Today's Bible verse is one of my favourites Isaiah 43:1 : "this is what the Lord says- He who created you O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel 'fear not for I have redeemed you, I have summoned you by name, you are mine'". So many Christians are living with the spirit of fear when they don't have to. It is not of God, it is only a weapon of the Enemy of our soul that he uses to keep us from reaching our full potential.
In 1990 the Lord distinctly called my husband and I to full time ministry. And you'd think that we would jump at the chance to serve, but we didn't. We were paralized by fear of the unknown. So many excuses came up-- we have a baby, we have a house, we have a dog, now we have two babies, we have three. If there was an excuse we thought of it.
It wasn't that we didn't want to serve the Lord, it was only that we were afraid of the unknown. So we did what alot of people who are called to a life of ministry and are afraid to launch out into it, do... we got really busy at church. There wasn't a department of the church that we were not involved in. We had meetings all the time, things to do, we were 'working for the Lord' or so we thought. Actually we were working for ourselves. We were working to make our consciences feel better. We were NOT doing what the Lord had asked us to do.
In May of 1994 the Lord woke us both up in the night and said the time is now and this time we listened. Yes, we were still afraid but the Lord gave us this verse that day and we knew it was for us. We had nothing to fear because He had called us by name, He had redeemed us, He had paid the price for us and had saved us.
We took the steps needed to sell our house, find a home for our dog, sold off most of our possessions, piled our three children in the back seat of a car and headed off to Bible college. But the story doesn't end there. Over the next four years the Lord had to remind me of this verse many, many times. The Enemy kept trying to bring fear back into my life, but each time the Lord provided for our needs and reminded me that I am His and He has not given me the spirit of fear.
There is no greater happiness than knowing that you are doing exactly what God wants you to do. Sometimes He will ask us to launch out of our comfort zone and to truly live by faith not fear. When we moved 1600 miles away from home and everything familiar there were many people who thought we were crazy but once we had made our minds up that we could never reach our full potential in Christ unless we did what He asked us to do, it didn't matter what people thought.
We walk in a different dimension when we walk by faith and not fear. Our eyes become open to all of the possibilites the Lord has prepared for us. We no longer worry like we use to about things, we have faith, not fear and we turn those things over to the Lord. We begin to start to understand WHO we really are in Christ and the fringe benefits that come with being a child of the King.
I don't have to live in fear. I AM a child of the King. And I know that when He asks me to do something for Him, I will not hesitate ever again, because He will never let me fail, He will never see me fall, He will protect me, provided for me, care for me and love me.
So when fear comes at you, realize this the Word tells us that fear is a spirit and we have the authority in the name of Jesus to rebuke those evil spirits that would take our emotions captive. Jesus came to set the captive free. Be free. Trust Him and fear not.
In 1990 the Lord distinctly called my husband and I to full time ministry. And you'd think that we would jump at the chance to serve, but we didn't. We were paralized by fear of the unknown. So many excuses came up-- we have a baby, we have a house, we have a dog, now we have two babies, we have three. If there was an excuse we thought of it.
It wasn't that we didn't want to serve the Lord, it was only that we were afraid of the unknown. So we did what alot of people who are called to a life of ministry and are afraid to launch out into it, do... we got really busy at church. There wasn't a department of the church that we were not involved in. We had meetings all the time, things to do, we were 'working for the Lord' or so we thought. Actually we were working for ourselves. We were working to make our consciences feel better. We were NOT doing what the Lord had asked us to do.
In May of 1994 the Lord woke us both up in the night and said the time is now and this time we listened. Yes, we were still afraid but the Lord gave us this verse that day and we knew it was for us. We had nothing to fear because He had called us by name, He had redeemed us, He had paid the price for us and had saved us.
We took the steps needed to sell our house, find a home for our dog, sold off most of our possessions, piled our three children in the back seat of a car and headed off to Bible college. But the story doesn't end there. Over the next four years the Lord had to remind me of this verse many, many times. The Enemy kept trying to bring fear back into my life, but each time the Lord provided for our needs and reminded me that I am His and He has not given me the spirit of fear.
There is no greater happiness than knowing that you are doing exactly what God wants you to do. Sometimes He will ask us to launch out of our comfort zone and to truly live by faith not fear. When we moved 1600 miles away from home and everything familiar there were many people who thought we were crazy but once we had made our minds up that we could never reach our full potential in Christ unless we did what He asked us to do, it didn't matter what people thought.
We walk in a different dimension when we walk by faith and not fear. Our eyes become open to all of the possibilites the Lord has prepared for us. We no longer worry like we use to about things, we have faith, not fear and we turn those things over to the Lord. We begin to start to understand WHO we really are in Christ and the fringe benefits that come with being a child of the King.
I don't have to live in fear. I AM a child of the King. And I know that when He asks me to do something for Him, I will not hesitate ever again, because He will never let me fail, He will never see me fall, He will protect me, provided for me, care for me and love me.
So when fear comes at you, realize this the Word tells us that fear is a spirit and we have the authority in the name of Jesus to rebuke those evil spirits that would take our emotions captive. Jesus came to set the captive free. Be free. Trust Him and fear not.
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