"For God has not given us a spirit of fear..."

2 Timothy 1:7
"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of peace and of power, and a sound mind."
We can not bow to the fear that the enemy is trying to inflict upon us.  We who believe serve a God who is our father.  He loves and cares for us.  If we listen to him and keep our hands in his, we will never be alone.  We are His and He has his eyes on us.  I know that we are all feeling the tug of fear that the media continues to report, but that is what the terrorists want to do to us.  Our enemy the devil wants us to believe in fear and in so doing, we step farther away from our God.  We walk by and not by sight.  We have faith in a God who is always with us.  I am posting Psalm 91 to remind us whose we are.

Psalm 91

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.[a]
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”

3 Surely he will save you
    from the fowler’s snare
    and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
    nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
    and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

¹⁴ “Because he^[b] loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will deliver him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.”

Psalms 91 v3

"For He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence."

Here the psalmist calls us to stand firm and know that the Lord is God and as such, He will save us from the tricks and the traps of satan, the devil.  We have to be listening and we have to be willing to follow the Lord's instructions so that when he tells us to go right, we don't go left, or when He tells us to stop, we don't keep going.  When we listen to Him, we will be steered away from and if need be, delivered out of the troubles that the devil may put in our path.  satan loves to make us stumble, but God will not allow us to fall.   He gives us a way out when we get trapped.  We just have to take the way out when He gives it to us.

The world is full of sickness and disease.  Many people blame us for the pestilence that is spread throughout the earth.  No matter the cause, disease and death from the disease are common on planet earth.  the word of God promises that He can and will deliver us from the pestilence and even from the deadly pestilence.

Go Into the Enemy's Camp and Take Back what he took from you

Somehow, some way, something went wrong.  It just happened it seems, in the blink of an eye.  I was standing on a grassy plain filled with plenty, and then on a frozen tundra, barren, empty.  It wasn't like the dry burnt out Kansas plains.  It was as though I was standing on glass.  I knew that there were blessings, I could see them beneath my feet.  They were beneath the frozen layers that were just out of reach.  What had happened?  What had I done, or not done?  How had I displeased my God? There were so many things to fight through.  Suddenly so many problems that needed attention.  One by one like dominoes people, situations, things in my life just simply began to fall.  Nothing totally collapsed, but everything began to fall.  What was happening?  Why was it happening?  Was there anything I could do about it?  No, it seemed that all I could do was paddle and stay above water.  Suddenly there was illness all around me, family members were losing their jobs, my house fell into disrepair, and I was just stymied.  Circumstances forced me to retire early in order to care for family members who were to ill to completely care for themselves, the slow motion button seemed to have been pushed on any business venture or invention that I had started, something had just "gone wrong."  There were little joys and victories along the way, but those years were tough.  I can actually begin to feel things starting to change now.  I think about Job, but I don't dare compare my situation to his completely, nor do I dare compare myself to him.  He was above reproach it seemed.

                                          GOING TO THE ENEMY'S CAMP
One morning God woke me up and I heard a song in my soul.  "I'm going to the enemy's camp, take back what he took from me...I'm going to the enemy's camp, to claim the victory, I'll put him under my feet!  I just started singing that song as loud and as long as I could.  Then I heard the song "Something about that name".  Jesus, Jesus, Jesus... there is something about that name.  Master, Savior, Jesus, like a fragrance after the rain...oooh whooo, Jesus, Jesus Jesus, let all heaven and earth proclaim...that kings and kingdoms - they will all pass away, but there's something about that name.  It came in like a flood and tears began to flow involuntarily from my eyes.  I knew that release was coming.  Something was about to change.  God had lifted His might hand and had said, "enough!".    How thankful I am to serve a God so full of compassion, grace, mercy and love.  What an incredible God I serve.  I couldn't have made it across those rough waters without Him, without His grace, His mercy, His love, His help, His word.

Lord When I'm in Despair

Sometimes the way of the world brings me to despair.  The murder, the theft, the lies and the grasping for power that is undeserved is almost unbearable.  It's all I hear on the news.  It's all I hear people discuss.  At work I try not to fall into the gossip.  I find myself compromising on your word and your will just simply to avoid the conflict.  Sometimes it brings me to despair.  The children don't like each other because of differences in taste, or because of clothing, or the color of their skin, or the texture of their hair.  People want to hurt each other's feelings on purpose.  We compromise or dispose of our morals and standards.  Are we becoming more pleasers of man than pleasers of God?  Am I? We are afraid to share the ways of the Lord.  I see terrorists on television hoping to instill fear in the hearts of every man.  They are trying to control our thoughts, our movements, our way of life.  Sometimes it brings me to the point of despair.

And then I remember...

There is a way to peace.  A peace that passes all understanding.  There is a river called joy. There is a place for me where ever I am because Jesus is my Lord and savior.  

I suddenly remember  that one person praying can send a thousand demons to flight and two can send ten thousand running.  I remember that a thousand can fall at my right side and 10 thousand can fall at my right hand but none shall come near me.  Psalm 91:7)   I remember that "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord will deliver them from them all." Psalm 34:9)  I read, "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knows those who trust in Him."  Nahum 1:7)

"We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-9)

I remembered that I am not alone.  We are not alone.  We serve a God who lives.  He loves us and forgives us when we stumble and fall.  He guides us away from sin and into his grace. We serve a living God who wants the best for us.  We are always under His watchful eye.  It doesn't matter what the world wants to do.  It doesn't matter what the devil sends our way.  God is in control.  He doesn't control us, He wants us to choose well and to follow his word, but when we don't, he's there to guide us back to the right way.  His hand is over us to protect us.  His love is around us to lift us.  There is no such thing as despair in the kingdom of God.  We're ok.  One day we will see Him.  We will sing his praise right in front of Him.  Everything will make sense, and it will be worth it all.  God is good.  We are His children and the sheep of His pasture.  Today we praise Him no matter what we are going through, no matter what we see, no matter what we hear.  We don't belong here anyway, we're just passing through .  In my father's house there are many mansions and Jesus went to prepare one just for me and for you.  We'll follow Jesus.  It will be worth every step and every lesson.  Our joy will be fulfilled.  We are victorious right now because we always triumph in Christ.  He told us not to worry about anything, but with prayer, thanksgiving and asking, to let him know what we want.  He's awesome.  I'm filled with joy everyday, every minute, every time I think of Him.  We rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS!

Worthy Is The Lamb - Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir