10:31 Life Ministries thought of the Day: 365 times, Three-Hundred and Sixty-Five times. That is how many times we are told to Not Fear in scripture. Love is mentioned 348 times by comparison. 365, there are 365 days in a year, maybe scripture is onto something. Recently Ive discovered a lot of fear residing in my heart and mind that has kept me from completely going after God. Fear of loneliness, fear of rejection, fear of failing God. These are things left over from my time under an abusive pastor. Yet as God has revealed them He has started to peal them back as the phrase Do Not Be Afraid has gone through my head on repeat for awhile. How many times have I been like Peter, getting out of the boat, walking towards Jesus and then looking at the waves and then drowning in my fear. How many times have I felt like Elijah, who, having defeated the profits of Baal ran to hide from the king in fear for his life. But I say no more, if we are to be leaders, men and woman of God, strong in our covenant relationship with God we must believe there is a reason for Jesus to repeat Do Not Fear and for scripture to repeat it 365 times. We must have confidence in the grace and love and guidance of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Know that He is going to heal our pain and take away our fear if we surrender them to Him. That He is the God who calmed the storm, who pulled Peter out of those crashing waves and walked him back to the boat. I leave you with Jesus words in Matthew 6. The ESV uses Anxious but remember, fear is a form of anxiety. So live today unafraid, ask God to identify and strip away your fears. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:25-34, ESV)
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 11:52:19 +0000