Devotion VIDEO here
For
God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and
self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7(NLT)
The
reality TV show called “Fear Factor” displays people facing up to their
fears. Some things they have to do are
really disgusting. They eat worms, bugs,
and parts of formerly living creatures!
I do not qualify [ever] as a contestant!
What
is your greatest fear? Is it sickness,
the unexpected big bill, an accident, growing old? Is it death, losing your good looks, spiders…really
big spiders?
What
exactly IS fear? There are many synonyms used to identify fear,
like worry, nightmare, terror, and phobia.
New words are being coined all the time to name the different kinds of
fear. There is fear of closed-in places,
claustrophobia. There are people who are
afraid to leave the familiar confines of their homes, agoraphobia. I used to love to climb trees as a kid; now I
can’t stand heights; there must be a word for it – perhaps oak-a-phobia…it’s
a phobia, a fear!
We
have all experienced what it feels like to fear. Fear can rob you of your life. That happens when you begin, because of fear,
to play
it safe. Playing it safe is the
ultimate result of intimidation which is the prime medium for fear.
For the
balance of this week we are going to focus on the pattern that emerges from the
life and ministry of Nehemiah – how he handled fear in himself, and others.
I want to do this because we
are living in a fearful time of terrorists, like al Qaeda, ISIS and a
host of other evils.
Nehemiah
faced the fear of terrorists in his day.
He had enemies who plotted to cause confusion and discouragement among those
who were working with him to rebuild the Temple.
Had
Nehemiah played it safe, he would have thrown-in with his enemies and the walls
of Jerusalem would have remained in rubble.
He would have gotten an “A” for political-correctness, but God in heaven
would have been shaking His head in disgust!
The thought came to mind
recently that our culture today reeks of the same kind of mindset people had in
Noah’s day:
Well,
if playing it safe is so wrong, what’s the game plan, coach?
In a
word – faith!
Faith
was a good game plan for Nehemiah, and it will work even with the worst
terrorists on the loose!
The question
we will deal with this week is: How do
we follow God in the face of our most overwhelming fears?
For You Today
You’ve got homework, so get
busy. Read Exodus 33 and Nehemiah 4; the
background will help make our time together more fruitful.
We’re working on hiding His
precious word in our hearts; you need that today more than ever!
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