We Will not Be Afraid

Psalms 46:1-3 ESV

“God is our refuge and strength,

    a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,

    though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam,

    though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah”

Those Who Instill Fear

There are people in this life who will try to make us fearful. Some of them will do this via intimidation tactics in order to try to manipulate us a particular direction, hoping for an intended result for their own evil purposes and wicked schemes. They want us to be afraid so that we will not respond in faith to our Lord, but so that we will choose to let fear control us rather than faith in God’s perfect sovereignty and control over our lives.

They want us to choose them over God, and false religion over faithful obedience to our Lord. So they will use all sorts of mind games and manipulation tactics and possibly threats to try to persuade us their way and away from our sincere faith in our Lord Jesus. And that is because they are working for Satan, and they have Satan’s goals in mind who wants to destroy us and to turn us away from our pure devotion to our Lord.

Some of these people are not going to be at all obvious in what they are doing. Many of them are charlatans and wolves in sheep’s clothing, who are liars and deceivers and who are very good at charming people into believing their lies and into rejecting the truth. They are very skilled at blending lies and truth together and even at making lies sound like truth and truth sound like lies. So we must test everyone and everything we hear in prayer. And we must test what they say against the Scriptures (in context).

God is Our Refuge

It may be tempting to give in to fear, at times, for our circumstances may become overwhelming and it may feel, at times, as though other humans truly have control over us and that they may have us “over a barrel,” so to speak, i.e. in a helpless position or at someone’s mercy. But they can only do what God allows them to do and they can’t go any further (see book of Job). For our God is still completely sovereign over our lives. And so we are not helpless, and we are not without resources, but God is our refuge.

And so when our circumstances become overwhelming, and when we are tired and feeling emotional, and when we have people coming against us, and people trying to convince us to go their way and to not go the way of the Lord and of his righteousness and holiness, then we need to draw on the strength of the Lord and we need to make the Lord our refuge and put our complete faith and trust in him to work all things for our good.

We have to remember that fear (lack of faith and trust in God) comes from Satan. The only fear we are to have is the fear (honor, respect, reverence, worship, and obedience to) of God and of his word. We are not to be those who doubt God and his word or who doubt his sovereignty and control over our lives or his divine guidance and purpose in our lives, too. No matter how bad things get we have to believe that God is working for our good if we love (obey) him and if we are called according to his purposes.

Psalms 46:10-11 ESV

“’Be still, and know that I am God.

    I will be exalted among the nations,

    I will be exalted in the earth!’

The Lord of hosts is with us;

    the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah”

Satan likes to get us riled up and upset over many things and worried and fretting what is going on in the world. Now, we should be aware of what is going on around us so that we are not deceived and so that we do not fall into the traps of the enemy. So, I am certainly not saying that we should turn a blind eye to what is happening in this world. But not everything that is being told to us is the truth. Lies and liars abound everywhere. So, don’t automatically assume truth is being told, but test everything and everyone.

And even if what they are telling us is the truth, though much of it is not, we should not be afraid of it. For our Lord told us ahead of time what the last days were going to be like, and we are seeing the reality of that in our everyday lives. He told us we would be hated and persecuted for the sake of his name and for the sake of his righteousness and his gospel message. So, it should not surprise us when this happens to us. And he told us that some of that will come from even our own family members.

But instead of letting these things unsettle us we need to be still before God and know that he is God, not just intellectually, but in reality in our lives. We need to believe and trust in his sovereignty over our lives and believe that he is absolutely in control over all our circumstances. And then we need to rest in him and trust him with what is going on in our lives and believe that he truly has our best in mind and that he is working these things out for our good. We just need to be still and know that He is God no matter what.

Do Not Fear  

An Original Work / June 2, 2013  

Based off John 14

Do not let your hearts fear.

Trust in God. Trust in Christ.

“In My house you will find

Many rooms I have

Prepared for you,

And I will come back

And take you to heav’n.”

“I will take you to be with Me;

You’ll be where I am.”

“I am the way and 

The truth and the life. 

No one comes to the Father,

Except he comes through Me,

So put your faith in Me,

And do all of what I command.”

“Whoever has My commands

And obeys them loves Me.”

“I did not leave you as orphans.

I sent you the Counselor;

The Holy Spirit to live in you.

He teaches you all things,

And He reminds you of Me.”

“My peace I give to you,

So do not fear, trust in Me.”

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