Delightful Comfort

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that reject fear and champion faith in God. The speaker shares their experience of finding comfort and peace in reading the Bible, despite the pressures and distractions of daily life. They emphasize the importance of maintaining mental clarity and finding rest in God. The Word of God brings clarity, comfort, and helps prioritize what is important. The speaker encourages listeners to rely on God's love and to embrace His peace. They emphasize that God loves us just as we are and that His love overcomes fear. 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 Psalm 94.19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me, your comforts delight my soul. Did you know you can read through the whole Bible in 90 days if you spend an hour a day reading it? It's true. I thought this was a great thing to do. I've done the year read-through. I did 120 days last year. But there are several translations of the Bible that I want to get through. I really enjoy comparing the wording, seeing the focus different translators put on different things. It helps when I look at the root words in the original languages, because I am not a scholar. But as great as 90 days sounds, and as easy as an hour a day seems, I find myself behind anywhere from two to four days on a regular basis. Yesterday I was plugging along, reading away, and I started to get anxious. The worry that I wouldn't make it through the chapters rose up inside me. I caught myself just reading, consuming words, instead of thinking about what they meant or why they were there. I had to stop. I had to come to the Lord and apologize. I let the Spirit wash over me. I let Him cleanse me. I embraced worship. The anxiety left. The pressure dissipated. And I was ready to read again. I finished that day's reading. I was still two days behind, but there was peace inside. The arbitrary feelings had been replaced by comfort, by peace. The important thing was that I was getting the Word into me with intent, not some checklist or goal I had set for myself. The Lord hadn't commanded me to do this. I just thought it was a good idea. I had to quieten my mind by His comfort. Oh, how often we need to do this. There are a thousand different things that go on every day. It seems to get more complex the easier we try to make it. Yes, we have fancy washing machines now. They sing when they are done doing their loads. They can target particular types of fabric with varying sensitivities. But you know what? I spend the same amount of time doing laundry as I did with a machine with a simple on-off switch. Maybe a little more, because I have to make sure that all the settings are right so that I don't kill any clothes. Having smart devices has made things a lot simpler. At the same time, it has raised the amount of brain power that is being expended at any given time. Why? Not because of the automated services, surely. The processes that run in the background that I am not even aware of. No, it is the integration that is the issue. At any moment, I could get an alert from my calendar, my meetings program, my fitness app, from my reminder on a note that I wrote a week ago. Every time I look at the screen to maybe just check the time, I see email notices with helpful previews to get you interested to read the full, or panicked because of what it says. I see reminders. I see updates available. It has a lot of uses, and I use them. But it also has a lot of distractions and keep-this-in-mind-isms. And sadly, I use them too. There is a lot to be said about a job well done. We cannot ignore the basic things that we know we need to do, or at least we shouldn't. Take where you live. Now, it doesn't matter if it is an apartment, condo, shack, mobile home, mansion, or something in between. There is something to be said about respecting your living space, making it neat, tidy, and functional. I'm not talking about perfect, but I am talking about basic maintenance. Yes, it is a pain to make sure that everything is put away. Yes, it is so much easier just to dump things on the floor. But that isn't taking care of what you have. That is not being a good steward of your resources. That is not what we are called to do. We are called to maintain what we have, to treat it as if it was a gift, which it was, no matter if you think you earned and paid for it. James 117. I mean, we don't have to go into 1950s housewife mode in order to have a tidy place. We don't have to scrub every corner every day, polish the bathroom fixtures, and have books color-coded and alphabetized. We can just have a tidy place, cleaned as we use it, picking up after ourselves, and remembering to sweep or vacuum from time to time. But the pressures we put on ourselves and each other, the pressure to perform, the pressure to be perfect. Oh, yes, work two jobs to make ends meet, but also drive the kids to practices, clubs, and houses of friends, go to midweek worship, hit that Bible study, dress well for church, make sure everyone is fed a decent meal every day, monitor homework and extra credit assignments, engage children and partners in actual conversation, watch the popular programs so you're not left out at work, get your own work done, check up on emails, wash the car, remember to mow the lawn, do the dishes, wash the bedding, take the dog for grooming, feed the cat, pick up toys, and may the Lord Himself help you if you have a newborn. All through this, we are to be picture perfect. Even our candid selfies have filters to ensure that we are perfect in our imperfections. How are we supposed to maintain our sanity in this world we have created? We're plugged in so that any moment of the day we can be productive or worse, so that we can relax. Why is that worse? Because you get sucked in. Remember the advertising a few years ago? I don't know if they still do it. There was a potato chip company that said, you can't have just one. Social media should have the same tag but with hours. You can't just do one. I've fallen prey to it. You go on for five minutes to see what's happening or to take a mental break from something, and I'm three hours in watching a video showing me how to build a fully functional house out of popsicle sticks while juicing a lemon with a teaspoon and baking a turkey wrapped in bacon wrapped in Brussels sprouts. By the time I'm done, half the chores were ignored. I fed the family microwave noodles, and it's three in the morning. It's easy to do. Another side of all this stuff going on is that when we are quiet, when we are not actually connected to our devices, watching our programs, or actively being active, our brains keep going. The little gray cells are still making connections, still scrolling reminders, and still processing those last three videos. We rehearse the next day while going over the last day while thinking about things coming up this weekend. It never seems to stop. It's hard to turn off. And in the end, we get less sleep, less rest, and the frazzle on the edges of our minds never seems to unfrazzle. This isn't just a first-world phenomenon. This is a human experience. I mean, sure, there isn't the superfluous techno stuff outside of the affluent nations. But go to anywhere on this planet, and you will find people overwhelmed by the world around them. They can be caught up in the silly techno stuff of the West. They can be in an actual war zone trying to survive. They can be in a nation where they are trying to get technology to work in an environment with no infrastructure or support. Maybe the wildlife have been eating the crops. Maybe there's a drought. Maybe there's been a coup. Maybe the government is cracking down, and the thought police are on patrol. Maybe your rights are being taken away. Maybe you're in prison. For every place on this globe, there is trouble, strife, problems, and concerns. And the human brain is really, really good at keeping it all forefront and unforgotten. Have you ever wondered why we are so good at that? My son, attend to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the center of your heart, for they are life to those who find them, and health to their whole body. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life. Proverbs 4, 20-23 This is what we were designed as a species to do. To keep the Word forefront and unforgotten. To focus on what Yahweh God said. To keep going back to them. To orient and reorient ourselves based on what the Word says. This is what helps us to maintain our equilibrium. We can have peace in a war zone. We can have quiet in the midst of a thousand electronic alerts. This is what gives life color and flavor and meaning. Everything else is a pale imitation. All that stuff that the world tells you is the spice of life is bland food compared to this. Don't you be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all those who were incensed against you will be disappointed and confounded. Those who strive with you will be like nothing and shall perish. Isaiah 41, 10-11 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ. 2 Corinthians 1, 3-5 God is all about comforting us, because He loves us, because He wants to see us walking in the light. Sometimes comfort is hugs, sometimes comfort is correction, because right action is obedience, and obedience brings peace. This isn't feel-good comfort. This is about comforting the whole us, reconciling us to God in order to be right with Him. 2 Corinthians 5-19 That is where the real peace and comfort lies, knowing that you were right before Him, being able to worship without reservation or restriction, being able to present your whole self as a sacrifice to Him. Romans 12-1 We were meant to have dominion on this planet, Genesis 1-26, to rule it, subdue it, tend it, and to make it all that He wanted it to be. That takes a lot of work. That takes a lot of organization. That takes a lot of thought. Think of all the details in ordering your day, or the days of those around you. Leaders of countries have hundreds of staff members whose only task is to keep their leaders on track, and still the leaders misstep from time to time. It can all be overwhelming. That is why rest was built into us as well. They heard Yahweh God's voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day. That's the beginning of Genesis 3-8. It shows us that God came to talk with us, to meet with us and bring us peace, a chance to talk over the day, to unwind together, even as we made plans for the next day. At the end of that walk, don't you think everything would be settled in our minds? Everything put away, everything addressed, and everything taken care of? Well, it's no different today. In Jesus, we can go boldly to the throne of grace, Hebrews 4-16. We can talk everything out. We can choose to listen to the Spirit. He's talking to us all the time. We can look into the Word, which is the revealed will of the Father. There is something in there for every circumstance we face, every single one. Our thoughts can pile up going a thousand miles an hour. For some of us, they go in a thousand different directions. For others, some get stuck and there is a laser focus on one thing for a long time. The world has been designed over the millennia to cater problems to a brain designed to hold details. Neurosis and illness has been nurtured and released to confound us, hold us in bondage, and to try and limit our ability to think properly. Mutations have come along. Chemicals have fried. There are a thousand different ways that the enemy has worked long and hard to rob us of our clarity and mental purpose. God isn't stopped by any of that. In the multitude of my thoughts within me, your comforts delight my soul. Psalm 94-19. The Word brings clarity. The Word brings comfort. The Word helps us see what is real and what is not, what has priority and what does not. God can take any negative thing and make it work to the good of yourself and the good of those around you. Romans 8-28. Don't let the world get to you. Don't let devices rule your life. Don't let the very real horrors of this world overwhelm you. Jesus has overcome the world. I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble, but cheer up. I have overcome the world. John 6-33. We've been given the Comforter. John 15-26. One of His main tasks is to help us see the grace and mercy of the Lord, to help us receive the peace that passes the understanding of the world. Philippians 4-7. Let the Lord's Word clear your mental plate. Let the Word bring calm to chaos, light to darkness, comfort to turmoil. Let the Word retrain you into the things of the Lord. Romans 12-12 and 1 Timothy 4-7. For bodily exercise has some value, but godliness has value in all things, having the promise of the life which is now and of that which is to come. This saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance. 1 Timothy 4, 8-9. There is nothing like the peace of God washing over you. There is great satisfaction to choosing to step into Him, to step into His peace, to let all the silliness of our minds and our world fade into the shadows, to melt in the presence of Yahweh Most High, to run from the love of Jesus. The Word is the antidote to the world. Jesus is the answer, a peaceful one. Take hold of this today. Believe it, receive it, and walk in it. You won't regret it. Recharge in Him today. Our daily affirmation of God's love is 2 Corinthians 10, 3-6. God knows the score. He has been trying to tell us about it since we stepped into the garden. There has been, on our part, limited success. Individuals have grasped it. Cities have embraced it. Nations have followed it. But only for a time, only in a limited capacity, because we keep dropping the ball. We keep looking at what is here instead of what can be here, or is there in the Spirit. This is not an exhortation to get into spiritualism or start looking for spooks seeking to communicate around every corner. Far from it. The Lord has given us a tool. We can throw down imagination. So much of what humanity is about starts with having a dream. We're told to follow our dreams, picture our dreams, envision our dreams, and every other way you can think of to interact with the pictures in our head. That can get overwhelming. We can grab onto the wrong image. We can see it and ourselves as something we were never meant to be. But the Lord loves us. He gave us Jesus. He gave us, in Jesus, the ability to throw down imaginations, to pick up the image that He has of us, of our lives, to start dreaming His dreams, His way, in His timing. We've been given the ability to walk in obedience by capturing disobedience. It's an action, not a side effect. We have to do it, on purpose, and keep it caught. That can be tricky, but we are empowered for this. If your inner image doesn't match what God says it can be, get into the Word. Find out who He says you are in Him. Then cast down the old imaginings and raise up His imaginings. They are better than anything you ever thought of. Trust Him. It's worth it. As we close, remember that you have worth. 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.