You're Not Alone

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that reject fear and champion faith in God. It uses the example of Jacob being afraid to go to Egypt, but God assures him not to be afraid. The transcript discusses how fear and anxiety can affect our lives, but emphasizes that God can turn every situation into something good. It also talks about the power of words and the importance of choosing positive language. The transcript encourages readers to trust in God and not let fear control their lives. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of his word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to his perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org Genesis 46.3 He said, I am God, the God of your father. Don't be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation. Israel, Jacob, had lost his favorite son years before, and had just been told that that child, Joseph, was still alive. Still alive, and also the second in command of all Egypt, one of the greatest nations on the face of the earth at that time. And that son was asking for his father, sending gifts, and begging for his father to come down to Egypt, where they would all be taken care of by this favored and powerful son. Why would this man be afraid to go? The Bible doesn't say. It says he was happy and eager to go to Egypt. Genesis 45.28 It does say he wanted to see his son before he died, so perhaps he feared that he wouldn't survive the trip. Maybe he was concerned about going down to a foreign country with all his family, to save them from the famine ravaging the land. Away from the land that God had promised would be his and his descendants. Maybe he was just afraid to go into the unknown. Somewhere along the line, he was afraid in some way. Call it nervousness, or maybe anxiety. Boy, does that sound familiar. Sometimes everything seems to be tinged with anxiety. More so now during these pandemic-laden times. Are we sick? Are those around us sick? Will we get sick? Can we avoid getting sick? Will rent get paid? Can we buy food? Does the boss want to see us because we did something wrong? How's the stock market? How are the fuel prices? Does the shopping mall have any food? Maybe just being around others sets us off. It can be crippling. And new can also be scary. Whether we're being forced into new circumstances, evicted, or whether we're being rewarded into new circumstances, promotion, whether we've worked to achieve the new, graduating, or whether we have nothing to do with it. Our usual coffee shop is closed. Maybe a new house, or an entirely new job. A new relationship. New can be nerve-wracking. But God says, don't be. Don't be afraid. Don't be nervous. Don't be anxious. Why? Because he's God. He's the God of your ancestors. He is, always has been, and always will be, God. I am. He has the ability to take every situation thrown at you and turn it into something good. He can find a victory in everything and anything. Joseph had been sold into slavery for petty revenge. What revenge? For being the favorite son. What did he say about it years later? As for you, you thought evil against me. But God meant it for good to bring about that many people should be kept alive as they are this day. Genesis 50, verse 20. God did not want Joseph to suffer. And God did not cause it to happen. But God did use it, and use it well. I know this is not the theology of all believers. I know that some people think God puts things on us to test us. But I don't think the Bible supports that. Not if you read it as it's written. Oh, but look at Job, so many say. So, okay, let's do that. Job didn't trust God. He lived in fear. He sacrificed to cover sins just in case. He said, chapter 3, verses 25 to 26. For the thing which I fear comes on me. That which I am afraid comes to me. I am not at ease. Neither am I quiet. Neither do I have rest. But trouble comes. He trusted that his life was in the hand of God. But everything else he feared. He was anxious. He was a worrier. And that put him in the territory of the enemy. Satan had authority, because of Job's mental state, to touch everything but his life. The one thing Job was certain was in God's hand. God wasn't trying to teach Job a lesson. This was not a celestial bet. There's a lot of different lessons we can learn from the whole thing. From focusing on God, to enduring and suffering, to many others. But I think the biggest takeaway should be this. What we are full of, that is what we speak. What we speak, that is where we find ourselves. Jesus said it in Matthew 12, 34, and Luke 6, 45. I like Luke the best. The good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, brings out that which is good. And the evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, brings out that which is evil. For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks. How does this apply to Job? Satan shows up in the court of heaven, and God wants to know where he's been and what he's been doing. You know, whenever God asks a question like this, you're in trouble, because God knows everything. When he asks you for information you both know he already has, there's a lesson coming. Satan tells him, and then God demands to know what business Satan has considering Job, sniffing around the life of this upright man. So Satan tells God, it's all a sham, it's a house of cards, an upright heart full of worry and doubt. God tells him that Job has already placed himself outside the fence of the Lord through his worry. But not Job's life, just the things of his life. And Satan does his best. He goes after every area that Job isn't trusting to the Lord. Every area that Job hasn't given over to the Lord. And he reaps exactly what he's sown. But the Lord doesn't leave it there. He doesn't leave us there. He never leaves us in trouble. He always gives us a way to victory. And it's always the same way, through himself, through Jesus. We can abide in Jesus. We can worship him and dwell in him and not have to do what the world does. It is a choice of where you put your eyes and what words you put in your heart. Don't be anxious seven times. Don't let your heart be troubled twice. See that you aren't troubled. Don't be troubled and nothing be frightened. Don't fear, that one fourteen times. God is not letting this one go. We have a choice. We don't have to choose what Job did. We can use the word of God to transform our minds and our hearts and develop them into an oasis of peace. His peace. By grace, through faith, Christ Jesus is our Lord. We are not doing this in our own strength or by ourselves. Stuff may be happening, but it does not need to happen to you. It can happen around you. This is a serious thing. I see it time and time again in those around me. In those on social media. And I see it in my own life, cringing as I think, why did I say that? People give permission to the most foolish things. People speak the most terrible events. We do it automatically, without thinking. We've forgotten words have power. We've forgotten words mean things. Everything is hyperbole to us. Everything is exaggeration. I'm starving. I'm dying to. I'm freezing. You're an idiot. How often is this true? Rarely, if ever, not outside a war zone or a natural disaster anyway. But we say it and think it and keep on doing it. We feed into the negative. We feed into the worry. We feed into the anxiety. We feed into the depression. And then we wonder why our coping mechanisms and therapy sessions don't seem to be improving us like they should be. It's all about atmosphere. Don't speak death. Don't speak lack. Don't speak depression. Don't speak sickness. Don't speak poverty. Don't speak inability to succeed. Don't speak fear. And don't let those in your surroundings do the same. If they come into your home, they don't get to speak like that. You can lovingly correct them. Will it magically wipe all that stuff away? Of course not. This isn't the miraculous power of positive thinking. Oh, look, everything's rosy and happiness. No, that's a sham. But if we aren't agreeing with the bad, if we aren't programming an atmosphere of failure, we are more likely to notice the good. If we are actively programming an atmosphere of the word, an atmosphere of praise, we're more likely to hear the whisper of Holy Spirit. We are more likely to see the lies of the enemy as lies. We are more likely to notice the fear-mongering of the world as fear-mongering. I recently read an article in the paper bemoaning the upcoming property tax increase, that it was the largest one in forever. How are we going to manage? What are we going to do? This is the largest increase on record for this city ever. It's all fear. Fear and worry and lack. But if you continue reading the article, if you manage to get past that, you see that it is because of inflation, supply chain issues, natural, reasonable things, and every other community in the region is doing the exact same thing for the exact same reasons. Yes, it's a large increase in comparison to other years, but it's not a reason to fear. It isn't a reason to worry. It's a sign of the times. And it's simple to deal with. At the end of the day, for the average person in this city, it will amount to an extra $500 to $1,000 for the year. It's like $80 a month. You see? It doesn't seem unreasonable. Now, will it be hard to get it together all at once for the taxes? You know, for many people it will. But it's not going to be the end of the world. Is it one more economic challenge in an economic world? Yes, it is. But from a spirit point of view, it's a nothing. It's a blip. The Lord knew it was coming. He has a plan for you to have that money. It won't fall from the sky. Well, in all likelihood, but I'm not going to limit God. But maybe it's an extra job you can pick up. Maybe it's a scheduled payment plan. Maybe it's a consolidation thing at the bank. Maybe it's a gift from someone who was thinking of you and just said, here you go. It could be many, many things. But God knows how to deal with the situation. It will be something that happened, not something that destroyed you. It will be a situation. It won't be fear or worry or a problem. It'll just be a happening. Try this. Don't watch the news or read it. Just look at the headlines, the highlights. If you see something that's negative, verbally reject it. New virus discovered. I don't accept that into myself. If nuclear war happens, you could. No thanks. God sustains me. Are you feeling down with? Nope. Doing well in the Lord. Just try it. Take five days or a week and try it. Check only the highlights and then read a chapter of the Bible, expecting to be shown something new. At the end of those five days or a week, you will be aware of what's happening out there. But you will have taken none of the fear on yourself. You'll be secure in how you feel and with what the Lord has been showing you in the word. It will change how you view everything. You will have more confidence that God is beside you all the time, that he has a plan, that he will communicate that plan to you, be with you as you enact it, and get you through everything that is facing you, hand in hand with you. God goes with us into all our rewards and all our trials and turns our trials into a reward. Do not be afraid. Because for those who dwell in the Lord, there are no reasons for stress, worry, anxiety, or fear. Psalm 91. Jesus is our victory every time, every place. 1 Corinthians 1557. Trust him today and every day after. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Psalm 136. Now, remember all that steadfast love? This is the steadfast love psalm. It doesn't have a best-before date. The storms will never run out. It doesn't have a start or a stop. His steadfast love endures forever. It is at all times constant and limitless in duration. He loved you. He never stopped loving you. He never will stop loving you. He cannot stop loving you because he is love. And that is what he does. This is what he does. Love, love, love, love, love, love, love. Forever and ever and ever. And then even longer than that. He loves you. As we close, remember that you have birth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today, God loves that I, now you, fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love. And no end to the things about you that he loves each and every day. Pick one. And remember, the Lord loves you. Just because you're you. 1 John 4, 9-10 tells us, By this, God's love was revealed in us. That God has sent his only born son into the world. That we might live through him. And this is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us. And sent his son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin. And it casts out our fear too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because he first loved us. He just loves us. Can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.