Sal's Blog 5.7.2020
Wednesday Night Men’s Thought
A powerful thing in our lives is our emotions…
The most powerful emotion in our lives is fear…
Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous… likely to cause pain…or a threat.
One of the enemy’s most popular weapons that he uses against us is fear. Worry and anxiety and fear…can overwhelm us, controlling our every move and decision.
Fear can lead to instability, unhappiness, and a lack of contentment. fear is the enemy of faith.
We have access to power…strength…and courage… through God…God offers us these things and God tells us to not be afraid…yet we are fearful often in our daily lives…
Reverential fear…Reverence for God
a holy fear…an awe and respect for the majesty and holiness of God…
The fear of displeasing God…
Proverbs 1:7-The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 16:6-Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided…
Psalm 2:11- Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate His rule with trembling…
Fear of the Lord …serve the Lord with fear…Fear of death? Pain? Injury? What about eternal separation from God?
Matthew 10:28 says-Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell…
Reverential fear is a good kind of fear…it is always right…
How about this…God has built into us some fear that helps keep us alive…
Fear that is necessary for self-preservation…
Fear that is based on an established set of principles…constitutional fear…
knowing things can happen causes us to be fearful of what may happen…
Things like slowing down while driving on ice…or stay indoors during a bad lightning storm…fear of sickness causes us to practice good health habits…such as hand washing…
We even teach our kids some things to be afraid of like hot stoves or high places…
And finally, we have physical carnal fear… senseless dread and nagging anxiety…doomsday thinking…
Carnal fear is the kind of fear which causes you to be unduly afraid of death…
In the old testament we see the Israelites fearing the people of the land they were to take possession of but they were afraid of death and in the new testament we see Felix the governor after hearing Paul preach about righteousness and judgement to come was afraid and dismissed Paul…again afraid of the death that is to come to us all…
These cases were people who were afraid to move because they were afraid of physical death…
In Genesis 3:10 Adam answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.
What was Adam afraid of? Adam hears God… which would normally be a good things…but he experiences shame…over his nakedness…fear of God seeing all of him…fear that God would be angry for eating the fruit and would destroy him…
Let’s read Hebrews 2:14-15
14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
Death has always been a source of fear…fear of physical death can rob us of our peace of mind and can cripple our usefulness and spoil normal healthy living…these fears are really the result of unbelief in our Creator and His ability to care for us…
Jesus came to bring us freedom from the fear of death…a things that we are slaves to before Jesus….
So, what do we do about these fears?
Read –
I John 4:18-There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love…
We conquer fear by learning the power of Love
Overcoming fear comes as a result of true love for God…
A fearful child loses fear when they nestle in their parent’s arms. When a person loves God and trusts God as the controller of the universe…you then no longer are a slave to fear…
Psalm 34:4-I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.
Matthew 14:28- Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
So, what happens here in these verses is Peter had courage…stepped out of the boat…that took guts…
As long as he was more conscious of the presence of the Lord than he was of the storm and the waves around him, he stayed on top…
When he took his eyes off Jesus, then he sank…fear took over…
Time and time again Jesus said, “it is I, be not afraid.”
Jesus didn’t waste words and He repeatedly said, “fear not” and “do not be afraid” and “do not be anxious”.
In the bible God tells us 365 times “Fear not” one for every day!
God bless you and please feel free to comment below. I would love to hear your thoughts
A powerful thing in our lives is our emotions…
The most powerful emotion in our lives is fear…
Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous… likely to cause pain…or a threat.
One of the enemy’s most popular weapons that he uses against us is fear. Worry and anxiety and fear…can overwhelm us, controlling our every move and decision.
Fear can lead to instability, unhappiness, and a lack of contentment. fear is the enemy of faith.
We have access to power…strength…and courage… through God…God offers us these things and God tells us to not be afraid…yet we are fearful often in our daily lives…
- So, what motivates our fear…maybe…death…injury…pain…what about good fear?
Reverential fear…Reverence for God
a holy fear…an awe and respect for the majesty and holiness of God…
The fear of displeasing God…
Proverbs 1:7-The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 16:6-Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided…
Psalm 2:11- Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate His rule with trembling…
Fear of the Lord …serve the Lord with fear…Fear of death? Pain? Injury? What about eternal separation from God?
Matthew 10:28 says-Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell…
Reverential fear is a good kind of fear…it is always right…
How about this…God has built into us some fear that helps keep us alive…
Fear that is necessary for self-preservation…
Fear that is based on an established set of principles…constitutional fear…
knowing things can happen causes us to be fearful of what may happen…
Things like slowing down while driving on ice…or stay indoors during a bad lightning storm…fear of sickness causes us to practice good health habits…such as hand washing…
We even teach our kids some things to be afraid of like hot stoves or high places…
And finally, we have physical carnal fear… senseless dread and nagging anxiety…doomsday thinking…
Carnal fear is the kind of fear which causes you to be unduly afraid of death…
In the old testament we see the Israelites fearing the people of the land they were to take possession of but they were afraid of death and in the new testament we see Felix the governor after hearing Paul preach about righteousness and judgement to come was afraid and dismissed Paul…again afraid of the death that is to come to us all…
These cases were people who were afraid to move because they were afraid of physical death…
In Genesis 3:10 Adam answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.
What was Adam afraid of? Adam hears God… which would normally be a good things…but he experiences shame…over his nakedness…fear of God seeing all of him…fear that God would be angry for eating the fruit and would destroy him…
Let’s read Hebrews 2:14-15
14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
Death has always been a source of fear…fear of physical death can rob us of our peace of mind and can cripple our usefulness and spoil normal healthy living…these fears are really the result of unbelief in our Creator and His ability to care for us…
Jesus came to bring us freedom from the fear of death…a things that we are slaves to before Jesus….
So, what do we do about these fears?
Read –
I John 4:18-There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love…
We conquer fear by learning the power of Love
Overcoming fear comes as a result of true love for God…
A fearful child loses fear when they nestle in their parent’s arms. When a person loves God and trusts God as the controller of the universe…you then no longer are a slave to fear…
Psalm 34:4-I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.
- Does God deliver us from reverent fear or even constitutional fear?
Matthew 14:28- Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
So, what happens here in these verses is Peter had courage…stepped out of the boat…that took guts…
As long as he was more conscious of the presence of the Lord than he was of the storm and the waves around him, he stayed on top…
When he took his eyes off Jesus, then he sank…fear took over…
Time and time again Jesus said, “it is I, be not afraid.”
Jesus didn’t waste words and He repeatedly said, “fear not” and “do not be afraid” and “do not be anxious”.
In the bible God tells us 365 times “Fear not” one for every day!
God bless you and please feel free to comment below. I would love to hear your thoughts