 When Satan Tries to Bring You Down Through Fear and Worry
by Jerry Barnes, minister As I was pondering on the goodness of God and things going crazy around me, I realized I needed to do my best not to let worry or fear come in to my life. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 In the past two weeks, some things have been breaking down around my house. First, the dish washer started leaking, and we didn’t know it. Water got under our hardwood floor, so we stopped using it, and all I could think was that now we have to spend $400 to buy a new one, so we prayed about it. All of the sudden, we were given a great dishwasher, a better one. We didn’t have to spend any money. See, we were not letting fear or worry come in. We were just walking in faith. , the washing machine started leaking under the already wet hardwood floor, and it quit spinning, so now we had to buy a new washing machine. We prayed about it, not letting worry and fear come in, and the money for exactly what we needed came in. Now, we have a new washing machine. Shortly after, I was at work one Friday morning when someone hunted me down at work and said, “Your front tire is going flat,” so I get to my truck quickly, drive to the tire store around the corner from my workplace, and trusting God the whole time for favor, get out and a guy walks up. He looks at it and says, “You need a new tire, but I have a great used one that is almost new.” I asked him if he had two because I might as well put them on the front. He did, and I got two almost new tires for $85. Another blessing.Yes, we still have to put new flooring in, and yes, a lot of bad things have happened, but that is just the way the enemy tries to get our focus off of a Mighty Savior named Jesus and His blessings that He gives us. You see, Satan hates us and will do anything he can to hinder the work of Christ. But God said a few things about this that we need to stand on. These will keep fear and its little brother, worry, out of our lives. Am I saying I don’t have fear or worry? No, but I am striving to put them down and under my feet. Here are some scriptures to stand on.
“But now, this is what the Lord says…Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1 We are GOD’s kids, let us cast down fear and anything that would get our minds off of a loving GOD who gave us so great a salvation through HIS Son, Jesus. Trust in Him, and He will bring you out of your problems, out of the fear. His word says this in Romans 8, verses 31-39: What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Stand on these today and know that you are loved and are in the Beloved.
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 Meditate on the Word
By Emerald Barnes, author of the Entertaining Angels Series Meditation. It conjures up images of people sitting in hot lounges on yoga mats with music playing softly in the background. They’re sitting there, eyes closed and chanting “om”. But let me tell you, when you meditate on the right things, your world can change. Meditating on God’s Word, that is what will change your world. What is meditation? According to Google, meditation is, “the action or practice of meditating.” Or, “a written or spoken discourse expressing considered thoughts on a subject.” When you meditate on God’s word, you get it down in your Spirit. When you mediate, you know without a shadow of a doubt that God is Who He says He is and will do what He says He will do. It builds up your faith, and it keeps you strong when the devil attacks (and trust me, he will attack). The Bible says in Psalm 1 (AMP), “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And on His law [His precepts and teachings] he [habitually] meditates day and night. And he will be like a tree firmly planted [and fed] by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season; Its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers [and comes to maturity].” He, in this particular instance, is “the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.” That means if we do not walk in the counsel of the wicked, we are the ones who can be like the tree, unmovable, prospering, fruitful. We just have to—what?—meditate day and night on Jesus’s teachings. God told me one night, “Emerald, faith is the key. It activates everything in the Kingdom.” But how does one keep their faith built up? How do we stay faithful? We meditate on the Word. Romans 10:17 says it best. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So we have to hear (or read) the word of God to keep up our faith! And when we hear His word, we have to meditate on it, keep it in our spirits, in our hearts, in our minds. Kenneth Copeland said in his and Gloria Copeland’s book, “From Faith to Faith: A Daily Guide to Victory”, “Keep [the] Word before you until you receive a revelation of Jesus as your healer or your deliver or your financier—whatever you need Him to be. Don’t settle for a shallow mental understanding of Him. Get a deep revelation and His grace will be multiplied to you!” And the key to getting this deep revelation is meditating on what He’s said! Keep His Word in your spirit, in your mind. If He’s given you revelation knowledge or a Word, write it down, meditate on it when the enemy comes against. Today, make a decision to get the Word in your spirit. Carve out some time each day to meditate and read the Bible, read books that will build up your faith. The Word activates your faith, and faith is the key to everything in the Kingdom! |
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