Prayer for someone who's worried

May the favor of the Lord and men (women) are upon you.
May you have the anointing of Joseph so that you shall prosper in whatever you do.
God will cloth you with the garment of salvation, and the robe of righteousness so that you may draw near to the throne of grace with the confidence that you would receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Take heart! My dear sister/brother in Christ. If God is for you who can against you.

May you have peace and joy even in the midst of turmoil.

—A sister's prayer

Two Kings

1 Samuel 16
Resonate
Beau (guest)
June 12, 2011

Israel had two kings: Saul and David. The relationship between these two kings is famous in the Bible.

Israel was God's chosen people, but they had a history of not being content. They kinda want to be like their neighbors. So one day, they decided that they wanted their own king. Kings in many culture were gods themselves. There was no seperation between church and state. So this was a grievous thing to ask from God. Although God desired to give them so much more, He gave them exactly what they wanted.

The annointing of the two kings 

Saul looked the part. He was tall and great looking. And Saul also played the part in the beginning of the story. But then, after his first victory, we see fear begin to take hold of his mind. What kind of king is this? He's the king who looks the part, but brings pain to Israel.

So God picks the next king who is after his own heart (1 Samuel 16:18).

Samuel was looking for another Saul, so he didn't look for David. Saul is the kind of king people look for; David is the kind of king that God looks for. And God blessed him. Everything he did, God blessed him. So Saul gets jealous and tries to kill David. (1 Sam 19:18-24)

How the kings respond to sin and fear

Both kings made mistake. But its how they responded to their sins that set them apart. It's fear that led Saul to willful disobedience. When he was confronted, he makes excuses. Fear enslaves him. And he's not after God's own heart. He's more concerned with how he is perceived. He takes the path that is easiest for him, but not what God wants.

Yes, David gets afraid, but fear does not control him.

Psalms 25:6-8; 30:8-10 shows how different David is. When he's afraid, he turns to God; he doesn't take things into his own hands. When he was confronted, he did not blame the woman or the husband. He took responsibility and repented. Even as king, he responds to failures and begs forgiveness from God. There's a radical willingness to be critical of himself. He is willing to sacrifice himself for his people.

Applying the lessons


1 Peter 2:9; Galatians 3:26-28

We might not be kings and queens, but we have access to God. We are followers of Jesus Christ. He sees our hearts. He sees our possibilities if we have a heart that us after Him. As we grow in Jesus, we start to look more like God.

God loves us just the way we are, but He loves us too much to let us stay the way we are. When we are the child of God; He sends us the Spirit to guide us. We all mess up, we all fall short... but if we come with a heart that's humble, and not looking for excuses, we're on our way.

Is your life like David's or Saul's?

Fear

Crossroads
Cincinnati, Ohio
Brian Tome
June 5, 2011

It's hard sometimes to discern when a thought is from us or from God. But whenever you are afraid, be certain that God is not behind it. For God said in 2 Timothy 1:6-7 that: "7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline."

When I was a kid, I saw something on TV, where a woman was seized with a fear that her plane was going to crashed, so she just walked off the plane, and the plane did crash. Since then, I think about that when I'm flying.

We are a society ruled by fear. We're not the Land of the Free, we're the Land of the Fear. Anxiety is the luxury of the privileged. Because if you are busy with real danger, you won't have time to be anxious.

The Prevalence of Fear

Here's how you can be afraid:
1. Experience or hear bad, bad things.
2. Fear that it would happen to you.
3. Think about it as often as possible.
4. Restrict yourself and repeat step 1.

We all have things that restrict our lives, but we shouldn't allow that.

Prov 28:1. "1 The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion." When we flee or alter our behavior, even when nothing is happening, something is wrong. Fear is an illusion. It's not happening, its only in our minds, but it's restricting what we do.

We all experience bad news. And we will hear bad news. All the time. From everywhere. We don't just hear about bad news about our village, we hear bad news about the world. There is an endless cycle of fear, paranoia and anxiety. There is a spirit of fear set against the Spirit of God.

"Stress" is just a socially acceptable way of saying, "I am afraid." We are storing adrenalin, even though  it's a landing strip of diseases. Fear makes us restrict our lives; and when we allow that to alter our lives.

Planning and Trusting

Assume that God is in control. Even if what I fear happens to me, I put myself in God's story—that in the grand scheme scheme of things, all that means something. Haggai 2:5 "This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear."

There's a fine line between planning and being fearful, and we have to draw the line. You can have a backup plan for everything, but you lose out on God's plan. It could be trying to control what belongs to God.

James 4:13-16. 13 "Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil."

Excessive planning can come from a place of pride. Some people are proud of being in charge. God is in control, our life is nothing more than a mist. Unless God puts an umbrella over us, we evaporate. If we are about mist management, we are mismanaging our life. We don't experience the life that God intends for us. He tells us instead to forgive and move on, spend the energy on getting to know someone, and other such things that are more important. 

There are things that we know we need to do for sure, such as forgiving others, loving God... and not having a spirit of fear.

Coping with Fear

Be concerned with what God wants you to do, and do not act based on what others tell you that you should be afraid of.

Think about God's love as often as possible, instead of what we're afraid of. When we are afraid, it's a sign that we think we are alone, which lets fear thrive. When we think we are isolated, we are disconnected from God. Fear is a sign that we are disconnected from the love of God.

Romans 8:14-16. 14 "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[a] And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children."

When we are afraid, we are enslaved! But we have been adopted! We are sons! (In some translation, it says "children," but the Scripture speaks of a specific role in that time—really, a son, that is, a full heir. God knows the number of our hair. (For some of us that's not a big deal. :) ). That's the love of God for us. We have a Daddy who is in control. And the Spirit guides us in fullness, not fear.

1 John 4:18. "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." It's imopsible to fear with love. The greater the fear, the greater the sign that there's an outtage of love. The Holy Spirit's presence is an awareness of love.

Matt 6:34. "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus is saying that thinking about things that haven't happened yet is like paying interest on a car you don't own—its ridonkulous. ("Worry is interest paid on debt, not yet incurred." William Ralph Inge) Don't waste stomach enzymes and mental space on things that you imagine; just do what you can. Plan properly, but don't waste energy on things that would never come to pass. When you worry, you are acting like a slave.

Fear Versus a Spirit-Led Life

Benefits of fear
1. You will not be surprised.
2. You never take a risk. (You'll never start a business, date, or travel.)
3. Some things won't happen to you.

Benefits of being led by the Spirit
1. You are surprised.
(He takes you places you never expected. You are surprised by opportunities you otherwise would not have expected, because the Spirit led you to it.)
2. You take risks.
3. Great things happen to you.

Conclusion

Our Daddy doesn't want us locked up in the panic room, He wants us to be in the yard, playing with his other children.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Mark Twain.

We were not given the spirit of fear, timidity, or cowardice, but a spirit of exploration.