Week Three, 2021
We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, character and hope. Romans 5:3
Fear can be debilitating. It can tear us down and steal our confidence. It can bring great anxiety that has us feeling as if we are boxed in and the walls are moving closer.
Fear can cause us to freeze up, to not move or do. It can cause us to just freeze, being unable to help, unstable to think clearly. Fear can cause us to run, to flee, to take flight. Fear can cause us to fight, to become angry, to defend. Fear keeps men from rising up to greatness. Fear keeps men cowering in a boat, while the Savior beckons us to step out and walk on water, to trust and believe. Fear causes us to thrash about in the water, even after we’ve taken a few steps on that water.
Fear can also be healthy as it causes us to prepare, to strengthen, to fortify. Fear can cause us to plan and strategize. It can be the catalyst to help us think outside the box, help us become creative, help see things we may never have seen otherwise.
And then… there is the fear of the Lord. The great respect. The awe. The knowing of His great strength, His great knowledge, even His great wrath. The knowing of His history, His dependability, His promises, His character, His love. The knowing of the Greatest gift of all, His Son who He sent to live and die and live again so that we might have life.
As we face the fears of life, whether large or small or somewhere in between, let us not be afraid. For we know that He will never leave us nor forsake us. We know that we are never alone. Though I may fear… I will not be afraid, for I know from where my help comes.
We glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall, I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. Psalm 27:1-3
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SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES
Sometimes we just need a little straight talk. No fancy story. No Fluff. No paint. Just truth. And here it is:
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” – 1 John 5:11-12 NIV
Straight up. Grace, forgiveness and eternal life can be only found one way and that’s through God’s Son, Jesus Christ. There is no other way to the Father. No other way to Heaven.
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6 NIV Marty Stubblefield
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Crisis is a call to faith:
Max Lucado points to the time Jesus walked to the disciples on the stormy Sea of Galilee (John 6:16–20) and then quotes verse 21, “They were glad to take [Jesus] into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.” Then Lucado adds: “Follow the example of the disciples. Welcome Jesus into the midst of this turbulent time. Don’t let the storm turn you inward. Let it turn you upward.”
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QUOTES YOU CAN USE
Here’s the bad news: humans cannot change human nature. Here’s the good news: Jesus can. Jim Denison
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. Abraham Lincoln
Don’t pull the clouds of tomorrow onto the sunshine of today. Ken Whitten
Our culture cuts the flowers off at the roots and then wonders why they die. Jim Denison
If your religion has not changed your life, then you need to change your religion. Adrian Rogers
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” Helen Keller
You can’t say that marriage is the union between one man and one woman. Until very recently, that’s what the vast majority of Americans thought. Now it’s considered bigotry. Jim Denison