Psalm 27:1 – The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (NKJV)

One Sunday recently, our minister spoke on the passage in the Sermon on the Mount that begins, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life …" (Matthew 6:25 NKJV) and the topic was worry. The message was very much about the things over which we worry. What to do? Turn to God in prayer. It was a good message.

Later, I was meditating on "worry". It's really fear. I am no stranger to fear — I have fears, and they limit me in all kinds of ways. Things happen in our lives. Life is scary. We can get hurt. We can lose things. I lost my mother, suddenly, when I was six. There's a root of fear right there. Fear often makes us do and say crazy things. It can stall our brains, too. The enemy of our souls uses fear as a weapon against us. He raises fears in our minds and stampedes us into panic. So many people suffer from anxiety these days! Wow! Fear.

So, there's some work to do to go back and find the roots of fear in our minds and hearts, and to re-define ourselves and our lives, not seeing ourselves as weak and helpless to cope with life's problems, but in terms of what we are in Christ: I am a child of God. I am precious in His sight. I am forgiven and redeemed from the enemy's hand. Though the enemy may do his worst, "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (Romans 8:37 NKJV) We need to stop and look fear in the face and say, "Oh no you don't! I am in Christ and 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.'" (Philippians 4:13 NKJV)

If I find myself awake in the night stressing about something, I ask myself, What's the worst that can happen? Can I live through that? Has God got this? Yes. Okay then! This past year, I had breast cancer, COVID-19, and a hysterectomy. God said, I've got this, and I wasn't afraid. I didn't worry. This year, I will have back surgery — hopefully soon. God's got this!

To help raise your faith, there's a great song to listen to:

I raise a hallelujah
In the presence of my enemies
I raise a hallelujah
Louder than the unbelief
       – Jonathan David Helser and Melissa Helser

Prayer: Lord God our Father, thank You for giving us victory through Your Son Jesus. Teach us to walk in strength and victory each day, defeating the power of darkness and fear over us. Amen!

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About the author:

Nan St. Louis <nanstlouis1@gmail.com>
Durham, Ontario, Canada
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