When I am afraid,
I will put my trust in You.
Psalm 56:3 NASB
Have you ever been afraid? Have you ever been overcome by your own thoughts or the lies of the enemy? Well, I have! The enemy wants me to doubt God at every turn of my life. Wants me to doubt God’s power and love for me. Wants me to doubt my own identity in Christ. Such doubt can lead to fear…and fear leads us into some dark places. These dark places require us to do spiritual battle by bringing Light into that darkness.
I realized one day that if God is Who He says He is then who am I to question His power? My job is to simply trust…at ALL times – not just when I am afraid! You see, when we question His care for us this simply reveals a lack of trust in our own hearts…a spirit of unbelief. Jesus could not always do what He came to do because of unbelief…and that still holds true today!
“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who SEEK Him.” Hebrews 11:6
Let’s put some spiritual warfare into play right here and right now. How do we do that? We seek Him. We proclaim the truth of God’s Word by focusing all our attention upon Him as we worship Jesus right smack-dab in the middle of whatever darkness we are facing in the here and now.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 1 John 4:18 NASB
As I have said before, there is a healthy kind of fear…like when a tornado is headed our way and the fear leads us to seek shelter. We need to have a plan for such times. In Oklahoma we have our ‘fraidy holes’ - our storm shelters - and we seek them out as needed. As it is with our physical fears, we need to have a plan in place for our spiritual and mental and emotional fears. We need a shelter where we can run to and be safe. We need to run to Jesus.
A simple way to do this is tor remember Proverbs 18:10 NASB which says,
The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
The righteous runs into it and is safe.
When we fear due to our finances, we need to run to the name of the Lord Who calls Himself our Provider. When we fear due to a lack of knowing what our next step should be, we need to run to the One Who calls Himself our Shepherd and trust Him for guidance. When we fear due to our health, we need to run to the One Who calls Himself our Healer and trust Him to be with us through the process. When we fear the chaos and confusion of the world, we need to run to the One Who calls Himself Prince of Peace and rest in the truth of His calming presence. When we fear being alone, we need to run to the God Who never leaves us or forsakes us, no matter what. When we feel unworthy or like failures, we need to run to the One Who calls Himself our Holiness and our Righteousness and see ourselves through HIs eyes. When we fear defeat in some area of our life we need to run to the shelter of the One Who calls Himself our Victor.
When we fear, we must become as little children who know they can trust their father to catch them if they leap out in faith for His arms. Our God - His presence - is the shelter we need in the storms of life. Someone to just be there. Someone to just hold our hand through the long dark nights of the soul. Someone Who is as near as His name being whispered in the stormy darkness. Jesus.
What time I am afraid, I will trust in Him. How about You?
Dennis Jernigan
To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this blog and to hear a song to inspire you when you feel afraid, go to http://podcast.dennisjernigan.com/e/what-time-i-am-afraid-1588100278/
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/08/31/19/22/portrait-1634421_1280.jpg