John 4:18-20
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.
So, Jesus said, "fishers of men" and Peter said, "YES," and dropped everything to follow Jesus. He was willing to be changed from what he had thought his life was about into what Jesus had envisioned for him to become.
Talk about trust! Peter's "own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5,6) must have tried to talk to him at that moment. I imagine it trying to say something like, "Peter! Get ahold of yourself! How are you going to make a living? What will your family say? Check yourself, do you have a fever?!"
If there was any internal dialog like this going on in Peter's head, we don't know it because the man did not bow down to it even for a second! The Bible says that at ONCE they left their nets and followed Jesus!
What a beautiful and challenging picture of trust we see in Peter. He became a fisher of men because that is what Jesus transformed him into being. He was taught by the best "discipler" that ever was or will be.
Jesus said, "Fisher of men" and Peter said "YES" and dropped everything to follow Him. Peter spent days, weeks, months, and years with Jesus. Those days were filled with listening to Jesus talk of His ways and of His promises. Peter probably had some of it memorized.
Peter got to know The Lord Jesus. He didn't get to know some new spiritual philosophy to live by or some religious formula to practice or some political platform to fight for. He got to know Jesus Christ, Himself by spending a lot of time in His presence.
The promises of Jesus are beautiful and full of hope and strength and grace and truth. Imagine how wonderful this was for Peter. How close he probably felt to Jesus. How full of trust! We know that Peter was strong in his trust since before Jesus was taken to be crucified, Peter had promised that even if everyone else abandoned Jesus, Peter would die with him rather than abandon Him.
Then, after a few years of fishing for men, walking with Jesus, hearing Jesus' teachings, experiencing true community with others who followed Jesus, seeing one miracle after another..(Peter is famous for walking on water, after all!) Peter came to a place of complete disillusionment. Jesus, the one Peter knew to be God, gave Himself over to be captured and mocked and crucified.
Even though Jesus had told His disciples that this was coming, Peter wasn't prepared for this kind of pain. He wasn't prepared to deal with the death of Jesus and he wasn't prepared to deal with the fact that he had been one of those who betrayed Jesus and he wasn't prepared to walk in this world and follow God without Jesus physically being there.
I can imagine the devastation. Peter probably had such anguish in his mind and emotions. Such pain, shock, and disappointment. His own understanding may have told him that everything he had believed in had been a lie. He had trusted himself to follow Jesus to the cross and he couldn't even manage to acknowledge Him in front of a servant woman.
The bible says that Peter wept bitterly. Some of you have wept bitter tears. You know grief.
There can be enormous amounts of fear mixed in with grief.
In the beginning of John chapter 21, we read that Peter went fishing.
I don't know if he forgot that he was now a fisher of men, or if he was in such grief that he couldn't see straight, but the scripture does say that he went fishing.
I think it makes perfect sense. He went back to the safe, familiar waters. Back to his old identity, back to what his own understanding felt right about. It's not like he had been something terrible, not like a prostitute or tax collector or something. Fishing was a decent thing to do and he went back to it. He basically said to his friends, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going fishing."
They followed him into the boat.
They fished all night and caught nothing.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Trusting God in the Face of Fear 3
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5,6
I found myself, a few years ago, in the hospital. I couldn't breathe well, my heart was racing and there was a frightening pressure on my chest as I cried out to God for peace. My husband stayed with me through the night as they did many tests. Some of you can guess the diagnosis. What seemed to be a heart attack was not that at all. I wasn't dying. I wasn't even close to dying. I was "anxious." What??!! I was insulted as the doctor told me this. Me? I thought, "I'm a woman of faith, I can't be anxious!" But I was anxious. Anxious enough to feel like I was dying.
I felt so foolish. This was the first panic attack I had ever had, but it was not the last. I continued to suffer for many months. The more panic I experienced, the more frequently the attacks came. Some of you know exactly what this feels like, don't you? Yes, fear is greedy. Fear wants me and fear wants you too.
Did you know that anxiety is on the rise by huge numbers in this country? And did you know that women are far more likely to suffer with it than anyone else? There are physical factors that can contribute to anxiety. There are also emotional and spiritual factors.
I thank God because I no longer experience panic attacks. I do wrestle with anxiety at times, but, by God's grace and the help of some really great friends, I'm winning more battles these days.
I asked you at the beginning, What has fear ever done for you?
I can tell you that fear stole from me and lied to me and almost crippled me.
But Jesus.
Jesus is the only reason I would talk with you about all this. Jesus saw me as a 7th grade girl in my school library reading books on the after life and witchcraft and the occult and anything supernatural I could find. He saw the way that fear was pushing me to find answers in all the wrong places. He rescued me out of that and as a 14 year old 8th grader, He revealed His love to me and completely convinced me that He was my Savior.
He saved me and washed me clean. This is when everything became new again and I no longer walked by myself through the hallways of my school. I was not alone in life anymore...but I didn't always realize it.
Jesus saw me as that 8th grade girl, still gloriously saved, and yet physically sick for days around the idea of having to present a book report out loud in front of my class.
He saw me. He sees you too.
He is merciful. He doesn't want His children to be ruled and controlled by fear. Did you know: He has plans for you! He has people He wants you to love in His name. Places He wants you to go in His name. Risks He wants you to take in His name.
He calls us to things bigger than ourselves and bigger than we could ever accomplish in "our own understanding."(proverbs 3:5,6)
I encountered Jesus as a 14 year old, suicidal girl. There was so much to live for! I suddenly wanted to live - and - find out about my purpose. The way I experienced God's love on a daily basis was overwhelming and it changed the direction of my life completely. I told the Lord that I was willing to follow Him anywhere and do anything for Him as long as He was with me!
You may have had a similar experience. Maybe you can relate to Peter.
John 4:18-20 "As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother, Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fisherman. 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed Him."
(Let's explore this amazing story together next time! See you tomorrow!)
I found myself, a few years ago, in the hospital. I couldn't breathe well, my heart was racing and there was a frightening pressure on my chest as I cried out to God for peace. My husband stayed with me through the night as they did many tests. Some of you can guess the diagnosis. What seemed to be a heart attack was not that at all. I wasn't dying. I wasn't even close to dying. I was "anxious." What??!! I was insulted as the doctor told me this. Me? I thought, "I'm a woman of faith, I can't be anxious!" But I was anxious. Anxious enough to feel like I was dying.
I felt so foolish. This was the first panic attack I had ever had, but it was not the last. I continued to suffer for many months. The more panic I experienced, the more frequently the attacks came. Some of you know exactly what this feels like, don't you? Yes, fear is greedy. Fear wants me and fear wants you too.
Did you know that anxiety is on the rise by huge numbers in this country? And did you know that women are far more likely to suffer with it than anyone else? There are physical factors that can contribute to anxiety. There are also emotional and spiritual factors.
I thank God because I no longer experience panic attacks. I do wrestle with anxiety at times, but, by God's grace and the help of some really great friends, I'm winning more battles these days.
I asked you at the beginning, What has fear ever done for you?
I can tell you that fear stole from me and lied to me and almost crippled me.
But Jesus.
Jesus is the only reason I would talk with you about all this. Jesus saw me as a 7th grade girl in my school library reading books on the after life and witchcraft and the occult and anything supernatural I could find. He saw the way that fear was pushing me to find answers in all the wrong places. He rescued me out of that and as a 14 year old 8th grader, He revealed His love to me and completely convinced me that He was my Savior.
He saved me and washed me clean. This is when everything became new again and I no longer walked by myself through the hallways of my school. I was not alone in life anymore...but I didn't always realize it.
Jesus saw me as that 8th grade girl, still gloriously saved, and yet physically sick for days around the idea of having to present a book report out loud in front of my class.
He saw me. He sees you too.
He is merciful. He doesn't want His children to be ruled and controlled by fear. Did you know: He has plans for you! He has people He wants you to love in His name. Places He wants you to go in His name. Risks He wants you to take in His name.
He calls us to things bigger than ourselves and bigger than we could ever accomplish in "our own understanding."(proverbs 3:5,6)
I encountered Jesus as a 14 year old, suicidal girl. There was so much to live for! I suddenly wanted to live - and - find out about my purpose. The way I experienced God's love on a daily basis was overwhelming and it changed the direction of my life completely. I told the Lord that I was willing to follow Him anywhere and do anything for Him as long as He was with me!
You may have had a similar experience. Maybe you can relate to Peter.
John 4:18-20 "As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother, Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fisherman. 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed Him."
(Let's explore this amazing story together next time! See you tomorrow!)
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Trusting God in the Face of Fear 2
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5,6
I love the fact that the word "fear" is not found in these verses. Fear is too often the focal point. I have found that by making "trust" the focal point, "fear" fades into the background. By learning to trust God and others, the power of fear is diminished in my life.
Not quite ten years ago, I woke up one morning and was still fuzzy headed and walking to the kitchen in my bathrobe. I heard the question in my head, "What would it be like to live without fear?" I now know that this was the Holy Spirit, but honestly, at that time I thought of myself as brave and wouldn't have thought I was hindered all that much by fear. I knew I was afraid of a few things like flying and I knew that that was something I needed to pray through, but I had no idea the thickness of the chains that fear had slowly wrapped me in.
That is one thing about fear: give fear and inch and fear takes a mile or probably two miles. Fear is greedy. Fear thinks it is in charge. Fear wants to rule! Fear doesn't want to just bother you, fear wants to rule you!
I pondered that question, "what would it be like to live without fear?" for a long time and eventually realized that the Lord, Himself was trying to point out some things to me.
Yes, He wanted me to overcome my fear of flying, and by God's grace, I can honestly say that I'm ok with flying now. I don't love it, but I'm not terrified. I praise God for this because He has places for me to go and some of those places involve getting on an airplane. He is the one who helped me and I am greatly encouraged because I know that if He cares enough about me to help me overcome the fear of flying, then He cares enough to help me with any other fear or challenge that may come along and threaten to limit my life and calling.
Are there limits on your life and calling? Are you willing to overcome those limits if God helps you?
Over the course of the next few years (after I heard the question, "what would it be like to live without fear?") my family seemed to encounter one trial after another. Some annoying trials and some pretty severe trials. I watched the ones I love the most go through intense troubles. (Did you know that wherever your dreams are, that is where fear will try to hang out? I've had some pretty big and wonderful dreams for my loved ones!)
I noticed that the more afraid I became for the ones I loved, the more in control I wanted to be. The more in control I tried to be, the more problems multiplied. I had never thought of myself as one of those "controlling people," but here I was, one of "those people." I thought I could keep myself and my loved ones from pain and suffering if I just did this, or just got them to do that...
I soon realized that I was not in control of things as much as I had thought, but I didn't know what to do as fear continued to push me into this false sense of control. Fear grew and grew and took over more ground in my life. I learned that control was a lie and worked hand in hand with fear to tie me up.
Eventually, I learned that if I was to truly TRUST in God, I had to be willing to give up control.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Trusting God in the Face of Fear
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5,6
Do you know these verses by heart?
I memorized them as a new believer and I love them. Since I came to know Christ these verses have spoken to me. It has been my desire and intention to have that kind of life with God; the kind where I trust Him with all of my heart and He leads me wherever He wants me to go.
There is one thing that has tried to come between me and God more than any other, and that is fear.
I desire trust, and yet fear has a way of creeping in uninvited.
I'm mad at fear. Fear has lied to me, stolen from me and at times even paralyzed me.
I can't remember a time when fear wasn't there breathing down my neck, looking over my shoulder, trying to mess with the story of my life being written down on God's pages. The taunting, mocking voice of fear is like the one Eve heard in the garden when she heard the serpent say, "Did God really say?" Fear challenges my faith, my values, and even tries to use scripture against me.
Of course, the source of all evil is satan, and satan uses many tactics to lock God's people up and keep us from moving forward into the life and kingdom work that God has planned for us to do.
The Bible says that we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which He prepared in advance for us to do.
From the time I was a young child, fear has been picking on me. Fear is a bully! It tries to intimidate God's people all the time. Fear nags us with worry; sometimes just a nagging "what if?" hanging over our heads. The scripture says that fear brings torment and I know that to be true.
When I was a child, I was tormented by nightmares that shook me. Just to show how ridiculous fear can be, I still remember one of the worst reoccurring nightmares I ever had was about the characters in Sesame Street! What is so scary about Big Bird? I don't know! I loved Big Bird during the day, but in the middle of the night he would crash through my bedroom wall and scare me crazy! It's not so much the subject of the dream that makes a nightmare so scary. It is the fear itself that is so frightening.
As I got older, I was tormented by a variety of fears. Can you relate to any of these?
Fear of failure
Fear of rejection
Fear of abandonment
Fear of disapproval
Fear of disappointment
Fear of tragedy
Fear of the future
Fear of the unknown
Fear of death
Fear of crowds
Fear of being alone
There is a whole catalog of phobias that people deal with; fear of spiders, fear of flying, fear of small spaces, fear of wide open spaces.....
Those are just some of the ways fear manifests its ugly self in the lives of women. Christian women. Women who were bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. Women who belong to the resurrected Lord. Christian women are being harassed by fear and I'm sick of it.
Like I said, I'm mad at fear. I want you to be mad at fear too!
What has fear ever done for you? Has it been a good friend, companion? Has it brought you closer to God, made your relationships deeper?
I can't count the number of times I've sat across the table from a woman and heard her say that she has "trust issues." Yeah? Yeah. It's hard to trust women. It's hard to trust men. It's hard to trust God. I've heard this - and lived it myself...except I've decided that I've had enough of my "trust issues" because really, they are "FEAR issues" and I'm mad at fear.
Realizing that fear is a problem is the first step. I think that fear has been such a subtle and sneaky force in our lives that sometimes we are just used to it. We tell ourselves that it's just how we are; we actually take fear on as part of our identity! Part of who we are! We might say, "Oh, that's just how I am, I'm shy. I don't think I could ever do that, I don't like risky things. I can't really step out and do that, I have "trust issues."
We don't even know that we are missing out on friendships, great adventures with God, and being hindered greatly in leading others to Christ.
We don't know how bound up we are unless the Holy Spirit shows us. I thank God He does want to show us!
Thankfully, there are many, many passages of scripture that deal with the issue of fear. God knows there are frightening things to face in this world. He knows we need help and He is faithful to give us many encouraging words on the subject.
We'll take a look at some of this encouragement tomorrow. See you then!
Do you know these verses by heart?
I memorized them as a new believer and I love them. Since I came to know Christ these verses have spoken to me. It has been my desire and intention to have that kind of life with God; the kind where I trust Him with all of my heart and He leads me wherever He wants me to go.
There is one thing that has tried to come between me and God more than any other, and that is fear.
I desire trust, and yet fear has a way of creeping in uninvited.
I'm mad at fear. Fear has lied to me, stolen from me and at times even paralyzed me.
I can't remember a time when fear wasn't there breathing down my neck, looking over my shoulder, trying to mess with the story of my life being written down on God's pages. The taunting, mocking voice of fear is like the one Eve heard in the garden when she heard the serpent say, "Did God really say?" Fear challenges my faith, my values, and even tries to use scripture against me.
Of course, the source of all evil is satan, and satan uses many tactics to lock God's people up and keep us from moving forward into the life and kingdom work that God has planned for us to do.
The Bible says that we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which He prepared in advance for us to do.
From the time I was a young child, fear has been picking on me. Fear is a bully! It tries to intimidate God's people all the time. Fear nags us with worry; sometimes just a nagging "what if?" hanging over our heads. The scripture says that fear brings torment and I know that to be true.
When I was a child, I was tormented by nightmares that shook me. Just to show how ridiculous fear can be, I still remember one of the worst reoccurring nightmares I ever had was about the characters in Sesame Street! What is so scary about Big Bird? I don't know! I loved Big Bird during the day, but in the middle of the night he would crash through my bedroom wall and scare me crazy! It's not so much the subject of the dream that makes a nightmare so scary. It is the fear itself that is so frightening.
As I got older, I was tormented by a variety of fears. Can you relate to any of these?
Fear of failure
Fear of rejection
Fear of abandonment
Fear of disapproval
Fear of disappointment
Fear of tragedy
Fear of the future
Fear of the unknown
Fear of death
Fear of crowds
Fear of being alone
There is a whole catalog of phobias that people deal with; fear of spiders, fear of flying, fear of small spaces, fear of wide open spaces.....
Those are just some of the ways fear manifests its ugly self in the lives of women. Christian women. Women who were bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. Women who belong to the resurrected Lord. Christian women are being harassed by fear and I'm sick of it.
Like I said, I'm mad at fear. I want you to be mad at fear too!
What has fear ever done for you? Has it been a good friend, companion? Has it brought you closer to God, made your relationships deeper?
I can't count the number of times I've sat across the table from a woman and heard her say that she has "trust issues." Yeah? Yeah. It's hard to trust women. It's hard to trust men. It's hard to trust God. I've heard this - and lived it myself...except I've decided that I've had enough of my "trust issues" because really, they are "FEAR issues" and I'm mad at fear.
Realizing that fear is a problem is the first step. I think that fear has been such a subtle and sneaky force in our lives that sometimes we are just used to it. We tell ourselves that it's just how we are; we actually take fear on as part of our identity! Part of who we are! We might say, "Oh, that's just how I am, I'm shy. I don't think I could ever do that, I don't like risky things. I can't really step out and do that, I have "trust issues."
We don't even know that we are missing out on friendships, great adventures with God, and being hindered greatly in leading others to Christ.
We don't know how bound up we are unless the Holy Spirit shows us. I thank God He does want to show us!
Thankfully, there are many, many passages of scripture that deal with the issue of fear. God knows there are frightening things to face in this world. He knows we need help and He is faithful to give us many encouraging words on the subject.
We'll take a look at some of this encouragement tomorrow. See you then!
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