In my last post I shared about anxiety as one of the things in our Is which cheats us from our Is To Come, according to Beth Moore at the Women of Faith pre-conference. Beth said fear is the other cheater, and she defined fear as manifestations of unbelief.
When Beth began talking about fear cheating us from our Is To Come, my first thought was that I didn't really "need" this part of her teaching. I have never considered myself to be a fearful person. I know God is good and He is sovereign. I believe He can handle (and is not surprised by) the things which come into my life. Even when I was in the hospital for brain surgery I was not afraid because I knew I wasn't there because God couldn't handle my situation on His own. He had me there for a very good reason, and I was trusting Him.
So what might God have to say to me regarding fear? Clearly, I was full of faith if I could face something like brain surgery without fear. Right???
I can just imagine Him thinking, Oh, Karen. My dear, little girl. Keep listening. I have something I want to say to you. Because very soon after I determined I didn't have an "issue" with fear, Beth made another statement which grabbed my heart. She said, "My weakness does not trump God's strength. My weakness isn't stronger than God's strength."
Really???
I can't count the number of times I have faced a challenge and thought, Oh, I could never do that. I don't have the skills. I don't have the experience. Someone else would do a much better job. For some reason the "big" things (like brain surgery) don't cause me fear, but in the little things unbelief is manifested. Maybe that's because the big things are infrequent but the little things occur weekly.
So as I pondered the statement, "My weakness does not trump God's strength," I was filled with hope again in the power of God. It was another one of those DUH! moments for me. Of course God's strength is stronger than my weakness. My weakness is simply not an issue for Him. He is present and powerful even in the daily-ness and seemingly unimportant aspects of everyday life. As I considered Beth's encouragement that our Is To Come is going to be wonderful I was thrilled to imagine what He might do through me.
How about you, my friend? If you have trusted Jesus as your Savior your ultimate Is To Come is going to be perfect. What about your Is To Come here on earth? Will you let anxiety and fear rob you, or will you choose to trust the Almighty - who was, who is, who is to come, and who can handle every aspect of your situation perfectly?
Thursday, June 28, 2007
One More Visit with Beth
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5 comments:
Dear Karen
How I enjoyed your writing today. And how amazing our God is, that He would never call us into a situation for which we are ill-equipped! Facing fear is sometimes the most difficult thing we'll ever have to do. Fear that God will not see us through. That's the biggie of course, because it denies God the power to function in our lives. Faith, on the other hand, gives Him "permission" to act. It's almost like He waits patiently for us to make the connection - when we practise faith, it "plugs Him in"... this is all coming out wrong. See how excited I am? haha. 2 Corinthians 12 v 9 shares with us God's thoughts on this:-
“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
How beautiful is that? Our weakness just increases His strength! Wow.
Therefore I have no reason to fear, because "as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him" Psalms 103 v 11 (or for those who "respect" Him, and honour Him.
What a great God we serve, Karen! Thanks so much for sharing again!
Oh how I love to hear Beth Moore teach. This post spoke directly to me today, too. Glad I found you. :)
Great thoughts. I would venture to guess that fear is the number one thing most women deal with. There is so much in our world and within our own situations to be fearful of, but we serve a God who is SO much bigger than all of it.
I had to step back and look at my own life when you were talking about your fears, or lack of fears. I too don't have trouble trusting for the big things, but do I fret a bit more with the small things? I need to mull that one over. Thanks for giving me something to think about today.
Blessings!
Great post Karen. Isn't it funny how we can "trick" ourselves into believing things without really realizing we've done so?! I think I have the problem of fearing the big things but not the small ones. Either way, I fear and those are all fears that I need to lay in God's hands because his grace is sufficient! Thanks for sharing this!
It seems that so many faithful people I know (including me) can face the big things but are often paralyzed by fear of the small things. Thank you for sharing what you learned and your thoughts - it is a great reminder that I must ALWAYS trust in him...with the big and the small!
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