December 5 2011

Fear?
 
Reading: Hebrews 13:5b-6, “For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

We live in a society that is full of fear mongering, which means,“the use of fear to influence the opinions and actions of others towards some specific end”. Why has it become so prevalent? Well, fear tends to produce a natural reaction of an exaggerated response to protect yourself from the potential danger. The reality? There is a lot of power in producing fear in people to get a desired response. We are surrounded by fearful things. Look at how far that we have come. When I was young, there were four of us kids and we all crammed into a Plymouth Champ, which seemed to be a little bigger than a smart car is today. I, being the youngest, would often sit in the hatch back. Also, our cribs were covered in lead-based paint, there were no childproof lids, it was fun to ride in the back of a pickup truck, we drank out of a garden hose, we shared drinks with our friends out of the same bottle, we ate white bread and real butter and drank and ate things with real sugar in it. We ate mud pies and toads peed on our hands. We picked candy up off of the sidewalk and still ate it… and ya know what? We are still alive to tell about it. We were able to go down the street to play and there weren’t cell phones for our parents to get a hold of us every second. We weren’t afraid of doing things that might give us cuts, scrapes and bruises. But, over time, fears have squeezed us into a tighter and tighter box. The devil is a fear monger. The world is full of them as well. They know that with fear comes control and there is only One under whose control we are to remain; and the beauty of that is, under His control, we know that He always has our best interest in mind, unlike the world and the devil.

In what ways are you experiencing fear, today? What are you afraid of?


How can you rest throughout your day in the fact that He has promised that He will never leave you nor forsake you?




 

End of the Day Review
  
What things happened today that would normally cause or produce fear in your?
 
Were you able to remember that He is with you even in those situations, if not, why; if yes, how?