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When fear comes knocking

Psalms 16:5 (AMP) The Lord is the portion of my inheritance, my cup [He is all I need]; You support my lot.

What happens when we are not certain of the future? I am not immune to the goings on in the world, even though I do not turn on the news (it’s mostly negative). I talk to people, not to take on their burdens, but to listen to how it is affecting them.

Galatians 6:2 (AMP) Carry one another’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the requirements of the law of Christ [that is, the law of Christian love].

There is a right way and a wrong way to take on burdens. We could take on and we become anxious, fearful and even full of rage, that is the wrong way. The right way is to bring peace by aligning our thoughts and our words with Christ.

Matthew 11:28-30 (AMP)  “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened [by religious rituals that provide no peace], and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation]. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [following Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest (renewal, blessed quiet) for your souls. For My yoke is easy [to bear] and My burden is light.”

What happens when fear creeps in because of what you are hearing? I need to know Who’s I am. I need to be rooted and grounded in the Truth.

About six and half years ago I was thrown into uncertainty. I lost my job without notice and without any prospects of another. There was a significant decrease in our income. I did start to drive for Uber during college gameday weekends. One thing we did not stop doing is giving our tithe. I could not see dishonoring God just because of the lot that I was currently in. The amazing thing was, I really did not need to be working in the traditional sense. I was needed elsewhere and just could not see it at the moment. If I had been where I was before, there would not have been anyone available to prepare for the transition our church was in. I would not have been able to meet with the wonderful people that I met during that time. The relationships I was able to develop helped us get to where we are now.

My husband and I went through a situation just recently where our friend pulled out of the business that we were in together. They did not quit; they just moved their business to do it on their own. Our expenses doubled without notice. Do you know what we did not do? Get mad and start slandering our friend. We could have questioned their intent. What looked like calamity in the moment could have caused us to get angry or even bitter. We kept our mouths off and still blessed our friend during the transition. We put them first. Why? We believed God already knew, really does anything surprise Him in what we do. Now on the other side, God knew we would be better than okay.

Psalms 23 (AMP) The Lord is my Shepherd [to feed, to guide and to shield me],
I shall not want. He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still and quiet waters. He refreshes and restores my soul (life); He leads me in the paths of righteousness
for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the [sunless] valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort and console me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You have anointed and refreshed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell forever [throughout all my days] in the house and in the presence of the Lord.

Keep your mouth off of man. When we question the intent of whether people are for us, then we have stepped into the role of judge. We judge fruit, not intentions. We give too much power to the enemy when we always talk about the ways he is against us. He has no authority, unless you give it to him. What about governing officials? God never gives us allowance to dishonor them either. We are to pray for them. The Lord already knows. Who is your faith in? The moment that you have allowed it to rob your joy, is the moment that you have given in.

What happens with fear comes knocking? I think about James 1:2-4, “Consider it nothing but joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials. Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace]. And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.” Practice one of my breath prayers, “I count it all joy.” I put my focus back on my Father. What if what looks like calamity actually brings you closer to the Father? What if it sparks a revival? That is exactly what happened with me six and half years ago.

My prayer for you today is taken from Colossians 3:15, “Let the peace of Christ [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts [deciding and settling questions that arise]. To this peace indeed you were called as members in one body [of believers]. And be thankful [to God always].” Let us continue to be thankful. We repent for our negative thinking and choose to count it all joy. Our trust in You. We choose love today. We choose peace today. We choose forgiveness today. We choose hope today. We choose joy today. In Jesus Name, Amen.

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Faith and Expectation

Psalms 31:24 (AMP) Be strong and let your hearts take courage, all you who wait for and confidently expect the Lord.

Are we showing up to places expecting calamity? Are we expecting a struggle? Are we expecting to walk into confusion? I want to tell you something about this faith life, we cannot pray against something that we have invited. We need to change our mindset and our expectation. God is not going past what we expect and speak with our mouths.

Matthew 15:15, 17-20 (AMP) Peter asked Him, “Explain this parable [about what defiles a person] to us.” Do you not understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? But whatever [word] comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this is what defiles and dishonors the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts and plans, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slanders (verbal abuse, irreverent speech, blaspheming). These are the things which defile and dishonor the man; but eating with [ceremonially] unwashed hands does not defile the man.”

Ephesians 4:29-31 (AMP) Do not let unwholesome [foul, profane, worthless, vulgar] words ever come out of your mouth, but only such speech as is good for building up others, according to the need and the occasion, so that it will be a blessing to those who hear [you speak]. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [but seek to please Him], by whom you were sealed and marked [branded as God’s own] for the day of redemption [the final deliverance from the consequences of sin]. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence].

I was in prayer yesterday about some of the confusion we have had with setting up on Sunday mornings. It has been effecting our worship and media (which includes the sound) teams. Where is all this confusion coming from? As of right now we are renting from another church. We have a 1:30 in the afternoon service. Their worship and media teams have been doing some changes with the equipment and it is different every week. There is discouragement, and I understand that, it is not easy to figure out when we are not a part of the whole picture. What we cannot do is lose the joy in that we have a place to come to worship together. We cannot allow it to cause discouragement in how we approach worship.

The first thing we have to do is to check our heart attitude. Have we lost the joy? If so, what are we doing to find it again? Psalms 31:24 says, “Be strong and let your hearts take courage.” Discouragement cannot enter our hearts. Out of hearts we will speak what we expect. My prayer was, “God let our hearts remain steadfast to your Word. Let us not grieve the Holy Spirit by our complaining when we come into this place. Holy Spirit, we value You more than any inconvenience we may face. Let our words build up. Let our words be used to bless.”

I am praying against the confusion, but I am also praying for our minds to be in correct alignment with the Word. No matter what, the Holy Spirit is more important than what we sound like or look like on the camera. We are not producing a product, we are ushering in His Presence. We should have excellence, but not at the expense of not sitting at His feet. We can often get into the works of it all, that we forget the most important part, being with Him.

Joshua 6:10 (AMP) But Joshua commanded the people, “You shall not shout [the battle cry] nor let your voice be heard nor let a word come out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout!”

This is the story of how God delivered the city of Jericho into the hands of the Israelites. They marched around the city walls six days with only the trumpets being blown by the priests, and the ark of the covenant being carried behind the priests. On the seventh day, when they had walked around the city seven times, this time when the priests blew the trumpets the people were to give out a shout. I believe it was a shout of praise, it was a shout of victory, it was a shout of expectation. Their faith had lined up with their expectation that God had delivered the victory.

We cannot pray against something we have invited. Change your mindset and change your words. Stop inviting confusion into your life and into your worship. Do not allow discouragement to take root and cause your mouth to curse what God wants to do in that moment. Speak faith, speak expectation, speak to build up. Your faith will meet your expectation.

Our Lord, Our God, Our Banner, You are more precious than the sun you put in the sky. We want to bring glory to Your Name. Thank You for Your Son, for coming to earth to live among us and for restoring us to our rightful place in Your Presence. Thank You for the Holy Spirit. Your Word says that the Holy Spirit is the seal of our redemption. That means we have been inspected and approved. We are no longer broken vessels, Your Son redeemed us. We repent for speaking words that are not uplifting, that we have spoken out of the confusion without going to Your Word and Your Promise. We choose to forgive ourselves and others for having expectations that do not line up with Your Word. Let us choose to remain silent and get our hearts and minds in correct alignment so that we do not dishonor You with our words. We choose hope today. We choose joy today. We choose forgiveness today. We choose love today. In Jesus Name, Amen.