I had a heart-pounding conversation with a close friend yesterday that, INITIALLY, had the two of us SHAKING IN OUR BOOTS. What caused all of that shaking? News that his family farm and related business were being declared a toxic waste site by the Canadian government and confiscated by the bank.
He told me the gut-wrenching story through tears laced with fear. Sixty-one years in business…gone. The family farm, destroyed. The grandchildren’s future dream, extinguished.
Perhaps you’ve received news like my friend did about his family’s farm. Maybe it was a grim medical diagnosis. Or that your job will be obsolete in a few months.
Receiving news like this quickly sacks our hopes and sends our anxiety-soaked soul into a state of panic.
The sooner we do get troubling news about the future to God, the sooner we will “understand” it in the context of what he wants us to do when we are afraid.
God wants us to go from “I am AFRAID” to “I shall not be AFRAID.”
We must stop Satan before he drones on about God’s weakness and lack of concern for our predicament with his LIES.
“God is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us…” Ephesians 3:20
This is when we stop looking for a complicated answer to the question of how to go from being afraid to declaring I shall NOT be afraid. The answer is actually simple. Go to God’s Word. Read it. And then BELIEVE it.
“The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid; what can anyone do to me?” Psalm 118:6
I ask God to keep me from trembling in the face of scary storms forming in the future. To turn my mind and heart to your promises that will swallow that fear and transform me from being afraid to declaring “I will NOT be afraid.”
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
What are you shaking in your boots over right now? Will you give it to God today so he can take you from that scary place to “I shall NOT be afraid”?
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” Psalm 56:3–4
