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Friday, January 8, 2010

Does fear ever grip you?

"Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.
In God I will praise His word,
In God I have put my trust;
I will not fear.
What can flesh do to me?"
(Psalms 56:3,4)

Does anyone besides me ever allow the deep pit of fear to consume them?

Literally,  allow it to take over any conscious and rational thought process that is trying to peek through?

And then when any resemblence of peace starts to settle in, that wave of undeniable, heart-stopping, fearfulness just swoops right in and just single-handedly knocks peace right off of its proverbial feet.

How can a Christian woman who is firmly grounded in her faith allow this to happen?

How can a woman who knows that her God is sovereign and powerful let an emotion like that grab hold and threaten her like that?

How in the world could I let myself get wrapped up in the tight fist of fear when I know clearly that the Word of God tells me not to fear?

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."
(2 Timothy 1:7)

Simply put? I let my guard down and allowed my weaknesses to gain footing.

The devil knows just what our weakest traits are and he knows our areas where we are most vulnerable. And you better believe that the devil can and will use that to his greatest advantage every single time we give him the opportunity to do so.

All too often, we just leave ourselves wide open for him to attack.

I don't deal with this type of fear very often. Praise God for that. But there is one particuliar thing that I fear in a BIG way and satan loves nothing better than to torment me with the "what-if's" of it. Most of the time, I stay strong and am able to confront the fear and the lies that the devil tries to convince me are truth. I am able to confront and dismiss them only with the help of my precious Lord and Savior.

For whatever reason, this past week the devil was able (if only for a short period) to cause me a few days of misery as I allowed this unsubstantiated fear to wreak havoc on my spirit!  It literally was driving me a little crazy as I just allowed it to begin to take control of my every thought! How absurd is that? How utterly ridiculous was that on my part?

And all this took place after I had such a sweet time of communion with Jesus on Tuesday! The devil knew that I had met with Him in a mighty way and he just couldn't stand it.

Thank goodness, as I kept in the Word, the Lord was able to cut the old lying devil off at the pass. As I remained solidly in the scriptures and literally scoured every devotion book I own, I found peace everywhere I looked. I found Him in each place that my frenzy took me. God was busy calming my nerves and settling my fear.

One thing I learned from this. We have got to keep ourselves grounded deeply in the Word. We have got to keep ourselves imbedded in the scriptures at all times!

We need to KNOW His Word and we need to KNOW the Truth of His Word.

When we feel things like fear, that we know without a shadow of a doubt are NOT from God, we need to immediately rebuke it and cast it out. We need to replace that thought with a TRUTH from His Word, and stand firm on it. We need to stand on the promises of His Word. We need to quote the Truth of  His Word over and over to ourselves until it just soaks in our spirit. 

I am so thankful that God allowed me to emerge from this unscathed. He showed me mercy. He showed me grace. He lovingly guided me to His Word and led me to the fountain of Truth. I drank in that Truth deeply and let is satiate that thirst within me.  As it settled and calmed my spirit, I was able to see Him more clearly. Once again, He met me there in my need.

Praise you, Jesus, for your power and your might. Praise you for the Truth of Your Word. Praise you for loving and giving. You are my peace. I love you with all of my heart.

In the tight fist of Him,
Beth

13 comments:

Tammy said...

I woke up this morning with God whispering to me.. My words will sustain you, trust Me.

And now I am reading your post...hummm

love and hugs~Tammy

Kathleen said...

Such a good word, my friend! There's nothing like His word, His presence to prevent and/or ward off fear.

I've tested this myself over the years. While my fearful days were far more numerous and troublesome in my youth, occasionally something crops up to remind me that I'm safest in Him. I run "home" to His presence like an anxious child. He has never failed to buoy my heart & fortify my faith. Fear doesn't fare too well in that environment.

Blessings,
Kathleen

Andrea said...

I am finding comfort in my Heavenly Father. He has proven to be greater than any fear I have..
Andrea

sara said...

'All too often, we just leave ourselves wide open for him to attack.' This is so true! I need to take the time each and every day to put on the armour of God!

Nana Jul said...

One thing He has taught me through the "grip of fear" was to think back on all the times He worked it all out, above and beyond what I could have ever imagined! I've had to remind myself and start talking the "test"imonies He got me through. What I found was most interesting, as I recalled the Hand of the Lord, it increased MY belief.
I've had so much practice with that, I can now jump straight to
"He did it before, what makes me think He won't do it again?!"
I have to quit beating myself up because "I should know better".
Once the Lord showed me to literally "Litnup"..you betcha. It was on the license plate infront of me when I was pitchin' a fit. I burst out laughing alone in my car all the way home.
Love ya Beth, He's stretching you...and so many can relate to what you've written.
Praise and worship music, reading His word, and remembering!
My pits aren't nearly as long as they used to be...Hallelujah!
Love,
Julie

Wylie @ Shout A Joyful Noise! said...

I love that verse & the Lord has ministered to my heart with it about this very subject. A study that helped me SO much in this area was Kay Arthur's Lord, Is It Warfare, Teach Me To Stand.

Kay teaches us to remember that as God's children, we are seated in the heavenlies with Christ, far above the limited power of the enemy. We have to keep the armor on & combat his lies with God's precious truth.

We can do ALL things through the power of Christ that strengthens us. Amen friend! Great post!
Wylie

Every Day Blessings said...

This has been a bad week for me too. I have been gripped with fear of the what if's and sad about everything to do with this move. I have been spending more time in the word but yesterday I told one of my friends I needed prayer and she did. She called me from Kansas and prayed for me and offered sweet words of encouragement. I am praying that the PEACE of God settles in.
Thank you for the wonderful words of this post.

valerie said...

That's the verse that was on my daily devotion calendar for today. :) I love when that happens!

Beth, this past week I began to memorize Galatians 5:22-23,25 and I had just had the sweetest time with the Lord that morning and there were about three things that very day where I had to remind myself of those verses - verse 25 especially that says "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."
Also this week there have been at least five people who have talked to me and have asked me to pray for things going on in their lives. Serious things.
Last night I went to bed thinking about one and I spoke to the Lord just before bed and told Him "You remember how I used to worry so much more about these things? I'm leaving this in Your hands and I know You're going to work this out." I've learned so much about giving it to God. (I'm still learning....believe me, it's just getting easier the closer our relationship grows) I agree with you about the Scripture memorization. Anyway, during the night last night I woke up and the words "Be still and know that I am God" were spoken to me just as though someone whispered them right into my ears. It was precious!

Thank you for this post and I will be praying for you about your area that tends to make you fearful.

Love you and can hardly wait until Jan. 22!
Valerie

http://bitsandpieces-sonja.blogspot.com/ said...

And how like satan it is, to attack especially when there are new steps of faith and growth in our walk with God. He hates that! So he works extra hard to get us snaggled in the 'fear trap' or whatever else might work. Good for you, you persisted, and God brought you right through it. I think I could preach a sermon on the 2 words my dad used over and over for satans attacks...

Recognize it...
Refuse it....

That principle works. We stand in His promises, and we resist those fears and feelings, just like you did.

Sonja

LisaShaw said...

Dearest Sister, thank you for sharing...trust in the LORD and His Word always. In Him we find the Peace of GOD that surpasses all understanding and whenever that nasty demon fear rises up we can overcome it through HIS PEACE AND LOVE. Amen!!

Love you and blessings to you dear sister. I'm praying for you and your family.

Jackie said...

Mercy Beth, your story sounds like my story! The torment of "what if's" has been waging against my mind and emotions so greatly in recent days BUT I'm fighting the good fight of faith by standing upon the promises of God in the Mighty Name of Jesus!! Quite honestly, since the Lord performed such miracles in saving Katies life, I've discerned a spiritual attack in the form of fear which in turn has attempted to rob me of my peace!

Isn't it amazing that the two things He spoke to me about for 2010 are....

1. To seek to KNOW Him as my PRINCE OF PEACE. To walk so closely beside my PRINCE that I'm overshadowed by His Peace!!

2. Isaiah 4:10 Message
Don't panic. I am with you. There's no need to fear for I'm your God. I'll help you. I'll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you.

I''m so grateful the Lord spoke these and other scriptures to my heart! And, PTL Isaiah 4:10 is my anchor verse to stand upon while being firmly gripped by the hand of my Prince of Peace!!

Thank you for sharing!

Staying firmly gripped!
Jackie

kanishk said...

He has never failed to buoy my heart & fortify my faith. Fear doesn't fare too well in that environment.

Work from home India

Dontmissyoursunsetlady said...

Words cannot express how much hope and victory that your transparent post gives me! I am greatly encouraged!