No Fear Here! No Really I Mean It

Have you seen those T-shirts with a pair of eyes drawn on it and the words "No Fear Here!" written on them? None of us is immune to fear. I don't think there is anyone beyond the scope of some fear. Fear of losing your job, losing a loved one, losing your finances, losing your house. Fear can paralyze any man. These are fears that try to choke out God's plan and hope for our very life. Some recognize fear and shrink away from doing whatever needs to be done to tackle it, some think they have no fear but are unknowingly operating from it and live in denial and never conquer it.
We are created to be the person that God has fearfully (reverential fear) and wonderfully made us to be on this earth. Let no one snuff out our life by creating fear in our lives. 

You see fear is exactly like faith but flipped! 
Fear = Expecting something negative to happen 
Faith = Expecting something positive to happen 
Its very easy to walk from one into another in the speed of a thought. 

 The one place I have found where fear is completely nullified and faith is strengthened is in the Presence of our Living God. God has not given us the Spirit of fear again to become slaves but the Spirit of Power, Love and a Sound Mind! Yes truly in God's Presence there is no fear.

In Psalm 27 God gives David the formula to become an overcomer. David had to go through times of intense fear, for his very existence was in danger. He declares

"The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?"
"⁸ You have said, Seek My face [inquire for and require My presence as your vital need]. My heart says to You, Your face (Your presence), Lord, will I seek, inquire for, and require [of necessity and on the authority of Your Word].

You have that power in God, for He knows every need you have and every need you will ever have in the future! Take heart, live boldly and get closer into His Presence where fear is rendered helpless for God is an ever present help in times of trouble. Jesus Christ our Lord lived on this earth knowing He was to become a sacrifice every single day of His life on earth but He never once feared it. Father and Son who had never in all eternity had to be separated and the wrath of sin had to be quenched through sacrifice of a Holy One so all mankind may benefit! You and me ! The price for our freedom from fear is very heavy so let us draw near to the One , even our Lord Jesus, and learn through Him to approach our God of Love and live out everything God has planned for our lives as He placed us upon this earth!

Be not afraid for God is with us, even until the ends of the earth!

How to get out of trouble!

If you are living a nightmare, then here's a Psalm from David, who's life revolves around, running and hiding from the king. What a scary life he must have led, hiding from his own people because the king,Saul, didn't like him. I cannot imagine such a life yet I am sure there are people who would want to run away from their life or their situations! But take heart for the way David shows us how he faced his situations and did not give up and ended up becoming a king who will be remembered and known by the whole world. I bet he felt like nothing, as he survived in caves and foreign countries.

Psalm 25

Lessons

• Bring your life to God-^v1 Unto You, O Lord, do I bring my life.-You have tried life on your own and nothing is working out the way it ought to, then you must bring your life to God because He is able to turn any situation around!
•  Put your trust in God-"² O my God, I trust, lean on, rely on, and am confident in You. Let me not be put to shame or [my hope in You] be disappointed; let not my enemies triumph over me.
  ³ Yes, let none who trust and wait hopefully and look for You be put to shame or be disappointed; let them be ashamed who forsake the right or deal treacherously without cause." David had nowhere to go, noone to trust but he had consistently found help in God. God truly never let him ever go out of his radar. So it is for you. God always has you in His radar so trust Him!
•  Ask God for directions -⁴ Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths.
  ⁵ Guide me in Your truth and faithfulness and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You [You only and altogether] do I wait [expectantly] all the day long. It is usually a wise thing to follow the one with a map or a GPS and never someone who has no clue of where to go. This resonates with me because often I find myself lost in what route I have to take and who better to give us directions than the one Who is constantly watching over us. He's got the entire view in His eyes, He knows the end from the beginning and He can show us which way to go. Jesus Himself stated "I am the Way the Truth and the Life." He got all the most important aspects of life covered, then why not ask Him for directions?
  
  
  Conclusion If you got your feet stuck in a net, your life jumbled up in a mess ask God to get you untangled. He is the best! David says in the following verses

  ¹² Who is the man who reverently fears and worships the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way that he should choose.

  ¹³ He himself shall dwell at ease, and his offspring shall inherit the land.

  ¹⁴ The secret [of the sweet, satisfying companionship] of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its [deep, inner] meaning.

  ¹⁵ My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He will pluck my feet out of the net.

   Though David is not completely out of his troubles, he knows through his experiences that God is absolutely able to deliver him out of anything and any situation. God could have easily got Saul out of the way but Saul's presence enabled David to lean more on God and his tough training gave him such special experiences with God that when he received the kingdom, he knew where his heart must lie. Not with the riches and power he would receive as a king but in the secret companionship of the One True Living God.

Know Your Impact!

Psalm 22

A Psalm of pain and prophecy. Little did David know the words he was speaking would be the exact words Jesus(Son of God) would speak down his own generation.
When David is speaking this Psalm, he conjures strength from his past for his present and projects faith onto his future. What David invested toward God, during his life - his emotions, his suffering, his obedience, throwing himself at God's mercy, worked out to be a blessing for his future way beyond what he would physically be able to see.

Lessons

• Drawing hope from God's work in the past - ^v4 Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted (leaned on, relied on You, and were confident) and You delivered them. ^v5 They cried to You and were delivered; they trusted in, leaned on, and confidently relied on You, and were not ashamed or confounded or disappointed.
• Talking God's presence into his present -^v9 Yet You are He Who took me out of the womb; You made me hope and trust when I was on my mother’s breasts.^v10 I was cast upon You from my very birth; from my mother’s womb You have been my God.  
• Prophesying to the future -^v30 Posterity shall serve Him; they shall tell of the Lord to the next generation. ^v31 They shall come and shall declare His righteousness to a people yet to be born—that He has done it [that it is finished]!

What David went through, enabled him to completely and utterly depend on God for his dear life. He went through preparation to be king like nobody else. His life after being anointed was full of toil and hardship and a lot of running away. Yet he learned that God is more merciful than men, more powerful than men, more loving than men. Ps 20:7 ⁷ Some trust in and boast of chariots and some of horses, but we will trust in and boast of the name of the Lord our God. Now these things that David learned he would be transferring through his generations and because of all the trouble he was going through, his descendants would be blessed.

Conclusion 
No matter what you are going through, God has complete knowledge of it. He knows how you will fare in those circumstances and He knows how much you can handle. This being said, it does not mean that we are to settle down with our troubles but we need to realize that God must have thought us capable of handling that kind of a storm and coming out victorious. If David had quit in the midst of it all would we have all these wonderful Psalms to encourage us? David had no clue when he said "Posterity shall serve Him..." how far that impact would go! But I am sure God did. Our daily victories are building in us and through us a posterity who will remember and take courage from the works of God in our lives way beyond what we can see right now.

God Can Reach You

Psalm 18

Background
David wrote this Psalm when God gave him deliverance from all his enemies and also from Saul. David was a young man when he was anointed to be king by Samuel, but he did not immediately become a king! He was yet a shepherd boy and later, much later after a lot of running around and running away trying to save his life from Saul he would become the king of Israel at 30years of age.

¹⁶ He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
    he drew me out of deep waters.
¹⁷ He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
    from my foes, who were too strong for me.
¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
    but the Lord was my support.
¹⁹ He brought me out into a spacious place;
    he rescued me because he delighted in me.

Lesson
God knows how to rescue His people. People who are determined in being set apart for God their King. More than that God reaches out to people who cry out to Him, cling on to Him, completely lean on Him for their very existence. Such is our God who is a JUST God. His justice is beautiful and God is indignant daily, I love this verse I came upon from Psalm 7:11 God is a righteous Judge, yes, a God Who is indignant every day. It bothers God to see His children (the ones who acknowledge God as their Heavenly Father) in trouble. God cares about everything we are going through, He feels us, He knows us in His very being because we are living and moving and have our being in Him.

Conclusion
If you thought God does not know what you are going through, try calling upon God, ask for His forgiveness for the sins that has kept you apart from His presence and ask Him to bring His Justice to your situation, for HE KNOWS what you are going through even better that you do. He will not override the will of man. Unless you call upon Him and grant Him access to your life, yield to His work to set things right in your life in His ALL KNOWING way...He is waiting on your call to Him.

I love these verses from 2Peter2:4-9⁴ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,^[a] putting them in chains of darkness^[b] to be held for judgment; ⁵ if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; ⁶ if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; ⁷ and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless ⁸ (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— ⁹ if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment

Take heart my friend, God knows what trouble you are in and He is more than capable in fixing anything we have messed up. If only we would invite God into our lives and situations and ask Him to turn it around and then wait on Him as He instructs us on His protocols to get us out and help us land on clear ground, just as David did in this Psalm 18: 19 "He brought me out into a spacious place;" God will bring you out into a spacious place. Ask God to come and rescue you today!

What's your burden?

   Background:Nehemiah now ready with prayer, is off to face the king. His face is sad, though he must not appear sad before the king. He could get killed for that. Yet in Nehemiah 2 we read an account of how Nehemiah spoke with the king regarding what was troubling his heart. It presents a dialogue between the king and Nehemiah, along with Nehemiah's thoughts as he spoke to the king. During this dialogue, it is amazing to see Nehemiah's readiness for the situation. He knew how much time it would take and the legal documents he would need for the plan to which God had called him.

Lessons

1. Ready to take risk for God's work-v1-3Nehemiah could have lost his job for carrying his sorry countenance before the king of Persia, yet he did. When God calls us for His work, there will always be a challenge a risk involved, probably the risk of losing your reputation as a sane man or woman, probably the risk of losing your job because you decided not to cheat another company and make profit for your company, probably being thrown out of home, probably being killed for going to a hardened mission ground. We might look like a failure before the world, but before God we would have done rightly.
2. Prayer with hope of answer- v6 Nehemiah didn't doubt the request he had made to God. Remember in Neh 1:10-11 Nehemiah prayed for favour before the king and in Neh 2:6 he knew it had pleased the king to send Nehemiah to rebuild the wall. Nehemiah, though afraid to speak with the king, yet took courage in this that God had heard his prayer and it would be answered. I think prayer is a voice of faith, it speaks for its faith in God to be manifest in the situation.
3. Prayer with preparation:v6-7 I love these verses, it talks about a man who had not only prayed but was also ready with his plan, as if his request to the king had been granted. He was ready with the set time, had speculated what he might face when the request had been granted. Nehemiah was fearful of his request to the king, yet he backed up his prayer with preparation, preparation for the positive answer of his request.
4. God always backs up His plan for our lives-v7 says "And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests. " Nehemiah knew, God was in the plan, and so his requests had been granted. Nehemiah had understood the calling for him to rebuild the temple, it was in his heart to do so. He took it seriously and with much planning and the gracious hand of the Lord worked on his behalf. Whether we've paid attention to it or not, there will be something that moves us mightily for God, we could either ignore that and continue with our work, or pay attention to it and fulfil our calling. Even though it may seem reckless, as in Nehemiah's case he could lose his job, yet he went with God's plan and God backed it up, later Nehemiah goes on to become a governor in God's Jerusalem even under the rule of a foreign king.

Conclusion: What is it that burdens our heart? God's calling of burden will never be something to do with us. It wasn't Nehemiah's life that was a burden , he was in a good position as a cupbearer to the king-he was moved to brokenness to see God's house destroyed and the disgrace of his people. Would it matter to him if he had just let go of that burden for someone else? I don't think so, he would have probably continued being a cupbearer and earning his income. When was the last time we had a burden for someone else's betterment? Know this through the example of Nehemiah's life. When Nehemiah took up the burden for the disgrace of the remnant Israelites- God took up Nehemiah's burden of his livelihood, even when it was at stake before the king and gave him favour before his boss, the king of Persia.


Let us not be afraid to take the cross which God has given us because our God has given us a command and His promise.
Command:Luke 9:23 "Then to everyone he said, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him say `No' to himself, take up his execution-stake daily and keep following me. "(Complete Jewish Bible)
Promise:Matthew 11:28-30 "28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Don't be afraid to shine in these dark times

Ezra 3
I found a verse which touched me, in the reading of Ezra 3. The Israelites, now back in their own towns through God's move in Cyrus' heart and they are in the process of reconnecting with their God. The same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,Who had called them His own.This verse moved my heart and searched my soul. Well isn't that, what the Word of God does for us. Hebrews 4:12"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart"

Ezra v3 reads "3 Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD, both the morning and evening sacrifices. 4 Then in accordance with what is written, they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles with the required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day."- I wonder why the Israelites were afraid of the people around them. They were back where they were meant to be, Jerusalem and their own places. Of course, they themselves, in their disobedience had mingled with the outsiders and now the outsiders are watching them. Were they afraid, they're seen, worshipping God, finally. Or were they feeling foolish, doing something they had not done for quite some time now-worshipping the One True Living God?

My pondering upon the Israelite's life at this current juncture ushered me into my life and I thought-

• Everyone wants to be like everyone else-Aren't we afraid to show our faith sometimes, because that might jeopardise our popularity with the people around? Aren't we afraid people might be seeing us pray blessings on our food, when in a restaurant? Are we afraid of being identified with the people walking on the narrow-road? Aren't we afraid of being called "narrow-minded" people just because, the others are in a bar and we don't want to go. Aren't we called or looked on as someone foolish, just because we didn't take the short cut to clearing an exam and landed up a job a year or 2 later than the others.
• The flip side of not being like everyone else, but being your unique self, the way God made you-I realised sometimes, knowingly or unknowingly I have done that, I have been afraid to show my faith, but then I cannot deny the times, when I have displayed my faith, like Peter-walked on water and have seen my God work that for a miracle in someone's life. Yeah it did seem foolish at the time, but when it was over, when I had conquered the fear of being called a "weirdo" and went ahead and prayed, or done that act of faith anyway, I saw God step in and take over. I sometimes imagine God saying "Ok, back off , you heard what my child just said. She's not going with you." Then He takes over the battle.
• God wants to identify with us-God likes us the way we are, thats why we are the way we are, and He loves us just that way and wants to identify with us, whatever we are, knowing what we are capable of becoming under His guidance. Then why are we reluctant to walk on our calling in little tasks that we do, daily? Our God wants to identify with us, why are we afraid of letting everyone know, what a wonderful Person our God is?

Conclusion: Jesus said"John 15:15 "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."

Isn't that our calling, to be unafraid and be bold to shine out for our Father in Heaven. Imagine if the Christians, after Jesus' crucifixion had gone scared and not preached, thinking people might think they're lunatics!!! They didn't, infact they were willing to lay down their lives, their prides, in order to boldly proclaim, "Jesus is the Only risen Lord". They died preaching. What am I doing?

Therefore I encourage you and myself "1 Peter 2:9 "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

Not Duplicates-Unique Lives

1 Samuel 8
Background:Samuel is grown old, his sons Joel and Abijah are now taking over as judges for Israel, however they are not honest in their judgment like their father. The Israelites come complaining to Samuel and ask him to give them a king like everyone else. Samuel is grieved, he thinks they have rejected him as judge. In those days, the judges were working as leaders for Israel and God would lead Israel in that manner, through judges. Samuel goes before God regarding this request that the Israelites made, God tells him what would happen if they wanted a king right now. Samuel gives them the entire detail of what would happen if they chose the king, yet the people wanted a king.They got Saul.

Lesson I learnt
The Israelites were not happy just with Samuel being their leader, they wanted a king, like everyone else."4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead [a] us, such as all the other nations have." (1 Samuel 8:4-5). God was leading the Israelites through judges all this while. All people were equal, the judge was a mere leader, who would listen to God's Word and lead the people in His ways. However the Israelites were not satisfied with that. They wanted a king like everyone else. They wanted to be like the other nations.

Sometimes I too want a life thats, common, predictable, goes the way it goes with anyone else. Or like someone else I have seen. I sometimes think, my life should have been like this or like that. However over the years I have understood, that there's no other way I would rather live than to live with the Lord. It is difficult, in the manner that , if the 'so intelligent' world would ask me where I am heading, I would have no answer. Thinking of it, God wanted His people to be special, set apart from the rest of the crowd, different, standing out.He would love the same for His children now. We may not be the ones to blend in the crowd, we were never meant to. Thats why God made one of each type of person. Even the twins aren't alike. We are all unique creations.

1 Peter 2:9 says

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood,

a holy nation, a people belonging to God,

that you may declare the praises of him

who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. "

So if we belong to a Living God, our lives are deemed to be different from others , deemed to shine out, now, would we want to trade in our calling for something just to become like the rest of the world? Would we want to trade all that Jesus did for us, so costly through His blood, to become like everyone else? I say not. I encourage all you brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, lets be, all that God wants us to be according to His perfect will for our lives. Let's shine for our Living Lord.

Analyse This

Joshua is at the end of his journey, he has done whatever God had asked him to do. There is still more land to take(Joshua 13:1), however God has instructed Joshua to divide the land and the territories be given to individual tribes(Joshua 14:5). However for now, Israel and the land have peace with its enemies. In the next book (Judges) we'll see why capturing of many lands wasn't completed in Joshua's time.Right now, Joshua is quite old and is "about to go the way of all the earth"(Joshua 23:14). Within Joshua chapters 12-23 , we see how the land was divided between the various tribes. Now Joshua gives his farewell speech in Joshua 23

Here's what I found in Joshua's farewell message

1. Hope for the future-"The LORD your God himself will drive them out of your way. He will push them out before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the LORD your God promised you"(Joshua 23:5)
2. Encouragement to build that future-"The LORD has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you. 10 One of you routs a thousand, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as he promised." (Joshua 23:9-10)
3. Command to follow the Lord-"Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left. 7 Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them. 8 But you are to hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have until now." (Joshua 23:6-8)
4. Warning for disobedience-"But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate with them, 13 then you may be sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the LORD your God has given you" (Joshua 23:12-13)
5. Remembrance of what the Lord has done-" You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed." Joshua 23:14

In short, Joshua was giving them the secret of the successes he had in all the battles. He analysed his life in those verses, of how things went with him. Many times we fail to understand God's work in our lives, because we fail to analyse our lives and see how we came, from where we were. More often than not, I find encouragement by seeing whats happening in my life. Our life itself teaches us lessons. We learn through our experiences . Experience is the best teacher.
There is a popular saying, "A burnt child dreads fire", now, if the burnt child forgets the lesson he learnt from getting burnt, he will get burnt again, because he does not analyse how fire burnt him and what consequences he faced. So also, when we fail to analyse our lives of how God worked, during our obedience and our disobedience-times of glory, times of shame we'll start failing too. Life's lessons teach us every day, what to do what not to do. Let's analyse our lives, we and somebody else may a learn a lot from it.

God Bless.