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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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Assaults to Rest

Colossians 3:23-24 (AMP) Whatever you do [whatever your task may be], work from the soul [that is, put in your very best effort], as [something done] for the Lord and not for men, knowing [with all certainty] that it is from the Lord [not from men] that you will receive the inheritance which is your [greatest] reward. It is the Lord Christ whom you [actually] serve.

First, excellence is your best effort, it is not the requirement of perfection (which is performance driven). When life becomes performance driven we can lose passion. We we get focused on the task and not on Jesus, we can because burned out (lost our position of rest). We are not getting the outcome we expected and, therefore, lose focus of the One our hearts desire was to be in the first place. When we come into our houses of worship, when we cook breakfast for our families, when we fold their laundry, when we read our devotions and get into His Word, when we are on our jobs…whatever we do. Do it for the Lord. Is He Lord of our lives? Is He what we fit in when we can or a second thought after we got ourselves into a situation and need Him to get you out? Whatever we do put Him first place in our life.

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.”

Secondly, influences other than Jesus. Proverbs 14:25 says, “A truthful witness saves lives, but he who speaks lies is treacherous (AMP).” Pride and self preservation will not result in rest. I was ministered to a few weeks ago and she said directly to me, “there are those who do not want you free, because it is for their benefit for you to stayed bound.” How can that be? Then I saw it happen in someone else’s life and I got it. Freedom is an assault to those who do not like the message of change and surrender. When I got my freedom, I desired others to be free. Part of that freedom is knowing that I do not need to receive love from anyone other than Jesus. When I am directing someone to Jesus and not to the codependent person that has an insecurity issue, it is an assault to them. Not knowing that they are bound themselves, they will fight for their way of life. How do I confront this? Sometimes its a stronghold and the battle is done in prayer. Pray for their freedom. Pray for their minds to be aligned with the Word. Pray for the bonds of insecurity to be loosed in their lives. Then set yourself a boundary. Boundaries are not just for cutting off, it is just saying I am not going to go there with you.

Rest is not the absence of action, it is the position of my heart. If I am worried about making sure those around me are for me, then I have lost focused. It is all about me and not about Him. My husband posted this, “When I become me focused, you become my enemy.” Why are we fighting for self preservation? Surrender is the key to rest. We take His yoke we are submitting to learning from Him. He says that we are to be of humble of heart. Does that sound like preserving ourselves?

2 Corinthians 5:15 (AMP)  and He died for all, so that all those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and was raised for their sake.

Today’s verse of the day on YouVersion sums up my daily prayer. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right and steadfast spirit within me (Psalms 51:10).” So here are two things to look for if we have received an assault to the rest we are to walk in. First, is He your focus during the task. We can be so busy doing good things that we lose focus on Him. Secondly, am I allowing the right influences. Do I feel more drawn to the Father or they drawing me to what they want? Remember, a truthful witness will bring life to us. If I am more worried about their insecurities, or my insecurities, then my influence is off. Boundaries have to be put in place and prayers go in for strongholds to be broken. If not, we will lose rest resulting depression, loss of joy, no peace, etc.

My prayer for you and myself is that we draw our focus to Christ. He is the perfecter and finisher of our faith. In Him we find our identity. Repent for the self preservation. Come to a life of surrender. It is going be better than we could have ever imagined or dreamed of (Ephesians 3:20).