For Every Fear a Promise: A Plan to Prevail over Fear

By Dr. Brad Hicks

Real people face real fears! Dr. Hicks inspires you to discover that God has designed a way to help you cope with the fears in your life. There are many statements in Scripture that either explicitly or implicitly teach us not to fear. What you may not have discovered is that for every one of those there is a promise from God to help you overcome the fear. With each devotional you will find a fear not and a promise from Scripture. As you discover and appropriate those promises, your fears should begin to subside. You will

find yourself identifying with the stories that illustrate Bible truths about fear;

be encouraged as you discover a blend of the spiritual and the therapeutic in coping with fear; and

confront your personal fears and discover Gods overcoming promises through each Scripture-rich, life-applied devotional.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 14, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449777630

Dr. Brad Hicks

Dr. Brad Hicks is a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with the MRE and DMin degrees. He has been a senior pastor and involved in pastoral counseling for over forty years. His most recent pastorate was over twenty-five years at the Wynnbrook Baptist Church in Columbus, GA. Hicks’s experience helping people overcome fears and live productive lives challenged him to write this book. He resides with Sandy, his wife of forty-five years, in Franklin, TN. They have two sons and their families, including five grandsons, also of Franklin.

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 Dr. Brad Hicks

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1-[phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Scripture quotations taken from The Message, Copyright (c) by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Contemporary English Version® Copyright © 1995 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

New Century Version Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson,Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

God’s Word Translation Scripture is taken from GOD’S WORD®, © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group.

Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)

Copyright © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible: International Standard Version®. Copyright © 1996-2012 by The ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations are taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7763-0 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7764-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7765-4 (hc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012922472

WestBow Press rev. date:01/02/2013

Contents

Cliff-Hanging Courage

Security for a Storm

A Close Connection in Life’s Calamities

A Touch You Will Never Forget

The Personal Protector

Giving in to God

It’s Going to Be All Right

Faith That Prevails

Healing Hope

Test Taking

Who’s in Your Boat?

Tackling Your Thoughts

Stop, Look, and Listen!

The Hope of a Heavenly Home

Plenteous Provision

Where Is God?

Holy Amnesia

Taming Threats

When You Feel out of Control

When You Need to Know

Keep Your Mouth Shut

A Fear That Ends All Others

Your Punishment Is Removed

Doing Right Done Wrong

A Hand To Help You

Daddy Does It Best

Love That Liberates

Burden Bearing

Daily Deliverance

Is God Listening?

Turning Your Life Around

How Much Are You Worth?

Calm For Life’s Catastrophes

Fearless Witnessing

When Unjustly Treated

From the Better to the Best

When God Calls

When You Feel Unimportant

Victory in the Valley

Fearless Facing Bad News

Coming out of Hiding

The Step into Significance

Robbed or Rewarded

Even When You Don’t Say Anything

God’s Promised Presence

A Woman Worth Watching

God’s Permanent Presence

Enormous Encouragement

Conquering Confidence

Seeking Shelter

A Father Who Is Fair

It Is Right to Rest

Listen, Learn, and Live

Weight Lifting

What God Thinks of You

A Cause for Calm

Prioritize for Success

For Troubled Hearts

Winning over Worry

While You Wait

Facing Your Foes

When It Looks Impossible

Worthy Worship

Opposed But Optimistic

Handling God’s Answers

A Timely Word

Taking the Pressure Off

Feather Rufflers

Good News!

Getting Sidetracked

The Valley of Real Life

Fearless for the Fight

Believing and Receiving

Friendship That Favors

Man versus God—Who Wins?

Where’s the Body?

Providential Care

God Understands

Fear That Fouls Up Your Life

Sweet Sleep

God Called? Fear Not!

In Life and in Death

Encouraged? Encourage!

Answerable Prayer

The Lord Who Leads Us

Daring to Be Disciplined

The Promise of Provision

The Blessed—A Blessing

God Is in Control

Cultivating Courage

Memory Matters

God Plans—God Provides

Loyalty to Christ

Taking God at His Word

Keeping Up with the Joneses

A Forever Friend

Choosing a God

A Ray of Light

Answered Prayer

Satisfied with Jesus

Welcoming the Will of God

A Hiding Place

A Night Visitor

Clearing the Way

Live Right—Live Fearless!

You Can Have a Majority

Forgiven and Forgiving

Courage in a Crisis

Peace and Provision

Where Is Your Focus?

Forgetfulness = Fear

Whom Are You Listening To?

God’s Waiting Room

Godly Messengers

As Good as Done

Time to Act

Intensive Care

Be Bold

Keep On Keeping On

The Quitter Never Wins

Called to Testify

Like a Mother Comforts

When God Is for You

Daddy, Carry Me!

Is God First, Really?

Our Gracious God

Solutions!

When Giants Fall

Passing It On

Hindsight Can Help

This Will Soon Be Over

Know What Is Right? Do It!

A Parlor to Run Into

Tough Love

God Knows

Who Is Working for You?

Test Your Teachers

A Stable Nation

Keep Hope Alive

Fear’s Flip Side

Positioned for Blessing

Telling the Truth Lovingly

Dress for the Occasion

Tolerance and Truth

Contented Living

Comfort in Conflict

Look Out!

Prayer for Pastors

A Faithful Father

Get Away with Jesus

A Father with Feeling

Truth and Transparency

No Turning

You’d Better Ask God

Rest Assured of Your Reward

When God’s Power Is Present

Ponder the Promises

Providential Control

Who Knows?

Causing Satan to Split

Fear Fostered by Guilt

Paying Attention Pays Off

Preparation for Praise

Animated by Assurance

Defeating Depression

The Divine Healer

When the Night Comes

Taking Cover

Kill Them with Kindness

Deleting the Doubts

Saved to Serve

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask

Avoid an Energy Shortage

No Condemnation

Come Apart or Come Apart!

When Seeing Is Being

Value in a Meaningful Relationship

Seeing the Bigger Picture

Tell Me Why

Signs of the Age

From Fright to Fear That Saved

When You Call on Jesus

No Alarm System Needed

Early Warning Systems

Suspicion of the Saved

Freedom Forever

A Gift for Anyone

Feelings Will Fool You

Fostering Faith

Worthy Examples

Forever in His Love

Going Through The Motions

The Maker Is the Master

Limp Hands Lifted

Trifling with Temptation

Retrieving Information

Mind-Sets

The Brush Is in His Hand

Heart Health

Trusting in the Silence

Safe and Secure

The Test of Usability

The Value of Meditation

A Father Who Loves

Building on Solid Rock

Wait until It’s Ripe

Growing Older Gracefully

The Unexplored

It’s the Small Things

Is God Listening to You?

Getting the Most out of Life

You Are an Overcomer

You Have Been Chosen

Of Mice and Mental Health

Dealing with Delays

Guilt Gone

Plug It In

Bargain for the Best

Stay in the Game

Who Am I?

Power in Your Potential

After It All Falls Apart

Where God Leads, He Provides

Fearing or Following

Fixing Fear

Dashed Faith Found

Fearless in the Furnace

Separation Anxiety

A Resting Place

Let Others See Jesus in You

Getting to Know God

Doing the Impossible

Putting Light on the Subject

Defeating Despondency

Putting the Puzzle Together

God Hears! God Helps!

The Fearful Found

Gaining by Giving

The Stumbler Strengthened

Fearless for Jesus

Courage in Confinement

A No-Lose Situation

If, the Fear Word

Faith Fostered

The Eternal Makeover

A Painful Process—A Powerful Prospect

How Much Power Do You Have?

Standing against Satan

Turning, Turning!

Jesus: With You

Exchanging Suffering

Happiness at Last

Living One Day at a Time

How’s Your Heart?

A Key You’re Looking For

An Unfinished Project

Saved from Slander

A Dad’s Delight

A Trustworthy Counselor

From Fear to Faith

Captured by Christ

Looking beyond Creation

Be Sure of Your Salvation

Assurance in Advance

Important Instruction

Growing toward Glory

Whose Is It?

Dispatching Demons

I’m Afraid I Will …

As Good as His Word

Surrounded and Sure

The Finisher

He’s Working

The Perfect Plan

An Unshakable Word

Redeeming Rebels

A Fortress and Hiding Place

God’s Best Blessings

Living with God

Thanks and Trust

Facing Death by Faith

Political Correctness

A Priest Here and in Heaven

God, Who Hears You

Balancing the Books

Safe on God’s Playground

You Are Not an Accident

Getting off of the Treadmill

Putting God in Charge

The Power of a Name

Awakening to Adventure

Keep Your Guard Up

Looking for God

Total Protection

In God’s Hands

The Couch of Confidence

Eliminating the Risks

Buildings of God

Your Guardian Angel

Bent toward God’s Will

Light That Dispels Darkness

Fearless for Jesus

You Need to Know

Fertile Fear

Crumbling Foundations

Starting All Over

Making Daily Choices

If Others Don’t Believe

Becoming Like Jesus

Promises, Promises

When God Shows Up Strong

When Tears Turn to Joy

The Worst Made Best

Willing Work Will Work

A Look at Love

A Coronation Ceremony

Fear Flees Where Faith Lives

A Plan When Persecuted

What God Promises, God Produces

Patience While Waiting

Putting Polls in Their Place

Good Citizenship

Prayer That Penetrates

Signed and Sealed

God’s Plans Prevail

Reunion Day Is Coming

Possibilities for Peace

Getting beyond Self

From Selfishness to Selflessness

Security and Teachability

Subduing Stress

Reconnecting with God

Firsthand Experience

Reanimations

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Storms and Stillness

Unashamed for Christ

Say No to Sin

Will God Remember?

Made Fearless by a Miracle

When Trust Is Tried

From Teaching to Trusting

Jostling Your Joy

A Loving Act of Discipline

Fending off the Father of Fear

Crying for Help

The Right Beginning Point

Doubting or Depending

Your Life: Fearful or Forever

Fear Removal

From Roots to Weeds

Permission to Hate

Tackling Temptation

Repetition Reinforces

Inadequacies

Letting Up on You

In Summation

Surprised! Surrendered!

An Angel’s Announcements

The Indescribable Gift

When You Can’t See

Measurements Matter

Everything You Need

Perfectionistic?

The Proof Is in the Practice

Sinless? No! Sin Less? Yes!

To my dear wife, Sandy,

for her

patience, prayers, and partnership

in

God’s call to complete this work.

Cliff-Hanging Courage

THERE WAS A MOVIE IN which an actor fell over the edge of a cliff and was hanging by one hand on to a branch of a small tree. The tree’s roots were giving way, and it all seemed hopeless for him. No doubt, the whole scene sparked fear in the one whose life was being threatened. Maybe you have found yourself facing just that kind of cliff-edge circumstance in your own life. You lost your job. You were just served papers for a divorce. You were in a serious accident. You were just deployed to serve in a foreign theater for the military and found yourself in a firefight or were just missed by a roadside bomb. There are challenging moments in each of our lives when we feel as if we are hanging on the edge of a cliff. We wonder where we will get the courage to hang on until the crisis passes or an answer comes.

I was the chaplain of a high school football team that was on the way to a football game, traveling sixty miles per hour on a four-lane highway, when, all of a sudden, an automobile was driven into my path. I saw the vehicle and hit it in a split second with no time to apply the brakes. The air bags deployed, the dashboard exploded, and glass flew everywhere. The pain in my body was instant and intense. It was difficult for me to breathe. My instant prayer before the car ever came to a stop was God, help me.

In that edge-of-the-cliff experience, I found help. An OnStar attendant became God’s voice in response to my prayers. She listened as I barely got out the words that I needed an ambulance. She reassured me and stayed on the system with me until a state trooper and an ambulance were summoned to the remote location, and God saved my life. He provided His strength and courage and made it possible for me to stand and preach His Word three times only two days later, even with four broken ribs and internal bruising.

The psalmist said, We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in sea-storm and earthquake (Ps. 46:2 The Message). He also said, God is our refuge and strength, a tested help in times of trouble (Ps. 46:1 The Living Bible). When I was on the edge of the cliff, He was there for me. On the edge of the cliff, you will find that God is a tested help in your times of trouble!

Fear Not: We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in sea-storm and earthquake, Before the rush and roar of oceans, the tremors that shift mountains (Ps. 46:2–3 The Message).

Promise: God is our refuge and strength, a tested help in times of trouble (Ps. 46:1 LB).

Security for a Storm

IT IS EASY TO FEEL safe when you are living in a secure environment where there is relative calm and where you have plenty. You will probably remember the Katrina disaster in New Orleans. Even the government officials seemed to have a reasonably secure feeling right up to the time when it became apparent that the storm was going to devastate their area. How should you respond when natural, economic, physical, emotional, or spiritual storms strike your life?

In the new century, Americans have been made painfully aware that you cannot place your faith in the stock market or in a politician’s promises. Watch your daily news to see how fickle they both are. While we were recovering economically, you may have experienced the loss of more than half of your investment portfolio. Perhaps your storm is different, maybe physical or emotional. Health issues have suddenly become your primary concern. An important relationship in your life has been broken. Your mind is overwhelmed with guilt because of something you have done or said. Your personal security has been breached, your identity stolen. These problems are not new. They may have a little different twist, but they have been shaking people for centuries.

God’s people in the Old Testament lived in a secure environment and became complacent, and all of a sudden, they found themselves in stormy and unsafe territory. From God’s response to their experience, you can learn that you can be at peace in your storm. Don’t panic. I’m with you. There’s no need to fear for I’m your God. I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you. I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you (Isa. 41:10 The Message). He promised to walk with them through the crisis and to guide them by holding their hands. He said that He would keep a firm grip on them. He reminded them that He was their God and that His strength could be their strength. He promised to help them in their stressful and uncertain times.

If you have watched Storm Stories on the Weather Channel, you know that even the most experienced reporters sometimes have to flee the scene and run for cover during a storm. Not God! He is always on the scene, and He provides strength, help, and a power that steadies you when the winds of uncertainty and change are blowing against your life. He says that He has a grip on you, no matter what! The storm’s power is nothing compared to God’s power. He is our security for all of life’s storms!

Fear Not: Fear not, for I am with you (Isa. 41:10 LB).

Promise: Don’t panic. I’m with you. There’s no need to fear for I’m your God. I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you. I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you (Isa. 41:10 The Message).

A Close Connection in Life’s Calamities

SOME OF MY FONDEST CHILDHOOD memories are of stormy nights when my grandmother would help us arrange our wicker furniture on the front porch with blankets draped from one piece to another to form a tent to make us feel safe during a storm. She entered that homemade tent with us, got down on our level, and told us not to worry about the lightning and thunder, for God was there to protect us. She assured us that He knew our very names.

Well, my grandmother was a great theologian. She knew that God had formed a close connection with her, and she convinced me that He wanted a close connection with me as well. Through those early teachings and assurances, I came to know that God is a close connection for me in life’s calamities. In Isaiah 43, God reminds us that the rivers cannot overflow us, and the fiery circumstances of life cannot burn us.

God is the reassuring One of whom my grandmother spoke. She was His spokesperson in the stormy circumstances on that porch when I was a young child. She assured us that God knew us and had a close connection with us, that He was present with us to protect us, and that no harm would come to us. I believed her then, and I believe God now.

God has gone to extreme lengths to assure us of how close He is to us. We know that He is close to us because He thought of us before creating Adam and Eve, created us in the shaping of our lives, formed us in the salvation of our souls, redeemed us, has a special interest in us, and called us by name. It is amazing how good you feel when you walk into a place of business and someone calls you by name. It suggests a personal interest in and concern for you. The same is true of our relationship with God. He knows us personally and cares about what is happening in our lives.

No matter how high the floodwaters rise, and no matter how high the raging tide of circumstances, God is right there with you.

Fear Not: But now, God’s Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob, the One who got you started, Israel: ‘Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you. I’ve called your name. You’re mine’ (Isa. 43:1 The Message).

Promise: When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end—Because I am God, your personal God (Isa. 43:2–3 The Message).

A Touch You Will Never Forget

ONE OF THE MOST PRECIOUS moments in my years of ministry occurred in Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. I was visiting with a nine-year-old child who had been in a life-threatening accident, which left her in need of multiple surgeries and with a greatly inhibiting paralysis. As a result, she was kept in a bed with a protective netting attached to it to prevent her from experiencing another accident and greater physical harm. As I visited with her, I knew that it was impossible for her to speak or communicate with me as we normally would have. I wanted badly to connect with her and to indicate my love and care for her. I spoke softly and tenderly, but she was unresponsive. She hardly moved during my visit. In an attempt to express my feelings for her, I held out my index finger through the net around her, and she responded for the first time by lifting her precious little hand and gently pressing her small index finger against mine. We remained in contact during my prayer for God’s healing in her life.

God miraculously healed her, and several months later, at the birthday party of one of my grandsons, she was present. When I entered the room, one of her relatives asked her if she knew who I was. Immediately, she smiled sweetly, and with remarkable effort since she was still in her period of recovery, she made her way across the room where I was standing and reached up and held out her little index finger, which I immediately touched. That contact was her way of demonstrating that she remembered that touch of mine, and God’s touch through me in her time of need. I will never forget her touch or her sweet face. She did not forget mine, nor will she ever forget the healing touch of God in her life.

God is capable of touching your life in ways that you will never forget. When you feel the need for God’s healing touch and want to recover from the painful circumstances of your life and be encouraged, remember Daniel’s experience when an angel came to him in his weakened state and touched him and told him not to be afraid. He was strengthened physically and emotionally. And remember God’s fear not and His promise to all of His children.

Fear Not: ‘When I saw you, master, I was terror-stricken. My knees turned to water. I couldn’t move. How can I, a lowly servant, speak to you, my master? I’m paralyzed. I can hardly breathe!’ Then this humanlike figure touched me again and gave me strength. He said, ‘Don’t be afraid, friend’ (Dan. 10:16–19 The Message).

Promise: Peace. Everything is going to be all right. Take courage. Be strong. Even as he spoke, courage surged up within me. I said, ‘Go ahead, let my master speak. You’ve given me courage’ (Dan. 10:19 The Message).

The Personal Protector

BACK IN MY DAYS IN elementary school I recall a boy, larger than I was, who was the class bully. He waited for my mother to drop me off on the playground for school, and he physically attacked me when she drove away. I tried running from him and was successful but got into trouble for running on the playground. I wondered if there was a way to protect myself from this daily harassment. I finally shared the dilemma I was facing with my mother. The next day she dropped me off, moved her car away from the playground, and walked back to check on me. When she saw the attack firsthand, she intervened, and the attacks were over.

It was a blessing to have a mom who cared enough to intervene for me. She became my personal protector from the playground bully. David, the psalmist, captured that idea when he was writing about the shadowy experiences of life in Psalm 23:4. He was a shepherd who knew what it was to move his sheep from one pasture to another through what were called valleys of dark shadows. They were little narrow ravines through which shepherds led their sheep from one green pasture to another. Lurking in the shadows were lions, bears, and robbers. Those ravines were fearful places. The shepherd was very important because he was the personal protector of his sheep. He went through those valleys alongside his sheep with a rod and a staff to protect them.

As Christians, we have the shepherd, Christ Jesus, living in us by faith. He is our ever-present personal protector. He is there each time we come face-to-face with a shadowy experience in our lives. Notice that He has His rod and His staff in His hand to protect us. The rod was used by the shepherd to defend his sheep against attacks from wild animals. The staff was a longer instrument used to rescue a sick or wounded sheep. In either case, the result was comfort and assurance. You are comforted when you are living under the protecting hand of God. He stands against your enemy Satan so that you can avoid costly mistakes you are tempted to make. You are likewise comforted when you stray and the Good Shepherd, by grace, reaches down to pull you back to safety.

Do you feel trapped in a physical, mental, emotional, or relational ravine with seemingly no way out? Remember that your shepherd is walking with you and will employ His rod and staff on your behalf. He has already placed His life on the line for you. He is your personal protector!

Fear Not: Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid (Ps. 23:4 New Living Translation).

Promise: For you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me (Ps. 23:4 NLT).

Giving in to God

ARE YOU BOTHERED BY SPIRITUAL weakness? I know what I am saying resonates with you when I speak of confessing the same sin over and over. You feel as if you are just weak and that there must be something missing in your spiritual life because you are not able to overcome a particular temptation. You confess the sin, do it again, and are back before God asking for forgiveness for the same sin only a short time later. You feel as if that sin in your life has control of you. You have tried counseling for the problem. Maybe you have been through a program for rehabilitation from an addictive disorder. If any of that sounds familiar here is good news for you.

The truth is that Christ has already won the victory for us at Calvary, and all we have to do is stand firm and see the deliverance God gives. Jahaziel was speaking to King Jehoshaphat, who was facing a big battle that he did not see how he could win. He told him the battle is not yours, but God’s (2 Chron. 20:15 New International Version). Once he understood that principle, the going got much easier. Most of us are trying to conquer our own mountains and climb our way out of our valleys. We are sure there is something we can do. It is not a matter of doing, but a matter of deliverance. God has set it up so that we have to depend on Him. Jehoshaphat moved ahead in God’s victory, and it became His victory as well.

You have probably discovered by now that if you go into battle against Satan in your own strength and are not properly armed, you will be no match for Him. In your moments of weakness, the apostle Paul says to be strong. That sounds strange when you are struggling for victory. It is not strange when you consider where your victory is coming from. The reason you can be strong or stand firm against temptation or any problem, with confidence, is that the battle has already been won for you. We don’t fight for victory; we fight from victory. The battle is the Lord’s. Christ has won the battle for us, and the Holy Spirit of God wins it for us on a continuing daily basis. We would lose a lot fewer battles with Satan if we did our battle in the prayer closet rather than in the heat of the day’s activities. It is in prayer that God tells us, the battle is not yours, but [Mine]. You gain the victory by giving in to God. His plan always works. To live in victory, claim this fear not and promise from God.

Fear Not: He said: ‘Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you:’ ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s’ (2 Chron. 20:15 NIV).

Promise: You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you (2 Chron. 20:17 NIV).

It’s Going to Be All Right

DID YOU EVER HEAR THE words It’s going to be all right? People say that when they want to help but do not know what to say. Those words are not very comforting. We want to be heard and to hear more than that. Perhaps you are praying about something significant, and you want to know God is listening. You want to hear from God, but it seems as if He does not hear you. The writer in Lamentations expresses it like this: You wrapped yourself in thick blankets of clouds so no prayers could get through (Lam. 3:44 The Message). Jeremiah was in a pit facing death and desperately needed help. He was saying, God, I need to be heard. Are you listening to me?

I recall being on a mission trip in Jamaica. I received a call to return home because my mom was hospitalized and not expected to live. I was already planning to leave the trip early to be back for the birth of our first grandchild, who was to be named Carter, if the baby was a boy. His parents did not choose to know the sex of the child in advance. A call came that there were some complications and a C-section was planned the moment I arrived home. Upon hearing both of those messages I dropped to my knees and began to plead for God’s blessing upon my family members. I also asked God for peace and grace and for some indication that it would all be all right.

I didn’t sense God speaking to me at all as I left the mission field. I was alone on the flight and really wanted to know that He was listening to my prayers and that His blessing was sure. When I arrived at Miami International Airport later that day, I was in a baggage claim area alone (unusual for MIA), and as I awaited my luggage, hoping God would give me some sign of His presence and assurance of His blessing, a lone, eighteen-by-eighteen-inch box passed by me on the baggage turnstile, and on the box was written the name Carter. When I saw that, God had just born witness with my spirit that the baby was to be a boy and that he would be fine. I could hear God saying to me, It’s going to be all right. It was all right, for he was born safely in the early hours of the next morning.

When the news of my mother’s death came later that morning, I had perfect peace, because I knew God had heard my prayers, and that He had come near to me. No matter what your need may be, God wants to let you know that He is there with you. Jeremiah was in a muddy cistern, fighting for his life. God assured him of His promise to rescue him. God always shows up. Yes, He is already there in the Christian’s life, listening, loving, leading, and lifting. Hear Him as He says, It’s going to be all right.

Fear Not: You came near when I called you, and you said, ‘Do not fear’ (Lam. 3:57 NIV).

Promise: You came close when I called out. You said, ‘It’s going to be all right’ (Lam. 3:57 The Message).

Faith That Prevails

HAVE YOU BEEN CALLED TO a great challenge? You’ve been assigned a new and unexpected project at work, but you feel totally unprepared for it. Your marriage needs work and you want a truly great relationship with the one God has made your mate, but you don’t know how to get started. You are looking at a career change. It is promising, and yet there is a part of you that enjoys the status quo. When God calls us to something great, there are two ways we can respond. The first is fear that paralyzes. The other is faith that prevails.

I was called to pastor a church that was landlocked in a transitional neighborhood in an inner city. The church attendance was barely a hundred and sometimes less. The church budget was $120,000, and the church was behind on their giving. Within a year, I was led by God to challenge the people to raise the budget to $140,000 and to raise another $300,000 to buy a twenty-eight-acre tract of land on which to relocate the church. Bold? Yes, but God is always greater than the challenges He allows to dot the pathways of our lives. God blessed the effort, the money was given, and the task was accomplished. Then, we set about the tasks of a community survey, architectural plans, fund-raising, and more. The congregation was in favor of relocating, but they said they would move when they sold their old facilities. For four years we waited and worked with no offer for the property. A realtor said to sell your property you need three things, location, location, and location—and that we lacked all three. Really all we needed was Lord, Lord, and Lord. So, I felt led by God to preach a series of sermons on faith. I asked the people to decide to move by faith, without a buyer. God led me to share this verse of Scripture with the people: For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7 King James Version).

After the series of messages, on a Monday night, the planning committee caught the vision and voted to ask the church to respond and approve the move by faith with no buyer. Before we could make the recommendation to the church conference on the next Wednesday evening, we were given two firm offers for the old property. We sold it and completed the move, and in nineteen years the church grew to over four thousand members—all of that because we decided not to respond with fear, but by faith. In the life of a person or in the life of a church, when we respond by the unparalleled power of God, the unmatched love of Christ, and with a sound mind disciplined by God’s Spirit, we will always be triumphant.

Fear Not: For God hath not given us the spirit of fear (2 Tim. 1:7 KJV).

Promise: For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7 KJV).

Healing Hope

ARE YOU MISSING OUT ON some of God’s greatest blessings because you are timid about asking and hesitant to believe God will provide great things? I will never forget a day in the Intensive Care Unit of a medical center when a friend of mine was judged to be near death and had no clinical hope of recovery from a serious accident. The medical ethics committee had met and advised the family that it seemed appropriate for them to choose to withdraw life support and allow doctors to administer higher doses of morphine in order to ensure the patient’s comfort during the final moments of his life.

I felt the touch of God in my life as we watched the process develop. The nurse and the respiratory therapists were taking him off of life support, and the increase in morphine should have led to a relaxing of his respiratory system and ultimately allowed his peaceful death. According to the tests there was no brain activity. God touched my heart and reminded me of a passage in Scripture regarding a synagogue ruler, Jairus, whose daughter was near death. He went to Jesus with the problem, and Jesus answered by saying, Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed (Luke 8:50 NIV). So, as the process of my friend’s death was taking place, I called for his wife and brother to join me at the foot of his bed. I prayed for God to heal him and reverse the seemingly impossible situation and save his life. God gave me peace about the prayer; He assured me that He had heard and would respond.

I was sure enough of His response that, uncharacteristic of me in that situation, I left the hospital and made some other calls. A couple of hours later I was called by his sister-in-law and told that as the life support was withdrawn he began to show signs of responding. Just the opposite had been expected. Yet, after several days of being in a comatose state, he did raise a finger. The recovery continued, and later he was moved to a spinal clinic in a larger nearby city where his recovery advanced. Over several weeks I had the joy of watching him recover, particularly after his necessary surgeries. Then he started attending church, and finally, after an evaluation by the medical professionals at the spinal clinic, he was cleared to go back and work again at his old job. A miracle? Absolutely! God spoke to me that He was going to heal my friend. His family and I believed, and God did the healing. Don’t risk missing your miracle by being timid or unbelieving. Remember the fear not of Jesus.

Fear Not: Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, ‘Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed’ (Luke 8:50 NIV).

Promise: Just believe, and she will be healed (Luke 8:50 NIV).

Test Taking

MOST OF US ARE NOT fond of taking tests. I recall that when I finished taking my final test, an oral defense of a project report dissertation for a doctorate at a seminary, I said to myself, That is the last test I will ever take. Yet, before I could get to my automobile in the parking lot and insert the key in the door and open it, I had already been faced by another test. That is not surprising, for life is made up of tests and many of them are by God’s design. We need to develop a right attitude toward test taking.

Jesus said that in the world we would have problems. An escapist theology would demand that a Christian should be exempt from all problems. There are many people who receive Christ as their Savior and assume that their troubles are over. WOW! They are in for a huge surprise. Life is a series of tests. Some of them are like pop quizzes that demonstrate to us what God already knows: that we are either growing or not growing in our daily walk with Christ. The ultimate learning objective is for us to be like Jesus. Other tests are like cumulative final exams that require a time of preparation and then a lengthy testing experience. Some of life’s tests approximate taking the SAT or other challenging tests.

James, in his little wisdom book in the New Testament, says, Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides (James 1:2 The Message). He goes on to say that the purpose of tests in our lives is to mature or refine us. You see, God has a purpose in the tests that He institutes in our lives. You may feel like you are going through something that God has not instituted. The devil is sometimes given limited access to us to tempt us to prove us false, while God uses the same circumstance to test us to prove us true. What we see as troublesome God sees as a teaching opportunity to grow us up into mature, wise followers of Christ.

God does not allow us to circumvent tests, because that would cheat us out of incredible opportunities for growth. But when we are enduring the tests, we should remember that God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?’ (Heb. 13:5-6 NIV). Don’t fear the tests of life, for they are intended for your blessing. Don’t refuse to take them, for they are God’s plan for you. They can keep you from sinning.

Fear Not: Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid,’ God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning (Exod. 20:20 NIV).

Promise: God has come to test you and instill a deep and reverent awe within you so that you won’t sin (Exod. 20:20 The Message).

Who’s in Your Boat?

WHEN YOU ARE FACING TURBULENT circumstances in your life and you need help, who’s in your boat whom you can turn to? I was with a senior adult pastor friend of mine one time in a boat on a lake fishing. We were casting out of opposite sides of his small fishing boat. A storm came up quickly and began to rock the small boat. We got wet, and the fishing trip was called to an abrupt end. Life is like that. As you know, it is not always smooth sailing. There are times when the waves beat against the bows of our boats, and we wonder if we will weather the storm.

The disciples of Jesus were in their boat. They had just been present for the feeding of five thousand people. As they sailed over the sea to the other side, suddenly they were shaken because of a storm that was brewing on the waters around them. In addition, they thought they saw a ghost walking on the water. A figure was visible in the dark, but they did not recognize that it was Jesus. Notice how this story developed like our lives do. There was a great victory, a miracle—feeding five thousand people. Then, there was a storm. After most spectacular experiences in life there comes a storm. That is God’s way of keeping us in spiritual balance. We grow more in the storms of life than we do in the serenity of life.

The disciples were fearful because they did not recognize who was in their boat. We look at our world and become fearful. It is easy to forget who is in our boat with us. But in life’s most fearful moments, we, like the disciples, are just a short distance away from the One who stills the winds and calms the seas of life.

Listen to Jesus’ words: Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid (Mark 6:50 NIV). They had to make a conscious decision to accept this pronouncement of the Sovereign Lord. When Jesus spoke, the situation changed. It always does. The storm ended, calm was restored, and in the boat with the disciples was Jesus, who had made it all happen. When you are tempest-tossed by the circumstances in your life, remember who’s in your boat.

Fear Not: But when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’ Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed (Mark 6:49–51 NIV).

Promise: But Jesus spoke to them at once. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said. ‘Take courage! I am here!’ Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. They were totally amazed (Mark 6:50–51 NLT).

Tackling Your Thoughts

IF YOU WERE TO FOLLOW your thoughts, where would they take you? If you’re like me, they probably travel down the winding and rocky path of worry and anxiety. One of those times in my life came when I made a decision to stay at a seminary and work on a second graduate degree. Then the questions started to arise. Where would the money come from? Could I do the work and provide for my family at the same time? Would I be able to meet all of the entrance requirements?

After reading Paul’s teaching, Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything … God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel (Phil. 4:6–7 Contemporary English Version), my family and I decided to allow God to transform our thinking. So, instead of worrying about those everyday things, we focused on His provision in our lives. When you start to thank God for His past blessings it opens your mind to just how great and how good He really is. You will not have enough time to recall the many ways God has blessed you. He has given you eternal life, called you to a career, chosen you for a marriage, given you a child or children, provided air to breathe, clothes to wear, a car to drive, and a house to live in, and on and on it goes. My family and I remembered how we had sold everything we had and moved to the seminary two years earlier. God had provided a job and a church to pastor and many times sent a friend’s check right on time to pay for gas to go and preach on Sunday. He gave us just what we needed day by day. We never had a surplus, for that would not have left room for the exercise of our faith. He also gave us the privilege of leading our oldest son to Christ while we were there.

Tackling our thoughts, we traded in worry for prayer that included: honoring God as our provider, asking Him for our necessities, and praising Him for His past blessings (Phil. 4:6 CEV). That kind of praying positioned us for God’s blessing. During my third year at seminary the Congress of the United States voted to extend the VA educational benefits, which paid me through the final month at school, and I drew my first check from a church in Georgia the very next month. God supplied our necessities, and we never missed a paycheck. The peace of God garrisoned our hearts and minds just like an army of troops to guard our thoughts and keep us in perfect peace.

Fear Not: Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel (Phil. 4:6–7 CEV).

Promise: Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel (Phil. 4:7 CEV).

Stop, Look, and Listen!

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A need, faced a challenge, or wondered how you would emerge from a difficult situation? When the pressure is on, we tend to think, Oh, God! It is easy to be fearful when we face an uncertain future. God has taught me over the years that I must apply the simplest and one of the earliest childhood lessons I learned in my life to help me face and deal with those times. It is the lesson we learn when our parents teach us how to cross a street. The command is simple: Stop, look, and listen. Your parents may have been quite adamant about that instruction. No wonder—it can save a life or prohibit a serious injury.

I like God’s instruction through David when he said, The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? (Ps. 27:1 NIV). In many of life’s challenging moments I have learned to stop, look, and listen, and God has been my light to show me the way I should go. You will discover that when you stop, look, and listen, God will give you light. He will speak to you through ears of faith, and you will hear His instruction. He will show you things through eyes of faith, and you will see His plan unfolding.

Like David, with God as your light and your salvation, you will have no one and nothing to fear. David knew what it was to face the lion, the bear, the thief, and he knew what it was like to face the viciousness of a guilty and condemning conscience. But he found that when he stopped, looked, and listened, God was [his] light and [his] salvation, so he asked the rhetorical question, Whom shall I fear? The expected answer is no one. David concluded that when he stopped, looked, and listened, God would both be his light and give him light, so that He would hide him in His own place and lift him up as if he were on a rock. That is, he would set him in a secure place.

You may be facing a time of insecurity in your life. Your status at work has changed. Maybe you have lost what you thought was a secure position. You have been left in a position of loneliness because your spouse has said, I no longer feel like I love you. Whatever your hour of need, when you start to cross over into that unknown street and the traffic of life is quickly approaching you, stop, look, and listen, and God will give you light that will take away your fears and make you know that you are safe and secure.

Fear Not: Of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? (Ps. 27:1 NIV).

Promise; For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock (Ps. 27:5 NIV).

The Hope of a Heavenly Home

HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE presence of one who was facing imminent death? Each person reacts differently in the face of that most natural thing that will come to each of us, if Jesus does not return first. Before you turn away, listen to a story that blessed my life and will bless yours as well. It is a story that will help you overcome any fear you may have about death, yours or a loved one’s. It will both inform you and inspire you.

I have had the privilege, as a minister of the gospel, to hold the hand of a number of people as they drew their last breath here in the world. Some express fear, while others express release. For a believer in Jesus Christ there is a hope that transcends death. For this incredibly significant experience in each of our lives, God has given to us a fear not and a promise.

I recall a good friend of mine, a deacon in a church I served, who was near the end of his life. The decision was made to suspend life support and allow God to be God in his life, death, and beyond. The medical staff believed his body would not function long after the withdrawal of the life support systems. However, when life support was withdrawn, his respiration rate improved, and he continued to breathe and have a stable heart rate for over three hours. The charge nurse in ICU, a very good friend of mine, came into the room and commented that the condition was unexplainable. As she started to leave his room, I asked her to wait a moment and allow me to speak with him and pray for him. Believing he might have still been able to hear my words, I talked of the promise of God in His word. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die (John 11:25–26 NIV). I said to my friend, God is about to do His best work in your life. I am going to pray with you, and then I want you to just let God be God, and you release your life into His hands, and He will gently lift you out of this body and into His eternal presence to live forever. You are not going to die. You are just leaving your physical body behind. I held his hand, prayed, and as I said amen on the prayer, I lifted my eyes to the monitor beside his bed and watched as his heart rate descended rapidly from thirty-seven to zero beats per minute. He was absent from his body and present with the Lord. He had discovered the new hope of a heavenly home.

Fear Not: When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: ‘Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades’ (Rev. 1:17–18 NIV).

Promise: And we are not afraid but are quite content to die, for then we will be at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8 LB).

Plenteous Provision

WE HAVE ALL FACED TIMES when we did not know how we were going to make it financially. There are times when we have plenty, and there are times when we wonder how we will provide for the needs of the day. A job is suddenly and unexpectedly lost, a marriage is broken, an emergency occurs, the economy struggles, and the issue of our provisional needs surfaces with new intensity.

When I was in graduate school we were living each day by faith in God to provide for our needs. It is amazing how, when we can’t see how we can make it, we become more God-dependent. One Saturday morning I noticed that the gas gauge was registering near empty. We did not have the money to buy the gas to make it to a church so I could preach and be paid and have enough money to buy groceries for the next week. The day wore on, and the question of where the money would come from loomed bigger and bigger. Yet, by faith, I planned for the message and continued to study and prepare, as we trusted God to provide for us. In the afternoon, I went to check our mail, and in it I found a check for twenty-five dollars sent unexpectedly by friends from our hometown. With it we bought the gas, made the trip, and were paid enough for the next week’s groceries.

In the Bible in 1 Kings 17 there is a story of Elijah, whose provisions for life had suddenly run out. Yet God did not run out on Elijah. He sent him to a widow, who would be his provider. He asked her for bread. She had just enough oil and meal to make one more cake for her and her son. Elijah asked her to feed him first. She did that by faith. Afterward he promised that God would reward her faith by giving them food through the period of drought they were in. Because she acted by faith, God did not let the meal or the cruise of oil fail, but provided for all of them. God is your provider. He already knows your needs and every emergency you will ever face. Trust Him, for His is a plenteous provision.

Fear Not: Elijah said to her, ‘Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son’ (1 Kings 17:13 NIV).

Promise: For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.’ She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah (1 Kings 17:14–16 NIV).

Where Is God?

WHEN TROUBLE STRIKES AT YOUR door and those around you ask, Where is your God? or when you are in such an extremity of life that you are asking, Where is God? what consolation do you have? Maybe your life has been devastated by a broken marriage, your ex-spouse is in arrears with payments that are due you, you are a victim of abuse, or you have been forced to leave a hostile work environment. Your