friend. He is not God’s answer for you. Now it’s time to bite the bullet and get real with God..not the world. You know in your heart that getting the money like that isn’t right. Take the time to talk to God and ask what HE wants you to do.
Perhaps that person a few doors down is having a problem. You knew about it but sort of put it off to another day. God has been nudging you to visit them anyway but you didn’t have time. Is it possible that you could do that visit now instead of wondering what God can do for you? Maybe just taking the time to listen to their problems will give you an idea how to help them even if all they needed was to talk for a few moments. Perhaps you have the answer to their problem. God must think so or He would not have been nudging you to go to them. They may need you to tell them about Him. Ah ha, the fear is back. You can do this! God equips you with what you need when He sends a person out.
Right now, take the time to talk to God. Find out what He wants you to do. Seek His face while He may be found. That verse keeps hitting me when I type these posts out. He wants us to seek Him out, nestle into His arms, get into our hiding places in the Lord. He will comfort you, give you strength through His joy, the faith will grow since you are relying on Him for all your needs. The time is coming when we will have to give all our attention to God and let Him take care of our needs. That time is coming very quickly now. Seek the Lord while He may be found.
(Isa 55:6) Seek Jehovah while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
