"For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you" Isaiah 41:13
And that is not the only verse in the bible saying "do not fear". God saying it over and over again to us, "do not fear, for I am with you... do not fear, I will help you... do not fear, I have redeemed you... do not fear, for I am your God..."
But we as a human, we have so many fear in our lives. Fear of man, fear of failure, fear of life and lots more. But it is written that the only fear that we should have is fear of the Lord. Period.
Do I fear the Lord? Yes.
Do I fear other things? Oh yes I still do. My biggest fear right now is to go to the embassy on Thursday. I can't sleep well for the last few nights. The thought of going back to the embassy and getting no as the answer is haunting me. And then while I'm struggling with that fear, the other fear comes; fear of failure.
Fear is bad. Fear is ugly. It destroys every single joy and happiness from your soul. It takes away everything. It kills you.
Trust me, speaking from experience here. I've been in that place. Because of fear I went in and out ER so many times, overdosed. Because of fear I tried to kill myself more than 10 times. Because of fear I became alcoholic. Because of fear I wasted years of my life doing stupid things.
But by grace I am saved.
And because of this grace, I don't want to dwell in fear. In worldly fear.
This morning I woke up with fear allover me. I can feel it that the satan keeps whispering all of this stupid things to my ear. I was shaking, weeping, desperately in need of my Father to comfort me, when suddenly my bible opened to Isaiah 41. In the version that I use (ESV), the title of the chapter is "Fear not, for I am with you". O how I love my God...
"You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off, fear not for I am with you; be not dismayed for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
There you go, satan. Off you go, to deepest depth of hell. That's exactly where you belong.
He will strengthen you, He will help you, He will uphold you. The only thing that you need to do is ask.
Because so many times we forget how big He is. We dwell in our fear thinking that there is no way out, to scared to find a way out, to scared to ask for help. We forget that it was His hands that stretched out the heavens. We forget that He is the one who speak the world into existence. We forget that He holds the universe in the palm of His hand. We forget how much He loves us.
I do believe when we're struggle with fear, He is there whispering to us: "I am here, beloved. Do not fear." I do believe that He doesn't want us to struggle with fear. I do believe that He is sending us all signs and wonders to show us that He is there and we shouldn't be afraid. We just need to open our eyes, our ears, our heart. He is there.
I don't say after this I won't struggle with fear anymore. I believe I will, that is our fight anyway. But I do believe that if I open my eyes and ears and heart widely, He is there comforting me.
Again this morning when I was praying about my fear going to the embassy, He gave me Isaiah 45:
"I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name."
He will go before us. He will level the mountains. He will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. He will open all the doors. But also at the same time He is with us.
So it is written: Do not fear, for I am with you. But don't let it be only a written words. Let it written in your heart. Believe it. Hold on to it like we holding on to our faith and our hope.
So whatever fear that you are struggling right now, stand up and say "my God is bigger than any fear". And if it comes again, say "off you go, you are not welcome here".
Fight it. Rebuke it. Remember that you are not alone. Ask Him to come to take away that fear and fills you with His peace.
Fear will only take you away from Him. Like I said, fear is ugly. It destroys. It makes you feel like you are nothing.
But remember one thing:
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 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."
You are loved. Do not fear. No matter how far that fear taking you from Him right now, it won't separate you from His love.
Fear of man, fear of failure, fear of life, fear of death. fear of future.. you name it. Erase it from your life right now.
Change it into Fear of the Lord. Because in Him there is no fear.
And for me, I promise I won't let fear control my life anymore. I won't let fear take me away from God.
I won't fear the embassy. I won't fear those people who will interview me. No more fear of failure, because in Him I am a winner.
In Him you are a winner. In Him you are saved.
But by grace I am saved.
And because of this grace, I don't want to dwell in fear. In worldly fear.
This morning I woke up with fear allover me. I can feel it that the satan keeps whispering all of this stupid things to my ear. I was shaking, weeping, desperately in need of my Father to comfort me, when suddenly my bible opened to Isaiah 41. In the version that I use (ESV), the title of the chapter is "Fear not, for I am with you". O how I love my God...
"You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off, fear not for I am with you; be not dismayed for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
There you go, satan. Off you go, to deepest depth of hell. That's exactly where you belong.
He will strengthen you, He will help you, He will uphold you. The only thing that you need to do is ask.
Because so many times we forget how big He is. We dwell in our fear thinking that there is no way out, to scared to find a way out, to scared to ask for help. We forget that it was His hands that stretched out the heavens. We forget that He is the one who speak the world into existence. We forget that He holds the universe in the palm of His hand. We forget how much He loves us.
I do believe when we're struggle with fear, He is there whispering to us: "I am here, beloved. Do not fear." I do believe that He doesn't want us to struggle with fear. I do believe that He is sending us all signs and wonders to show us that He is there and we shouldn't be afraid. We just need to open our eyes, our ears, our heart. He is there.
I don't say after this I won't struggle with fear anymore. I believe I will, that is our fight anyway. But I do believe that if I open my eyes and ears and heart widely, He is there comforting me.
Again this morning when I was praying about my fear going to the embassy, He gave me Isaiah 45:
"I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name."
He will go before us. He will level the mountains. He will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. He will open all the doors. But also at the same time He is with us.
So it is written: Do not fear, for I am with you. But don't let it be only a written words. Let it written in your heart. Believe it. Hold on to it like we holding on to our faith and our hope.
So whatever fear that you are struggling right now, stand up and say "my God is bigger than any fear". And if it comes again, say "off you go, you are not welcome here".
Fight it. Rebuke it. Remember that you are not alone. Ask Him to come to take away that fear and fills you with His peace.
Fear will only take you away from Him. Like I said, fear is ugly. It destroys. It makes you feel like you are nothing.
But remember one thing:
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 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."
You are loved. Do not fear. No matter how far that fear taking you from Him right now, it won't separate you from His love.
Fear of man, fear of failure, fear of life, fear of death. fear of future.. you name it. Erase it from your life right now.
Change it into Fear of the Lord. Because in Him there is no fear.
And for me, I promise I won't let fear control my life anymore. I won't let fear take me away from God.
I won't fear the embassy. I won't fear those people who will interview me. No more fear of failure, because in Him I am a winner.
In Him you are a winner. In Him you are saved.