Taking It to Work:
When I was a kid, one of my favorite heroes was a cool-headed swashbuckler named Zorro. He had a mask, a sword, a black hat, a sweet mustache, and an incredible ability to stay cool under pressure. So much so, that when he would get into the climatic sword fight with the enemy of that week, and he was in the worst predicament he could be in where he should have been scared for his life, he wasn’t. In fact, what I liked the most about Zorro, is that the whole time he was fighting, he always had a confident smile, a great humorous attitude, and he would say funny things…like he was having fun the whole time, when he should have been panicking.
Well, we all get that Zoro is not real life, but there is a part of it that could be. Zorro had confidence in his sword, or maybe the script writer, but we claim confidence in an almighty God. Paul says we shouldn’t even possess a spirit of fear. David says that we have a trustworthy God who supersedes any fleshly enemy. Isaiah says we can have perfect peace because our Lord is an everlasting rock. Our God, our faith, and His everlasting Word, all say we are to be unshakable in the strength of our God….or we should be.
I don’t know what enemy you’re going to face this week, but when he raises his sword of uncertainty against you, remember, there are no uncertain times to our God. He is the ultimate screenwriter. All is seen, all is known, and you are His loved and protected child. Reject the anxiety. Refuse the fear. Fear is not the garment of a child of the King. Don’t give in to the panic of an unbeliever. Ultimately, you don’t count on your job, your situation, your bank account, or even on your health. You count on a God who has power over all of it, and He knows what you need; in that, you find your peace.
Don’t underestimate your God, and don’t overestimate your situation. Fear must bow to faith. So, put on that confident smile, be fearless in Him, as His Word works in you, today.
Romans 8:15 (ESV) – For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Psalm 56:3-4 (ESV) – When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
Isaiah 26:3-4 (ESV) – You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
Listening to the Spirit (Rhema):
There exists no shelter for those who call not My Name, for other names are not of power nor might. Riches are poor gods. Pleasure flees the fearful and comforts not the forlorn. Where do the lost turn, but to themselves and the storage of years? It is an empty place where comfort finds no home, and sleep finds no rest. But he who rests in His God fears not the storm, for he is not alarmed by calamity. His God is His security, in life and death, in plenty and in want. His heart does not grow faint, neither does he fear man, for great strength is in his loins, for My arm holds strong his countenance, and his smile is of assurance. Calm is his voice, quivering not like his neighbor who knows not his Creator, nor his destination. Fear not the reaper; He has no power over you.
