What Are You Afraid Of?

After our message on fear last night and the prayer request from Josh about God saving us from Hillary, I thought this picture would be appropriate for today's blog. Very Scary! In all seriousness though, fear is something that ALL of us deal with everyday whether we realize it or not. In the Psalms we find repeatedly that David is running to God in the face of fear. This is a good habit for you and I to practice in our lives. I don't know how it is with you, but I do know how it is with me. Usually in the face of fear my first inclination is to lean on my own understanding and my own ways of escape rather than running to God. In Psalm 27:1 David writes, "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" We referenced Proverbs 29:25 last night as well: "The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe."

If you could think of anyone in the Bible who consistently faced the fear of man King David would have to be at the top of the list. He was always facing opposition of some kind seemingly at every moment of his life. King Saul sought to kill him, then there were the armies of the enemy Philistines, then there was opposition from within his own family. One principle we can take from the life of David is that when we are on the frontlines in the ministry, battling for the Lord we WILL face opposition. David's faith was tried through the fires of opposition and was purified as a result.

We need to come to the point in our lives where the fear of man no longer ensnares us or traps us because our faith in God is so strong and we are conditioned to run to him in the face of opposition. As I said last night, I don't believe there is some magic switch that you and I can flip to make this a reality. I do believe that it will become a reality in our lives first, by putting ourselves on the frontlines in ministry and presenting ourselves everyday as a living sacrifice. Secondly, it will become a reality as our faith is tried through the fires of opposition and we learn through those experiences to trust our God more fully. So today as you face your fears, run to God! Start cultivating this habit. Ask the Lord to strengthen your faith and to give you an eternal perspective on life. I believe that eternal perspective will make all the difference in this life and in the life to come.

Pastor Jeff