Scripture: Psalms 118:6

Fight Your Fear 

Fear is one of the biggest obstacles that hinders believers from running the race God has set before us. Fear can keep us curled up on the ground when we should be running free. It can chain our thoughts to the negative circumstances we’ve encountered in the past, preventing us from relying on and reveling in our hope for the future. 

With their greatest hopes and dreams laid out before them like beautifully wrapped presents beneath a Christmas tree, the Israelites should have surged forward with joy. They should have claimed all the abundance and fulfillment God wanted them to have. Yet, having come so far, having made it through the wilderness with its dusty despair, hunger, and thirst—they couldn’t cross the finish line. They had prevailed over Pharaoh’s army, over the high tide of the Red Sea, over the challenge of the journey, but they couldn’t take a stand against this final obstacle: fear. 

You may stand at the threshold of God’s greatest promise for you, but you’ll never claim His blessings if you let fear dominate your life. He wants so much richness for you in His perfect plan; only your shortsighted fear can withhold it from you. Listen carefully to the words of Paul on this subject: “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). Power doesn’t shrink back in uncertainty; love isn’t conquered; a sound mind doesn’t deal in irrational speculation. God has a rich territory, a promised land with your name on it, and He wants you to charge toward it with a cry of victory, not a wail of fear. 

You can confront your fears by drawing near to God. What better way to keep the faith than to connect with Him who is altogether faithful? 

Your fear level is ultimately a referendum on the closeness of your friendship with God. It’s a spiritual yardstick. After you spend time with your Creator, you’re simply incapable of shrinking in fear at the appearance of every human anxiety. You’ve seen His power. You’ve seen His love and faithfulness. You’ve seen that His purposes are the best for us. 

Our Father wants us to leap into His arms whenever we’re afraid. He wants us to realize who He really is and that we need never fear. And the key to that assurance is love, the opposite of fear. To fully experience God’s love is to feel the deepest security in heart, soul, mind, and strength. It is to understand, down to the depth of our being, that God loves us so much He will always fold us in His arms; He’ll always be near, even when it’s dark; He is our Daddy and that we need not be afraid. We realize all this as His incomprehensible love washes through us and cleanses us from fear, anger, and selfishness. Then and only then do we find ourselves capable of returning love—for remember, “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). 

And that’s when it happens: love begins to dispel fear. 

Respond

• Describe a time when you felt overcome with fear. 
• Did you take your fear to the Lord? What was the outcome? 

Prayer

Father, thank You that I can come to you and Your love will cast out my fear.

Scripture: Psalms 55:22

Win Against Worry 

We can all agree that worry is part of the package when it comes to membership in the human race. We also know that it’s a useless and unhealthy vice. Corrie ten Boom used to recite a little couplet: “Worry is an old man with bended head, carrying a load of feathers which he thinks are lead.” She understood that anxiety is ultimately foolish because it concerns that which isn’t. It lives in a future that can’t be foreseen. It deals with what-ifs and could-bes, speculation, and possibility. And as long as we dwell on the worst-case scenario, we guarantee our own misery, for an extensive catalog of calamity is always within reach of the imagination. 

The Bible chooses its language carefully when describing worry. The basic biblical word means “to take thought” or “to be careful.” Those are good things at first glance. But the Greek gives us the word picture of a divided mind. The worrier has a mind torn between the real and the possible, the immediate and the potential. He’s trying to fight the battle of life on two fronts and will lose the war. 

The worrier attempts to live in the future, presenting him with two problems: the future isn’t here, and the future isn’t his. Nothing can be done, and no amount of worrying affects the issue one iota. The future is unknown, uncontrollable, and therefore irrelevant in terms of our peace of mind. 

When Jesus preached the greatest sermon of all history (found in Matthew 5–7), He was very clear on this issue of anxiety. In a nine-verse passage in Matthew 6, He uses the expression “Don’t worry” three times. So, if you’d like to have Jesus’ teachings on the subject of anxiety, we can state them in full in two words: don’t worry. 

Some quote Philippians 4:6 (“Be anxious for nothing”) as an excuse for a careless lifestyle. “Don’t worry, be happy.” But that’s not what we’re talking about at all. If you don’t worry about your children playing near traffic, you’re a terrible parent. If you’re not concerned about walking off the roof of a skyscraper, you’ll learn the meaning of that old poster that said, “Gravity: It’s not just a good idea. It’s the law.” 

But realistic concern and restless anxiety are separate matters. So what is the difference? In short, concern focuses on the present; worry is attached to the future. The present is before us, and there are actions we can take. The future is out of our hands. 

Jesus wants us to live—a day at a time. There’s a reason God placed us within the moment, bracketed away from both the past and the future. They’re both off-limits to us, and we need to post No Trespassing signs. The past is closed for good, and the future is still under construction. But today has everything you need. 

That’s what you and I must do when the world seems upside down. We must dwell on the miracle of what lies before us today, this moment, this second. All else is dim by comparison. 

Respond

• Are you a worrier?
  • If yes, describe steps you can take to leave worrying behind. 
  • If not, list people you can pray for who are still struggling with worry. 

Prayer

Lord Jesus, keep me grounded in today, not worrying about the past or the future. I trust You and give You absolute control over all my days.

Scripture: Ephesians 2:8-9

The Gift of Grace 

When it comes to famous hymns, there’s none more famous than “Amazing Grace.” John Newton was the author of that hymn. Beloved for generations, the simple tune and powerful lyrics serve as a poignant spark for worship. There may not be a more sublime response to the truth of the gospel than, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” 

However, one line in those lyrics used to spark my curiosity: “Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come.” 

In 2 Corinthians 4:7, we find Paul trying to help his readers see the glory of our heavenly Father in the dust of everyday experience. That’s what makes a huge difference in this life: seeing things from God’s perspective. Paul was showing that it can be done because God has been revealed in human form through Jesus Christ, the ultimate Treasure in an earthly vessel—flesh and blood. All of God’s eternal and infinite glory shined through the humanity of His Son, who was fully human and yet fully divine. Jesus’ enemies saw Him as just another man, but the one true God dwelt behind those eyes. 

As the Father dwelt in the Son, the Son dwells within us through the Spirit. We have this treasure, the ministry of Christ, in our “earthly vessels,” our frail and imperfect human bodies. 

This is a difficult concept to understand, but Paul always had a handy word picture available. This time, he used the idea of a clay jar. If there was one absolutely ordinary, run-of-the-mill object that everyone in the Middle East could understand, it was a clay jar. Cheap pottery was everywhere and used for everything. The jars were breakable, but it didn’t matter because it was so easy to get another one. Clay earthenware was as common as—well, as the clay beneath one’s feet. 

A clay pot had absolutely no value in itself. Everyone knew that. On the other hand, it could hold a priceless pearl, a gold piece, a bite of bread to fend off hunger, a day’s drink of water, a wedding ring, or even a sleeping newborn baby. It wasn’t the jar but the treasure inside that counted. 

Clay has its cracks, its heat limit, and its fragility. But it still does the job and holds its precious cargo. “Just think about all that I’ve gone through,” Paul said. Is God any less real because I’ve been beaten and had rocks thrown at me? No—more so to us, because He bears testimony through all these things.” 

Dangers, toils, and snares—they just come with the territory. Paul told Timothy he might as well expect to be mistreated because the godly in Christ Jesus are always persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12). 

For all these reasons and more, we need His grace. 

If you’re experiencing tough times right now, congratulations! God loves you and has great things ahead for you. Sometimes, His earthen vessels simply need to be heat-treated. 

Paul said of his suffering, “Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness’” (2 Corinthians 12:8–9). 

Respond

• Have you accepted God’s free gift of grace? Explain. 

Prayer

Precious Savior, thank You for dying on the cross and providing eternal life in heaven. Lead me to someone today who needs to hear about Your gift of grace.

Scriptures: James 1:2-4, 2 Peter 1:3, 2 Peter 1:5-8

The Power of Perseverance 

There is an amazing promise found in the book of 2 Peter that I want to make sure you know about: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (1:3 NIV). Right there in black and white, God has promised to give you everything you need to live an authentic, impactful life as a member of His kingdom. And one of those things you need is perseverance. Look at what Peter wrote later in that chapter: 

Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (vv. 5–8 NIV, emphasis added) 

Perseverance is a never-give-up attitude, a commitment to move forward when everything conspires to hold you back. No matter what happens, you finish the job. Think of the English word itself: persevere. The prefix per conveys the idea of “through,” so perseverance is the ability to go through a severe time. 

Perseverance turns ordeals into opportunities. It gives us the opportunity to finish what we begin, to outlast pain and sorrow, to strive until we accomplish difficult things, and to demonstrate God’s grace in all seasons of life. 

Those who learn to accept and use God’s gift of perseverance are forces to be reckoned with. In a world where most people give up and give out, those who keep going will accomplish more than they can imagine. 

The entire ministry of our Savior was plagued with difficulty and opposition. During Jesus’ forty-day wilderness fast, Satan tried to derail Him with temptations disguised as painless shortcuts to His goal. Throughout His ministry, He endured opposition, exhaustion, and misunderstanding. Near the end, He vividly foresaw the horrors looming ahead and prayed in abject agony with sweat pouring from Him like great drops of blood. Finally, He was falsely accused in a mock trial, brutally scourged, and nailed to a cross to hang for six agonizing hours as blood poured from the thorns lacerating His scalp, from the wounds in His hands and His back, and finally from the wound of a spear impaling His side. 

And yet He persevered through it all. 

The result? Forgiveness for us, the shattering of the gates of hell, and glorious resurrection from the dead. When we keep our eyes on Jesus, He gives us the spiritual stamina to run with perseverance, endure, and never grow weary or lose heart. 

When you feel like quitting, just look at the cross. Look at the empty tomb! Look at His ascension into heaven. Look at Him there on the throne. Look at His victory. Look at His love for you. Look at His grace. Consider Him. Meditate on Him. Talk to Him. Draw from His Word. 

And never give up. 

Respond

• Describe a struggle in your life that Jesus helped you persevere through. 
• How did Jesus get you through that time? 

Prayer

Lord Jesus, each day comes with new challenges. May I keep my eyes focused on You and Your ultimate plan for me.

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 5:19

The Role of Responsibility 

“I take responsibility.” You don’t hear those words every day. In fact, our culture often pushes people to avoid responsibility as much as possible. 

This can be a natural reaction during difficult seasons—when our world gets turned upside down. We can easily react to that difficulty by casting blame as far and wide as possible. We look for every possible reason and every potential excuse to explain why things are going wrong. 

Except, we rarely look in the mirror. 

I want to look at a gift God uses to bless us and keep us moving forward when we choose to keep the faith as His children. That gift is personal responsibility, as found in Ecclesiastes 5. 

By the time we get to that section in the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon has already spent two chapters discussing the emptiness of a life apart from God. Then, in the third chapter, he admits that even so, stubborn questions remain. But Solomon stands boldly on the declaration that God has a plan and that even when it is cloaked in several layers of mystery, it is a good plan—a trustworthy plan. 

He reminded us that God knows the time and appointed season of every life. He counts the very hairs on your head, and a sparrow doesn’t plummet to earth without His awareness. As Jesus told us, “You are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:31). Moreover, God knows every implication of every event: positive, negative, or neutral. We live in the goldfish bowl of time and space with all the limitations imposed by that habitation. God is outside that bowl entirely, and He sees past, present, future, and all across every inch of His creation simultaneously. We can’t wrap our minds around that one any more than a goldfish can understand a map of your county. 

Seeing, hearing, knowing, and planning all things, and based upon His own mysterious purposes, God governs the affairs of this planet. There will be a time for intervening and a time to refrain from intervening. To feel angry and frustrated is human, but to chastise God is to make a cosmic spectacle of our own folly in the presence of the Alpha and the Omega, the King of kings who loves us so much that He bears the nail marks in His hands, in the presence of the seraphim and cherubim, and all the heavenly realm. 

We must decide which side we’re on: Do we honor God as the Lord of life or not? Do we trust Him in the rough times, or only when it’s convenient? Our modern expression “Watch your step!” comes from Solomon’s warning: “Walk prudently.” Literally, the Hebrew says, “Keep your foot.” 

When we come into God’s house, we are to draw near to hear, understand, learn, and worship. We are to cultivate an attitude of reverence, expectation, and a holy sense of resignation to His will. Blaming God for our struggles does nothing to alleviate them, but walking carefully before Him will aid our efforts to keep the faith. 

So be ready! Be willing! Be strong and courageous! 

Respond

• What responsibility has God given you? 
• How do you carry out that responsibility? 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for calling me and trusting me to serve You by sharing the love and message of Jesus Christ.