The Whirlwind

Posted on May 22, 2012 by

Have you ever seen a whirlwind?  It moves in with a flurry.  As it travels along the ground, it picks up every loose object and throws it around.  Nothing is safe in its path and it leaves behind a trail of destruction.  Our imagination can be similar.  Something is said or someone does something and thoughts begin whirling around in our mind.  And before you know it, we’ve conjured up an astonishing amount of negative scenarios.

We can easily focus on the what-if’s and get engulfed in a whirlwind of uncertainty; fear enslaves us, our joy fizzles and our courage wanes.  We need an anchor to keep us grounded.  The anchor is our knowledge of who God is and His love for us.  Our focus can either be on our circumstances whirling around us or on the faithfulness, power and goodness of our Lord.

In God’s word we are directed to cast down our imagination and bring our thoughts into captivity.

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” 2 Corinthians 10:5 (KJV)

How can we do this?  First of all, recognize the danger of letting our thoughts run rampant & realize we have a choice of what we think about.  Next we need to stick to what we know is factual or truth and throw out any thought that is based on an assumption.  Say out loud “I will have no part of this thinking.” And then replace the thought with a promise from God’s word.  For example, “God, I am fearful of __________.  All I can see is ____________, yet I know you are with me (Joshua 1:9) and will deliver me from trouble (Psalm 91:15), I will put my trust in you.”  Finally, start moving in a new direction.                                                                                       

“The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.” Psalm 121:7 

www.fearnotretreats.org

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First Came a Lie, and Then Came Fear

Posted on May 20, 2012 by

“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” Genesis 3:4. The serpent lured Eve with a lie and convinced her to take the fruit. She pursued Adam to eat too. Sin resulted, their eyes were open to their nakedness and they felt shame. When they heard the Lord God walking about in the garden, fear grabbed hold of them and they hid.

It all started with a lie. Today satan still instills fear within us by convincing us of lies. He knows where we are weak and plants seeds of falsehood into our thoughts accordingly. Frequently he persuades us we must act or the worst will happen. Stress takes hold of us as we battle to take steps to prevent our worst nightmares coming true. The more we struggle to cope, the more overwhelmed we become. As difficulties arise fear engulfs us and peace runs out the door.

Is there areas in your life you feel overwhelmed? Are you struggling to cope? Has satan convinced you of lies that has created fear? The first lie he wants us all to believe is we are solely responsible for the outcome of our circumstances; we fight our battles alone. As we focus on our circumstances and labor to keep everything together, our strength wanes.  The storms of life threaten to sweep us under.

The truth is God promises to never leave us alone (Joshua 1:9) and to rescue us, “The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.” Psalm 34:19. The real question is will we trust Him to do so.

Grab hold of God’s promises, claim them for yourself and believe in His unfailing love and power to protect and take care of you.

“I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name.” Psalm 138:2

www.fearnotretreats.org

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Tossed About

Posted on May 14, 2012 by

Dark clouds move across the sky; a storm is coming.  The gentle breeze gives way to fierce wind.  Sitting in the middle of the lake in a small boat, fear grips you.  You are tossed about as the waves lift you up and suddenly drop you.  Every muscle is tense as you frantically assess your situation.  You wonder, “How much longer can I stay in the boat?  It is all I can do to hold on and not fall out.”

Have you been there, tossed around by life’s situations, holding onto dear life, not knowing how much longer you can endure? The year started off with blue skies, safe enough to go out onto the lake.  Then a big storm moves in stirring up trouble, each wave a blow to life’s security.  You can deal with a wave or two, but they keep coming.  You hardly have a chance to take a breath before you are hit again.

The disciples have been there.  They were tossed about one night on the Lake of Galilee.  All through the night they fought heavy waves.  Every muscle ached, fatigue overwhelmed them.  Could they hold on as they were tossed about? Then out of the corner of their eye, they could see something.  What or who was it? Terror overtook them.  They cried out, “It’s a ghost!”

Jesus was walking towards them.  He came from the midst of the storm.  This is not where they expected to see Him.  He calls out, “Fear not, take courage”.  Why no fear?  Because He was there!

Jesus promises to be with us always (Matthew 28:20), nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38).  There is no place we can go that He is not with us.  He watches over us as we come and go (Psalm 121:8). Look up from the waves and you’ll see Jesus walking towards you.  Whether or not, the storms of life come, is not in our control.  But where we look is.  Counterbalance the waves with a look at God’s power.  Gaze into the heart of God.  The storm may continue to toss us about, but knowing the power and love of the one who is with us gives us confidence.  Fear dissipates. To borrow a line from an insurance company, “We are in good hands.”  Our insurance lies with Him and His grace. 

www.fearnotretreats.com

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No Results

Posted on May 11, 2012 by

Ever feel like you are running around on a hamster wheel? You’re giving it your best but you see no results for your efforts. You ask, “What am I doing wrong? Inside you fear you are not headed on the path God wants, since you don’t see His blessing.  Fear of heading in the wrong direction plagues you.

Most likely this is true for the two missionary couples who went to the village of N’dolera.  Upon entering the town the chief would not let them in.  So the two couples decided to build their own huts about a half mile up the slope.  They prayed for a breakthrough with the village people but nothing happened. The only contact they had with the villagers was a young boy, who was allowed to sell them chickens and eggs.  Svea Flood, one of the missionaries, made up her mind to tell this young man about Jesus each time he visited.

Sadly malaria spread through the area and two of the missionaries decided to return home.  Svea and her husband, David, stayed.  In the midst of all that was happening, Svea discovered she was pregnant.  She was weak from living there and seventeen days after her little girl, Aina, was born, Svea died.  David was devastated and left.  He gave his daughter, Aina to the missionary couple who left.  Then just eight months later the couple dies from a mysterious illness.  The little girl is given to an American couple who takes her to America and changes her name to Aggie. 

Four people dedicated their life to serving God.  At a young age, three of them end up dead and the other bitter.  What happened? I can imagine they often asked themselves, “What am I doing wrong?” Perhaps they even asked, “Where is God?”

But this is not the end of the story.  On day several years later when Aggie was a young woman, she received a Swedish magazine in her mailbox.  She didn’t know who sent it. As she turned the pages a photo caught her eye.  It was a photo of a cross in a primitive setting with the words Svea Flood on it, her mother.  Anxious to know what the article said, she found a professor who could read it to her.  It told the story of her mother and the young boy and how there are several Christians now living in the village! 

Several years later Aggie, while at a conference, heard a message given from the Republic of Congo.  After the meeting Aggie asked the speaker if he knew David and Svea Flood.  He said, “It was Svea who led me to Jesus.” He was the little boy her mother had witnessed to. After he grew up he persuaded the chief to let him build a school.  He told his students about Jesus and they told their parents. Today there are over 600 Christian believers living in that one small village!

No results?  Hardly!  Our vision is often near-sighted, with only a limited view of God’s hand working in our life, leaving us to think nothing is happening. My friend God promises to guide you along the best path, “The Lord directs the steps of the godly, He delights in every detail of their lives.” Psalm 37:23.  Even when we don’t understand or see His hand, He is directing our steps, “The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?” Proverbs 20:24.

www.fearnotretreats.org

 

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They Cover the Face of the Earth

Posted on May 9, 2012 by

“And when the people of Moab saw how many Israelites there were, they were terrified.” Numbers 22:3

When they saw the situation, they were terrified.  How many times are we guilty of the same thing?  A situation presents itself that we have no answer for.  It is beyond our control. Fear boils up within us and our eyes become fixed on our circumstances.  Before long the situation is seen as huge, much larger than reality. 

“Look, a vast horde of people has arrived from Egypt.  They cover the face of the earth and are threatening me.” Numbers 22:5

Balak saw the Israelites coming and he panicked.  In his mind, they covered the face of the earth.  Did they really ‘cover the face of the earth’? No. Fear has a way of blowing our situations out of proportion. Our imagination takes over.   God’s word says to cast down our imagination.

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” 2 Cor 10:5 (KJV)

So how do we cast down our imagination? It begins with a decision; we need to resolve to take captive our thoughts and hold them obedient to Christ.  Recognize the danger of not casting down our imaginations and decide to bring our thoughts into captivity.

So how do you take something captive?  You take control of it.  To do so, realize you have an option of what you think about and you don’t need to mull over whatever falls in your mind.  You are the boss over your thoughts.  

In order to take control, we need to take note of what our thoughts are when we first begin to fear.  As soon as uneasiness kicks in or our peace is evaded, it’s essential to stop and look at what we are thinking about.  This can be tricky.  Our thoughts so easily deceive us and influence us.  Majority of the time the thought enters quickly or subtly and our emotions react with such swiftness we become caught up in the fear without realizing it.  Further, the enemy wants to keep us imagining all the things that can go wrong.  It takes decisive actions to overcome this tendency.

Next we need to evaluate with complete honesty, is the thought based on an assumption and part of my imagination or is it based on truth.  Often our thoughts can be a mixture of truth and our imagination.

Let’s look at Balak’s statement, “Look, a vast horde of people has arrived from Egypt.  They cover the face of the earth and are threatening me.”   Were there a lot of people? Yes, this is truth.  Did they cover the face of the earth? No.  Were they threatening him? No. 

Once we’ve made a determination of what is truth and what is imagined, we can know how to proceed. If we determine our thoughts are based on our imagination, they need to be cast away.  The word ‘cast’ means to throw off, fling or hurl.  We’re not to accept the thoughts but throw them away from our mind.  Say out loud, “This is not truth and I will not accept it as so.  I throw you out because I want no part of this kind of thinking.”

The thoughts that have been ‘cast away’ need to be replaced with truth found in God’s Word. For example you might say, “This is not truth and I will not accept it as so.  I throw you out because I want no part of this kind of thinking. I am not shaken for I know the Lord is always with me, for He is right beside me. I will not fear for God is faithful & His unfailing love continues forever. He is my refuge.”

This statement ended with God’s promises found in Psalm 16:8 and Psalm 100:5.

To summarize, make a decision to cast away our imagination, separate the truth from our assumptions, and replace the faulty thinking with the truth of God’s word.

www.fearnotretreats.org

 

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Who me?

Posted on May 7, 2012 by

The phone rings, I’m asked “Will you please lead out”. I was honored they thought of me.  Yet excited I was, doubt flooded my mind.  “Would I be good enough”, I wondered.  Other thoughts poured in to my head like “What if I make mistakes, look stupid & people criticize me;” before long fear and doubt persuaded me to turn down their request. 

I saw her picture, she is gorgeous.  I questioned, “How could I measure up; what can he see in me” after seeing my boyfriend’s last girlfriend’s picture.  It was hard to believe he could love me when he was capable of having someone so much prettier.  I knew I was ok looking but nothing special.

The words echo within us, “Not Good Enough” and fear rushes in.  Fear of not meeting someone’s expectations of who we should be.  The fear of disappointing someone or being rejected because you didn’t live up to what they want haunts us.  The pain we’ve suffered from past experiences taught us we are easily replaced.

The seed of this fear is from finding our value from how others view us.  We see their opinion as truth. It is easy to think if we were smarter, prettier, and more talented or had all that we wanted, then we would be confident and secure with who we are.  The truth is even people you think ‘have it all’, struggle with confidence, too. 

“God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” Genesis 3:5.  Eve had it all yet Lucifer convinced her there was something lacking with her.  Lucifer implied there was something more she should have.  He still suggests to us there is more we need to measure up.  And we begin to doubt our value.

Faulty thinking grabs hold of us when we measure our value based on a comparison of ourselves with others.  In God’s Word we are warned not to compare ourselves with others, “they are only comparing themselves with each other, using themselves as the standard of measurement. How ignorant!” 2 Corinthians 10:12.  Whenever we indulge in comparisons we are left feeling insecure.

Our focus needs to shift from how we compare to others, to who we are in Christ.  In Christ we’ve been bought with a price and belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20).  The price was beyond what any of us can imagine. The value of something is typically determined by its price thus our value is far greater than we can know. When the fear of not being good enough comes knocking at your mind, say you are not welcome here for I know the truth of who I am, I am God’s child, bought and paid for by Christ.

by Sandy Hancock
www.fearnotretreats.org

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