"Fear Not For I Am With You"

It is so beautiful to see how God works when you finally open that door that He has spent a lifetime knocking on. God has been speaking to me about the spirit of fear lately. Here I thought I was strong, independent, and all of the above only to have God show me that without Him I am nothing and that everytime I fear, I end up hurting Him in the process. He has been revealing to me that I am truly afraid; afraid of what my future will be, of whether or not if I will become a successful business owner, if I will get married and have children, if I will finish school with a high ranking degree, if my friends and I will remain sisters forever, if God will be pleased with me enough to use me for His ministry, etc. I may not think about these things every single day but they are there, deeply rooted in my heart, lingering around me. But God has been saying to me "Let Go! If you trust me and love me like you say you do then let go and let me take care of you. Surrender and have faith that I have got your back like I always have."

The spirit of fear is one that antagonizes us and makes us believe what the world says about us. It constantly reminds us of our past and fills us with lies, saying "you will not make it, you will never amount to anything, no one loves you, God won't forgive you, He definitely won't get you out of this one." Those are words from the devil himself and everytime we play these words in our minds, we give them life and we accept them to be true. But God is saying "Why are you making friends with the enemy when you belong to me?"

I have been studying The Word and I could not help but reread Matthew 14 verses 25-32 of when Jesus walked on water. A couple weeks ago at my church during youth night we played a game where each group had to reenact a specific story from the bible to the best of their ability. The game was fun, hilarious, and pretty informative. Looking back it showed me how little I knew about what the Lord had done and how badly I need to know Him through His word. When one of the teams got up and reenacted this story, I had no clue how grand it was until I read it myself.

In this passage Jesus was walking on the lake and when His disciples saw Him they became afraid assuming He was a ghost. Jesus told them to be courageous so Peter being the brave one, he said to Him "Lord if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water." Jesus told Him to come so Peter got out of the boat and walked towards Jesus. The Word said that Peter saw the wind and became afraid so he began to sink. He cried out "Lord save me!" Immediately, Jesus reached out His hand and caught him, saying "You of little faith... why did you doubt?" As soon as they climbed into the boat the wind died down.

This may not seem too big until you've experience how little faith you have, so let me break it down for you. Peter, at first did the right thing by listening to Jesus; he had courage and took that step out of his comfort zone and into the Lord's hands which is often what we do when we give our lives to Christ and take a leap of faith. But then came the turbulance, the struggle, or in this case, the wind. We may at times be strong but there will come times when our faith is tested and the wind begins to seem much stronger than it actually is. Peter was walking on the water just fine until he saw the wind and forgot that He who created those winds could calm them down.

For that moment when he became scared, he allowed the spirit of fear to cover him, pushing Jesus away and that is why he began to sink. The devil and the Lord cannot dwell in the same home, that is why satan is no longer in Heaven. The minute that you allow any evil spirits into your life, you lose sight of Him; you forget who He is and what He can do because you no longer have faith. In Hebrews 11 verse 6, The Word says "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." The minute you lose that faith, the devil steps in because you are now a wandering sheep who has no clue who its master is... you no longer know where you belong, who you belong to, what the devil cannot do and what you can do through the Lord. That dangerous place is where the devil finds power because you have now given it to Him.

Now if you have found yourself in this position like I have, it is time you give your all to God. Admit to Him that faith in Him is where you are falling short right now and consistenly work on reading His word and talking to Him so that He can help you. Once you keep building that relationship, you will make a lifestyle of trusting in His power. Slowly but surely you will be like the commander that amazed Jesus with His faith when He said in Matthew 8 verse 8 "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word and my servant will be healed." This man was saying to Jesus: my servant is sick and I need you to cure Him, but you are so mighty that you don't even have to go to my house to do it, with your power you just need to say the word and he will be healed. That right there is faith; believing with your spiritual eyes what your physical eyes cannot see.

Now what's interesting about the 'walking on water' passage is that Jesus IMMEDIATELY grabbed Peter to save His life. Our God knows that life is tough and that sometimes you will drop the ball allowing the evil one to sneak in through your doors, but that does not mean He does not love you or that He will abandon you. He will ALWAYS be there to catch you even in your worst mistakes. When He helps you out remember that He will allow you to be tested in this again so that you can actually pass the test. The waves won't kill you... in fact in the passage it said that the waves died down again... they were ony testing you to see if a little shake could make you run. The only way you won't is when you are in constant communication with Him.

The waves may roar, thunders may rumble, the sun may burn but God lives. It doesn't matter what you are going through or what you have been through, you just need to believe in Him that He will do just what He said He would do. Fear not "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline" (2 Timothy 1:7). Don't give up, quitting is not an option! Please pray for me in this area and I will pray for you all.

"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you,

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

-Isaiah 41:10

Love Always ***Beauties***

#FaithInChrist