**I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. ** Psalm 34:4
Fear of other’s opinions. Fear of heights.
Fear of being alone. Fear of change.
Fear of storms. Fear of spiders.
Fear of flying. Fear of death.
Our fears are numerous. They can keep us from living a full life. They can keep us from enjoying all that Christ offers us.
Jesus tells us that He has come….
**that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. ** John 10:10
Jesus lived an abundant life. He lived to fulfill His purpose for being here on this planet. He lived serving and healing and giving to others. He lived focused and with intention. He knew what was waiting for him at the cross and yet, still moved forward.
If He was afraid of any of the things on the list in this post, He didn’t show it. He depended 100% on the Father for all that He needed and if He had fears, they did not control Him. He trusted that the Father would help Him, no matter what He faced, even death on a torturous cross.
Facing the cross took prayer. LOTS of prayer. He knew that it would be horrible. He knew his flesh would scream at Him. But He was able to do it because the Father heard his prayers and helped Him endure it.
Maybe that is our weak point. Believing that the Lord does hear us and is ready to answer.
**… And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. ** John 11:41
Did Jesus know this intrinsically?
Did He know that the Father heard Him because the Scriptures told Him so?
Did He know because He experienced answered prayer over and over again?
Yes, yes and yes. I think He had all three and they all helped Him live His life abundantly.
-WE know that God hears his children’s prayers, right? We have heard it a thousand times. We have read books about it. It is like we always knew it.
-WE also have Scripture….like…
**And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us….and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. ** 1 John 5: 14, 15
The question is….
Do WE have answered prayer? Do WE pray? Do WE put everything before the Father like Jesus did?
Has the Father answered us about our finances, our marriage problems, our health, our worries and our FEARS?
Has the Lord delivered us from all of our fears?
If not, why not? Have we put them before Him? Have we even asked?
Someone once said that if we want to conquer our fears, we have to face them. We have to MAKE ourselves face them and get past them.
WE have to put each one of the things we fear before the Lord and ask Him to help us be courageous and walk through them and past them.
We need to seek the Lord, believe that He hears us, and allow Him to deliver us from them. It’s not complicated. Life with Christ is not complicated. But it is real. We have to be real. We have to lay everything at His feet. Even our fears. Especially our fears.
If we are able to bless the Lord, praise Him, boast of Him and magnify and exalt Him…
Wouldn’t it be great to be able to do all that concerning our fears? David did.
He was afraid of King Saul killing him. He was afraid of Absalom, his son, killing him. He was afraid that he would be a bad king. He was afraid of disappointing the Lord.
But verse 4 says that he was delivered from all of them. And we can say the same thing. If we have put each of our fears before the Lord and believe that He hears us and that He is able to do ALL things that are good for us.
Give it a try. Put just one fear before the Lord and see what He does for you.
I dare you! 🙂