If you struggle with fear, please friend, don’t let the devil use it to stop you from living the life God is calling you to live!
This month marks 5 years since I put my little house not far from the ocean on the market, gave most everything away, and have been on the road full-time without a permanent residence with my special needs ministry dogs ever since for the Lord and ministry. I have struggled with fear, worry, doubt, and anxiety along with lots of other huge challenges my whole life – to this very day in fact. But I have learned an incredible lesson about fear I share with you now.
We can bow down and worship fear like a god and allow it to rule and reign in our hearts and lives and let the devil use it to stop us from fulfilling God’s will for our lives. Or we can humble ourselves and bow down before God almighty and no matter how hard fear and anxiety come at us choose to put our trust in God moment by moment and find our hope, strength, confidence, security, wisdom, direction, and all that we need physically, emotionally, and spiritually IN THE LORD.
When fear and anxiety threaten to take us down and out and get us to run for dear life away from God’s will for our lives, we can choose instead to run to the Lord, pour out our hearts to Him – fear included – and take refuge in Him. We can find shelter in Him. We can cry out to Him, pray to Him, seek Him, read the Bible, spend time in His presence, praise and worship Him, sing to Him, adore Him, receive His love, comfort, healing, and hope, and love, love, love Him with total devotion, ever striving to bring Him praise, honor, joy, pleasure, and glory.
In my years on the road, I have ministered on death row, talked to a murderer on the street about Jesus, stayed at three hotels in a row where dead bodies were found and not fled, been yelled at, cursed at, threatened, been treated terribly, been verbally abused, ministered to criminals, been in a courtyard alone with a violent man who was about to be arrested, had no permanent home to run back to, ministered on the streets of New York City, gone up to drug addicts high and/or getting high and given them Gospel tracts, held a man in my arms who broke into the building where I was staying temporarily and now a month or so later appeared to be overdosing as I prayed for him and told him about Jesus and called 911, walked through an area filled with scary looking homeless addicts all high on a drug that made them look like dead men and women walking and given them Gospel tracts, and on and on. I have left comfortable places for scary places. I have gone to new locations on the road when I was petrified. I have stayed at hotels to minister there even when my flesh was terrified. I have been far, far, far away from loved ones.
Think I wasn’t scared? Think I don’t struggle with anxiety daily over a zillion different things? Oh, I most assuredly struggle with fear every day of my life. But I have learned to run to the Lord and to not bow my knee to fear. I have learned to live and breathe to love and glorify God now and forever. I am learning day by day to be a totally devoted follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God in Christ gives me all I need to live for Him including the ability to keep following Him in life and ministry no matter how hard the devil comes at me with fear.
Friend, please, I implore you, don’t let fear stop you from being a totally devoted follower of Jesus. Live and breathe for God. Pour out your heart to Him. Follow Him humbly and faithfully. Let Him reign in your life. Submit to God. Don’t surrender to the fear. Live surrendered to God. Now and forevermore, live for the Lord, hallelujah, glory be to God, AMEN!
p.s. I was so afraid as a child of spending even a single night away from home that I would call my parents from friends’ homes begging them to take me home. Now I am on the road full-time for Jesus. All things are possible through the Lord. What must we do? Believe in Him! Put our trust in Him, and love, obey, and glorify Him, hallelujah!
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 NKJV
“Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”” Mark 9:23 NKJV
“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you…” James 4:7-8 NKJV