Dealing with Fears and Living In Joy

UV 4291/10000 Dealing With Fears and Living In Joy Do not fear, O land; be glad and rejoice, For the Lord has done great things! Joel 2 v 21 The Lord has done great things beyond our expectations or our asking. Hence, we need to be glad and rejoice thinking of these. We need to not allow any doubt, fear or apprehension to enter our hearts and minds. We just need to count our blessings and be thankful for each one. He has filled our storehouses with grain and filled our vats with wine and oil. He has compensated us for the years that we lost due to fears, worries, enemy attacks. He has dealt wonderfully with us over the years. He will never let us be put to shame. He has broken our chains and healed our pains. Prayer, praise and thanksgiving from a grateful heart breaks the vicious cycle launched in our lives by the enemy of fears, doubts, anxiety and worries. Faith is a powerful shield to extinguish, to defend, to vanquish these subtle forces that try to take control of our lives. The enemy wants us to be depressed, sad and weak. But as we pray, praise and rejoice in the Lord Jesus, we are strengthened. We need to recount the testimonies, our own and those of others whom the Lord had helped to overcome many difficulties and obstacles in their lives. This will restore courage, hope, confidence back to us. We need to constantly remember that nothing is too difficult or impossible for the Lord to accomplish. He is the One who gives us immediate triumph as well as ultimate victory over all circumstances of our lives. Living in constant fellowship with the Holy Spirit helps us experience the joy of the Lord. The Holy Spirit comforts us, counsels us, guides us in our thoughts, words, decisions and actions. We need to only continually heed His quiet voice and not ignore Him. He reminds us as the Remembrancer of the promises of the Lord, of the great things He has already accomplished for mankind as a whole and for each of us, personally. The word of God is also another source of strength and power to enable us to be joyful and hopeful all the time. We need to anchor or focus our minds on a specific portion or promise of the Lord that is relevant to the current situation we are in.

The One who Quenches Our Thirst

UV 4290/10000 The One Who Quenches Our Thirst The poor and needy are seeking water, but there is none; Their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the Lord, will answer them Myself; I, the God of Israel, will not neglect them. Isaiah 41 v 17 Each of us is the spiritually poor and needy. We are seeking the water of eternal life in this world. But the Lord God alone can answer our cry, satisfy our need. He will not neglect to satisfy our every need, our holistic need as well as spiritual. The Lord uses the word as the water of eternal life to fulfill our quest. Our tongues are parched but the Lord will satisfy us with abundance from His springs and fountains. The Lord can cause rivers to flow from barren mountains, or in other words, give us hope in even hopeless situations. He causes our problems, challenges, difficulties to be sources of strength and sustenance. He creates springs to rise in the valleys, implying that even in the low points of our days and lives, the Lord will cause His grace, mercy and blessings to flow in such abundance that these never dry up. He causes the dry land to produce springs of water. Even in times of drought and famine, the Lord will lead us to the oasis of joy and faith and hope. He causes our lives to be fruitful in amazing ways that will make people wonder, ponder and then, understand that only the hand of the Lord could have wrought such miracles. The Lord alone can make the deserts bloom and the forest into a veritable paradise. He is the God of Israel or the One who proves Himself to be the faithful God in the midst of our struggles and challenges. He is the One who gives us victory in every conceivable and impossible situation. The Lord cares for each one of us intimately and deeply. We need to walk close to Him and depend on Him for our sustenance, protection, guidance, provision, promotion like sheep on a shepherd. When we are extremely thirsty, our tongues get parched and we become restless, tired, weakened. Likewise, when our thirst is quenched, we feel full of life, strong, energized, powerful to take on life and its challenges.

Just in Time

UV 4289/10000 Just In Time Therefore say to them, “ Thus says the Lord God, “None of my words will be delayed any longer. Whatever word I speak will be fulfilled completely,” says the Lord God. Ezekiel 12 v 28 The word of the Lord is sure to be fulfilled in its time. In this uni-verse, the Lord Himself declares that there will be no delay or postponement of His word. Not just that it will be completely fulfilled to the last word. Our faith in the specific promise or assurance of God expressed in persistent prayer puts the word of God into motion to be fulfilled in our lives. Constantly recalling the specific portion of scripture or a specific promise right through our days is a sign of our hope in the word. If there is any seeming delay in it being fulfilled, we need to be patient and keep expecting it to happen in His time and not be disappointed or give up. The Lord often tests our faith and rewards it when we show confidence, patience and hope as we lay claim to the promises of God. Sometimes there is an apparent delay in fulfillment of a vision due to our lack of faith, disobedience or as we are not yet ready for it. Often, as we do not act in faith and take the first steps in obeying the Lord, the vision is not fulfilled or delayed. Whenever there is a delay, we need to examine our faith, our lives, our actions and see if there is a deficiency instead of grumbling or complaining or having negative attitudes towards the Lord or His word. Like Gideon, we can ask in faith for a sign of favour from the Lord in the specific matter we are seeking an answer or His guidance. The Lord revels in doing miracles and wonders in response to the faithful prayer of believers. We need to believe that there is nothing too hard or impossible for the Lord. Wherever responsibility for practical action lies with us, we need to go ahead and not hesitate. We, humans, have a limited vision and knowledge of a particular situation and hence, we need to trust the Lord as He has complete knowledge, wisdom and understanding. We can always, however, ask for an increased measure of faith or wisdom to tackle our real life situations and challenges. Our attitude while we are waiting for a word to be fulfilled should be one not of anxiety, depression or doubt but of thanksgiving, praise, faith, trust, hope and joy. Indeed, when we praise and worship Him in every circumstance of life, He raises us, the level of our faith, our understanding, our strength, our joy. Hence, Paul wrote, “ Be joyful in all circumstances.” We are not creatures of circumstances but children of the living God. We feed and imbibe on the living word for all aspects of our lives.

The Key to the Door of Life

UV 4288/10000 The Key to the Door of Life And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: “These are the words of the Holy One, the True One, He who has the key ( to the house) of David, He who opens and no one will ( be able to) shut, and He who shuts and no one opens: Revelation 3 v 7 The Lord holds the key to life, to eternal life. He uses it, His master key to open the door that He wants to open for His own, those who love Him and follow Him. He also uses it to shut the door that He does not want us to enter, the door of sin, evil, temptations, trials brought to us by our enemies that are not in accordance with His will. When we listen to the words of Jesus, when we recall His words and keep it, we are entering the door that He has opened. This is the reason Jesus described Himself as the Door, the Gate to eternal life. Each promise of God in scripture is actually a spiritual key to some door, either to shut it or to open it. Each verse contains a treasure of either hope or of wisdom. Wisdom preserves our souls and lives even as it prospers us in spirit, mind and body. Hope fulfilled leads to testimonies of faith and joy. The house of David refers to the kingdom of God. For David was from a humble background and obscure family of shepherds and soldiers but God opened the door for him to be king and forerunner of the King of Kings, the Messiah Jesus Christ. His enemies including King Saul tried to close the door to royalty to David but no one could shut the door. Likewise, no one can deprive us of the blessings and anointing the Lord has prepared for each of us. We have too little strength of our own. We need to depend on the joy of the Lord. When we do things and say things that please God and we make Him joyful. That joy give us great strength and power. We cannot depend on our own limited human wisdom. He is the source of our unlimited wisdom, guidance and strength. Nothing and no one can prevail against the will of God and the word of God. We should never deny the name of Jesus but acknowledge Him for there is redeeming power in the very name of Jesus, cleansing power in His blood, sanctifying power in the Holy Spirit, equipping and enabling power in the Word of God. Our hands should not be weak and instead do all the Lord has given to us to do. Then, our work will be rewarded in this lifetime and the life to come.

God Alone Completes Us

UV 4287/10000 God Alone Completes Us The One forming light and creating darkness; I am the Lord who does all these things. Isaiah 45 v 7 The Lord is sovereign. He is the One who is to be acknowledged in all our ways and on all our days from the rising of the sun to its setting. For He is the One who not only created light and darkness but is with us during the day and during the night, in matters known to us and matters hidden from us, not known to us. He is the One who wipes our tears, helps us solve our problems, heals our diseases, overcome the enemies who rise against us in different directions and domains. He is the One who is with us in peaceful times and during disasters. We are to walk in the footprints of Jesus. He shakes His hands at the enemies that rise against us and throws them into disarray. He sends His angels to guard and preserve our lives in all kinds of perils. He gives us the hidden riches and treasures out of darkness and secret places. He goes before us and levels the mountains before us, namely the huge challenges and difficulties we confront in our daily lives. He disarms powerful men and makes them vulnerable before us on account of His greater might and power. He has called us personally and by our names as He called Cyrus. He greatly strengthens us to perform His will and fulfill the vision the Lord gives us. If God can use a person who did not know Him like king Cyrus, how much more can He use us who know Him personally and intimately. Our rock foundation is Jesus and our strength and joy is derived from such a foundation. Like the fish move and exist in water and on account of the water and derives all it needs from the surrounding water, we live and move and exist in God through Jesus. Jesus is like the gills of the fish that enable us to live in and swim in Him and against the currents of this chaotic world. There is no substitute for God in our lives. He is the One who causes favourable circumstances in our lives and enable us to negotiate through difficult circumstances.

Leadership is Shepherding

UV 4286/10000 Leadership is Shepherding “I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. And they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” says the Lord. Jeremiah 23 v 4 The Lord Jesus being the Good Shepherd that He is, sets up or anoints shepherds or leaders or pastors and mentors to take care of His sheep, the believers of Christ Jesus. These shepherds will feed them with knowledge and understanding of the scriptures. They will be fattened and strengthened spiritually such that no one can cause them to be afraid or terrify them. Not one of them will be lost or harmed or found missing. This is the solemn promise or unbreakable covenant of the Lord to husband or protect us to the very end and beyond as no human leader can. The Lord promises to gather His scattered sheep from all the lands or nations of the world and cause them to be fruitful and multiply., We need to be in submission to the spiritual mentors or leaders the Lord sets over us. Their guidance, teachings, encouragement and prayers will safeguard us from the evil one and lead us from victory to victory. We are secure on account of their care and love for us. From this uni-verse, we learn that true leadership is about being good shepherds in the mould and footsteps of Jesus Himself. David, the shepherd boy risked his life as he fought a lion and a bear to safeguard his sheep. Likewise, Jesus fought the roaring lion satan and his underlings to safeguard each one of us. He has wrested us from the mouth of the lion and the deadly claws and crushing embrace of the bear, metaphors for the real threats and dangers we encounter in our lives. A good shepherd also provides for the needs of the sheep. Likewise, the Lord provides abundantly for all our needs, spiritual, material, financial, social, emotional, intellectual such that we lack in nothing. Jesus trains His sheep also to be shepherds to others, to feed, nurture and secure them with the truths of the word that He taught them. The goal is none should be lost. We need to be caring, alert, skillful in the supernatural or spiritual just as the competent shepherd David was in the natural. Knowledge and understanding of the word of God and prayer are the principal weapons of defence and offence in our hands just as the staff and the sling were David’s chief weapons.