"no Fear??"

Listen to what He tells us in Isaiah 43:1-3; “But now, listen to what the Lord says-He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you , O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over

you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God...’”

You see, when God tells us to go “take possession” of our lives....conquering and evicting the many sins that reside there, we hesitate and fear that we will fail miserably. And if we doubt the promises of the Lord and fear failure, then we are already halfway to certain defeat because fear is like a cancer that slowly kills our faith.

Now there is another form of fear that is called by another name but is still fear non the less. It is called “worry.” How many of you are familiar with worry? We worry about all sorts of things don’t we? We worry about money, our house, our jobs, our family, our health, the ozone layer,what will happen in the future........and if there

aren’t enough legitement worries on hand.....we tend to invent things to worry about! And what kind of affect does worry have on our lives? Excessive worrying has been linked to high blood pressure, depression, and numerous other physical and mental health problems. And I’m afraid that, if you are a chronic worrier, then I guess you need to add worrying

to your list of worries.

But, what does the bible say about this form of fear that we call worry? Should we as Christians be among those who surcum to this fear?

Read the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:25-27:

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

I am reminded of one of my favorite psalms where David prays in the 23rd chapter; “Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil......for Thou art with me..”

The scriptures tell us that ‘perfect love drives out fear’. Read what Paul writes in Romans 8:35-38:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”