Fear Not!

As I look around me, I see so many people staggering at what they see in the news. I am not making light of their concern. Many people are experiencing real difficulty. Many have lost jobs and homes, and have very grave concerns about their futures. I also have experienced some turbulence in the last year as we have faced many of those same challenges. You know that saying, "Tough times never last. Tough people do." I can say from experience that it is true. It all depends on your perspective.



It is important to anchor your thoughts, and to decide the outcome in advance. Psalm 34: 19 "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all." At the very outset of trouble, it is important to determine that you will not cower in fear, but you will come out of trouble. Verse 4 of the same chapter says "I sought the Lord and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears." That is the point I am trying to make. It is not the actual circumstance that has so many paralyzed; it is the fear of the circumstance. They see others lose their jobs, and immediately are convinced that they will be next. Did you ever notice that whenever an angel of the Lord, or the Lord himself appeared to someone in the Bible he said "Fear Not!"? Whenever the children of Israel came against an enemy, often a larger and more heavily armed enemy, the Lord would say, "Fear Not!"



Fear will take you where you don't want to go. It will open the very doors you don't want opened. It will close the door to help. And, it will shut down your creativity and blind you to new possibilities and opportunities. We cannot give any place to fear.