Someone Wants To Load Me With Fear

The day begins with hope, but then the change comes. Hardly have I put my Bible down from a morning reading when the attack arrives: fear, dread, anxiety. The thoughts like arrows shoot across my brain. This terrible thing is going to happen to you. That awful condition is surely at work in your body. You can't do that, you will surely fall! There are many distractions that could work for a moment or two, but I have learned to flee to the Shepherd. I can't stop all the anxious thoughts that can jump into my head, but I can answer them with prayer and thanksgiving. The enemy has a tactic that he just loves: to load you and me up with fear until we cannot function as a witness for Christ. Living for Christ means that we will have enemies, and our enemies want us in a state of constant fear. With a terrified opponent, the enemy can take the field without a shot fired. The idea is that you and I will not show up on the Internet with words of encouragement for our brothers in Christ. That we won't send a note of love to bring our sisters in Christ out of a depression. A thoroughly frightened Christian will not visit a sick friend in the hospital, or minister at a prison, or help out an orphan, or do the many other things we can do to show the light of Jesus in our lives.

Take note of the many others you know - those who share the Word of God in Bible studies with us, sit near us in church services, pray for us in prayer meetings, and meet with us in fellowship. See how many, or at times even all of us, will suddenly come under the shadow of fear at the same time. You can see it in prayer requests, message postings, e-mails, and that is when we realize that a campaign of fear is at work in the world. Sometimes the enemy forces rest or are held at bay, but we have all noticed the times when we are afraid together. Find the words of encouragement together: "Don't be afraid. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome..." as Nehemiah encouraged his people. "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) A campaign of fear-mongering is a tribulation to us all, but Jesus our Lord has overcome the world.

Trust in God to strengthen us and still our quaking spirits.
Bucky