Again, Do Not Fear

Matthew 24:6 - And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

This life is temporary. Our eternal life is forever. We can have the assurance of this eternal life while we live in this physical world. Not everyone has this assurance. Some fear death. Some are never sure if they are good enough. God has all the answers for all these fears, His Son, Jesus Christ, through a relationship with Him.

The verse above speaks of wars and rumors of them. If God tells us this about wars, it can be for any circumstance in our life. 

Reminds me of this advice:

Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:29-31)

I posted something like this on Facebook. I received a comment: A war of Matthew's time is not comparable to a nuclear war of the 21st century.

I answered: Doesn’t matter. We still need not fear if we are in Christ. For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

Oh, the promises of God to those who love Him, who trust in His name. This life is temporary. Life after this is eternal.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2Corinthians 4:16-18) In the grand scheme of things, the afflictions we will encounter in this present life in this present body, are but for a moment and of light affliction, while they may not seem to be at the moment. ...may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. (1Peter 5:10)  Eternal hell will be real affliction.

If you want to know that you will be able to withstand anything this world can dish out you need the power and strength only our God has. Many put their trust in man. Government can’t save us. Looking to any man or organization can't ultimately save us. But there is One who can. His promises are sound and filled with truth. It’s all I have to say. 

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1)

Psalm 118:6,8 - The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

Hand Outstretched

Matthew 10:29-31 - Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

I spent yesterday with my good friend Sandy. She loves birds and studies them. She’s quite the expert. She’s also an “expert” in Bible scripture...and studies this also. And she is guided by the Holy Spirit of God. It’s always a delight to be with her. 

So as we do when we get together, we have coffee and “perch” ourselves in prominent places at her patio doors watching for the chickadees! She has trained them to eat out of her hand! (I’m going to work on that myself this spring.

Conversation, of course, always veers toward the things of God. It’s just a natural progression. I wish I could take credit for all that I’m going to write but I can’t. That’s okay. Similar things have crossed my mind with different topics and analogies. Some are my own thought. You’ll have to sort out which. Ha ha. 

As we sat at her sliding patio doors watching and waiting for chickadees. I brought up how trusting they are after having trained them to perch on her hand..and visitors’. I added after waiting that long to gain their trust, how could any person possibly even consider doing harm to them? 

Then in Sandy’s fashion, she said it’s like how God treats us. He waits patiently for us to seek and come to Him. Once we’ve gained trust, we find there is nothing to fear about this amazing God. Just like we stood with hands outstretched with nuts and dried mealworms for those chickadees, God does the same, offering us the bread of life! And I’ll tell you, when that bread is received, it is so filled with life...the bread that sustains...the bread of life come from heaven to earth, from Spirit to spirit. HALLELUJAH!

I know the conversation went further. But this is the point I want to make:
We need not fear God. He loves us all too much. His desire for us is to acknowledge Him, trust in Him and also become acquainted with Him through His Word. Jesus is the bread of life. He only wants good for us. Now the good is probably not what we would consider. His good is greater! It comes with greater rewards. It comes with excellent eternal consequences...life. 

The world’s view of good is what the world places the highest reward on right now. It says we are good people on our own merits. Success, wealth, fame, things, sports, entertainment. I’m not saying any of this is bad, but it’s how important these are in our lives. Does God come first?

Just as God’s most important thought is toward us, the most important thing should be our relationship with and thought about God. Plain and very simple. Jesus says this: ...whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 10:32-33)
These verses come right after the opening scriptures. He values us. He values our life and our relationship toward Him. Can we honestly say we are not ashamed of Him? Do people know where we stand with Him? Do people act differently around us? I sure hope so. If someone wants to talk about the Lord, bring it on.

One more thing. I just thought about the prodigal son who left his father and went to live his own, useless life. When he was about as low in life as he could be he chose, in total humility, to return 
home to see if his father would forgive him and take him back. His father had never stop watching for his return. See what scripture has to say next: 
And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. (Luke 15:20) THIS is our Father’s heart for us. Always willing to receive us, whether it be from a long stretch of time away or even just a time of busyness in a day...or from a time in a wilderness; when one returns one’s trust returns and one looks back and realizes the Lord had never left...that His hand had remained outstretched! 

He guides us to Himself by the power of His Spirit. If we heed His call and turn to Him and Him alone and trust in Him, He will be our God, our Father in Heaven. He cares for us more than sparrows. His hand is always outstretched for us.

Psalm 136:1,12,23,25 - Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, for His mercy endures forever... Who remembered us in our lowly state, for His mercy endures forever... Who gives food to all flesh, for His mercy endures forever.

Do Not Worry, Part ???

Matthew 6:25 - Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life...

I don't often just open the Bible and read what's on that particular page, but I did this morning. What a delightful word, again. A word I needed to hear. That's God, all right. He knows what we need when we need it and although this may seem a coincidence to some, He knew it was a word for me today.

Deep in my spirit there is a knowing that all things will be according to God's plan and I'm so thankful for that. There are times though I want to see things happen now. The waiting period has been long and I must cling to the very personal promises God has revealed to me in the Spirit. That is hard when the days since those promises have been many. But then to the Lord a day can be as a thousand years or a thousand years as a day. God has no time schedule. But living in this 24-hour-a-day rigid world we have makes my patience a thing to be worked on.

Psalm 126:5 - Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. My mind has been racing again, filled with tidbits of seemingly disjointed ideas. I sense they are all connected and one cannot be removed from another. Yet to make sense of them altogether makes me nuts! It's like one of those crazy dreams we all have where you know what you dreamed but you can't put any of it into words except to say, "I had this weird dream last night." I'm not saying I'm crying over this, but there are times when the burden is heavy and yet you know that when it's done there will be rejoicing...and you might even think, "Oh, for Pete's sake, why did I fret so?"

I think it's more a frustration. I need a word from the Lord. And He says not to worry about anything. He tells me to just give it all to Him and He will handle everything in His perfect way and in His perfect timing. That's such a comfort until I think, "but when is that perfect timing?" And then I can hear God saying, "Oh, for Pete's sake!"

I'm reminded in Matthew 6 that I am of more value than the birds of the air which God feeds. Feeding...he feeds me with His Word. His Words are soothing in the midst of these times. Oh, the peace that comes when you just sit back and thank God for His understanding of your situation, when you choose this day to again lay that burden, or burdens, at the foot of the cross...and determine not to pick them up again...today!

I know that little by little those things racing through my head will one by one be taken care of. I might not even recognize it until one day later. Or God might suddenly put it out before me and show me what I must do now! A word might need to be spoken or an action taken. Lord, just let my eyes and ears be open to see this and respond accordingly.

We are to be flexible to the will of God. We cannot say, not today, Lord. We are to be ready at any time, in season or out. That's called obedience. And as someone once said, patience is a virtue. Wait and obey, wait and obey. Ah, Jesus!

Jesus goes on to say in Matthew Chapter 6 that my Heavenly Father knows what I have need of. But we are to seek Him first. That's the most important thing in the lives of all people. To seek Him first. That first thought in the morning. Do you do that? Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night thinking of Jesus? Do songs of praise lilt through your head as you sleep and you awake praising God? You're missing out if that doesn't happen. Seriously, you are.

I'm so far from being perfect it isn't funny. But my heart is stayed on Jesus. He sees my imperfections through eyes of love since I received Him 12 years ago. Oh, how did I live without Him before? That was easy...it was my "non-knowledge" of God that got me through. Amazing how blind we can be until the Truth comes into our hearts and lives and awakens within us a whole new spirituality based on Jesus. And the work begins, the work of patience, not worrying and obedience, not always in that order.

There is only one way to the Father. When we find that Way we no longer need to fear...we might forget on occasion and become humanly impatient, but despite that there is at the end of that long string of racing thoughts a knot of peace that is tied so tightly just for you. That knot is Jesus if you have reached out in a moment of despair and grabbed hold of Him.

I'm thankful in a way for the disruption in my spirit sometimes (note I said sometimes). It helps me to realize I'm still alive! I'm still under God's wing, under His watchful eye. I know that when things come at us there will be a day when the Lord will shine when His plan has been set forth in whatever way. It won't be me who accomplished thus and so but His work through me. I'm thankful it's by His strength, whether it be a world problem or a personal one, that we come through. This happens so we cannot boast of our own accomplishments. That's why He's God and we aren't. God is who He says He is, He can do what He says He can do. We just need that mustard seed of faith, recall we have that when we grow weary. Let go of those things that we cannot do anything about and just let Him be who He is best at being...the one true God.

After writing all this I checked in on Oswald Chambers. He talked about friendship with Jesus through our own sacrifice and surrender to Him. He writes: We never know the joy of self-sacrifice until we abandon in every particular. Self-surrender is the most difficult thing - I will if . . . ! ... As soon as we do abandon, the Holy Ghost gives us an intimation of the joy of Jesus...and the thought of sacrifice never touches us because sacrifice is the love passion of the Holy Ghost...when the sacrifice is made with the eyes on Him, slowly and surely the moulding influence begins to tell. We sacrifice to and for Jesus. Giving up our burdens is a form of self-sacrifice, a form of love for Jesus, knowing He can do a better job in any circumstance.

Let me end with this. It is partly a work (renewing) left to do in me and partly a wonderful promise (the eternal rewards are greater). We may weep today, but we will rejoice tomorrow:

2Corinthians 4:16-18 - Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.