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The Fearful Heart

1/26/2015

Listening to Denise share an experience of fear brought back a memory of the identical event of white water rafting. We were in Colorado and all the rivers were at almost flood stage and my thrill-seeker husband decided we should all go white water rafting as a family. My girls were young at the time, maybe ages five and eight. It was one the scariest times ever as a mother, hanging onto my children for dear life as we navigated rapids, rocks and every kind of obstacle. Our guide was very skilled and we did not get capsized as Denise did, but I was so very thankful when it was over and have never done this since!

Fear can be crippling if we allow it to control us and monopolize our minds with whatever the particular fear is in our life.We must not allow our hearts to be captured by fear and we must not let our hearts shut down to the work God desires to do in us. Jesus is trustworthy and is always interceding for us at His Father's right hand. He loves us with an everlasting love and we cannot blame Him for the cause of our fear. We must, instead, turn to Him and allow him to heal our heart and deliver us from the crippling fear. ISAIAH 41:10 says " So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

We must reclaim our fearful heart by believing that God IS trustworthy. We are called to confront our fears and do things in spite of being afraid. I can relate to one fear that God has been faithful to strengthen me as I have faced the fear. When I was about eight years old, an elderly neighbor, was driving his old pickup truck to the little country store in our rural area where we lived. It was pouring down rain, and visibility was poor. He was crossing the river over an old wooden swing bridge over the Caloosahatchee River, and because of the poor visibility, he could not see that the bridge was open and he drove his truck right into the river and drowned. This was someone I knew and I would always talk to him as I rode my bicycle by his house. It had a tremendous effect on me and I was afraid of bridges from that time forward. I had nightmares for many hears of being at the top of a high bridge and on the edge of falling into the water below. I prayed for God to give me strength every time there was a bridge I needed to cross. My heart would pound and the fear would grip me, but I decided this fear would not cripple me. I prayed each time and asked God to deliver me. Each time I crossed a bridge, it became a little easier. Many years later, I can tell you there is still a remembrance of my fear, but it reminds me how faithful my God is! PSALM 46:2 tells us: "Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea."

Know with your mind and believe in your heart that God is always trustworthy enough to lay your fear at His feet and He will sustain you and walk with you through your fear.

Finally, be confident in this verse from I JOHN 4:18, which says, " There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." Jesus is your constant companion, and He is all you need to face your greatest fears!

I love you, my dear sisters, and pray for victory in each of your sweet lives as you face your fears!!!! God is good all the time!!!

Linda Davis

The Angry Heart

1/20/2015

I agree with Denise: we all have been angry. Personally I have a very short fuse – most of the time it is more irritation than anger – but injustice, pain & suffering, mocking attitudes – get me every time. Anger is not wrong in itself – Jesus got angry – as long as it is anger against sin and it does not over take us.

I have also experienced a time in my life when I was angry with God and it did over take me. After my grandmother’s death at age 17, I was angry. I was so angry that I decided there was no God after all. It was easier for me to think that, so I thought. I was lied to by the enemy of our souls. I harbored that anger for years, and it only hurt me, it did not hurt anyone else. When I finally trusted the Lord and gave my life to Him, I started to realize step by step how wrong I was. God did work everything out for good, just as He promises in His Word.

I also realized how much I think of myself and how little I think of God. The God I thought I knew was not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible loves me in a way I don’t even comprehend; so much, that He allowed His Son to suffer for me and then die a horrible death. This God purchased my life and deserves my trust.

What about being angry at people when they are unjust? It comes easy when we live in a sinful and broken world. But the Lord gave us several commands: Love one another. Forgive one another. Love your neighbor as yourself. You don’t know what the person who hurt you is going through, you don’t know the life they had, you don’t know their hearts. But God does!

Our lives are in His hand. He says to us in Psalm 50:15 “Trust me in your times of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.” But the rescue is not necessary a rescue from hardship here on earth, but an eternal rescue that is promised to those who love Him.

At times when we need strength and perseverance in face of injustice or anger, we need to look to no man, no job, no possessions, but to the Lord Jesus.

“Be still, and know that I’m God.” Psalm 46:10

Krisztina White

The Shamed Heart

1/12/2015

S-H-A-M-E...a word we don’t like to talk about, yet it hits a personal nerve within us. Could that be because we have all experienced shame in some form or fashion and have realized its binding influence over us? Whether you have felt ashamed of your own decisions and circumstances or have been affected with shame by someone else’s decisions and circumstances, shame has touched each one of us.
Should that surprise us? Shame was revealed at the precise moment that sin was ushered into this world in the perfect Garden of Eden with our first parents, Adam and Eve. However, the first mention of shame in the Bible is in Genesis 2:25 prior to the Fall.
The final verse given following the account of all God had created that was good simply states, “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”

A place with no shame…what would that be like? We can’t even fathom such a place apart from the Bible’s description of heaven. Our Enemy was present and involved with the first practice of sin and shame, and he continues to offer his identical deceitful tactics to tempt us with sinful desires to invoke consequential shame. Upon sinning against God by disobeying His one command given to them in the Garden, the book of Genesis describes Adam and Eve’s response:

"But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” (3:9-10) Hiding…that’s what shame immediately leads us to do. We hide because we are keenly aware of how another would view us in light of our shame. With shame come feelings of humiliation, embarrassment, guilt, failure, fear, and ultimately condemnation. For Adam and Eve, it was a hidden private sin with no one around to see. Yet wearing sin and shame as their garments, they were brought face to face with the Living God, who knows and sees all things hidden. Adam and Eve had no record of a past with all hope for the future, until sin tainted their future. The consequences were devastating for the first couple. God banished them from the sacred Garden, driving them out from the only good place they knew, but not without God displaying His grace by covering them through His own means. (Gen. 3:21, 23-24)

Fast forward in Scripture to John 8:1-11. Jesus is teaching in the sacred temple courts to a crowd who has gathered around Him. When suddenly, the religious leaders interrupt Him to bring before Him a woman caught in adultery. A hidden private sin made public by another with the motive of trying to accuse Jesus while using an accusation of the woman’s sin as bait. A woman wearing sin and shame as her garment is brought face to face with the Living God, who knows and sees all things hidden, including the hearts of both the religious one and the shamed one. All she had was a tainted past with no hope for the future. Her outward sin had been revealed, but Jesus sought to reveal the hidden sin in the hearts of those standing around her bringing condemnation.

Jesus plainly says to the crowd, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” (v. 7) The book of John then describes the response of the crowd, including the religious leaders, “…those who heard began to go away one at a time…until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.” (v. 9) Jesus asks the woman a question that sounds vaguely familiar to a question God asked in the Garden, then offers her words of grace.

“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (v. 10-11) Sin and shame brought out of hiding…two parties involved…both encountered Jesus…both sent away by the perfect Savior. For those who chose to condemn another, Jesus made them aware of their own sinful hearts. For the one being condemned by another, Jesus made her aware of His compassionate grace and forgiveness through repentance in leaving her life of sin.

Whether Adam and Eve, the religious leaders, the woman caught in sin, or you and me – we are all sinners in need of a Perfect Savior. Jesus is the only true garment who can cover our sin and shame as we stand face to face with the Living God. God the Father provided the means of His Son. Jesus Christ is the sacrifice, shedding His blood on a shameful cross to clothe those who trust in Him for salvation and redemption. Jesus did not come into this sinful world to condemn and shame you. Through His love and sacrifice, He came to lead you to repentance through conviction by His Holy Spirit and offer His gifts of forgiveness and salvation. The Enemy wants to shame and enslave you bringing condemnation, but Jesus wants to save and free you in order that one day you will know and experience a place that has no more shame – His perfect, eternal heaven.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. (John 3:17)

So let go of your shame. Don’t be held captive by it any longer. Come into the presence of the Living God and allow Him to free your heart to embrace the grace, forgiveness, and salvation Jesus has for you through His work on the cross. In the words of the Apostle Paul:

“Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.” (Rom. 10:11) Tamar Miller

The Critical Heart

1/6/2015

God’s word tells us that words are very powerful. Denise reminded us of what Solomon said in Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” Words can tear down, weigh us down and stir up anger. But a gentle word can turn away wrath, and cheer us up. We are told to encourage one another and build each other up, 1 Thessalonians 5:11.

This lesson reminded me that I need to watch my words because even a small comment made in haste can bring discouragement or anger. I need to be slow to speak, James 1:19. Maybe take a step back and ask myself are my words beneficial? Do my words encourage, build up, make someone cheerful or am I tearing down?

Jesus spoke to everyone with love, encouragement, forgiveness. I think of the women at the well, Zacchaeus, and Nicodemus. Two were not well accepted by society and yet Jesus sought them out. Nicodemus though accepted was part of a group that wanted to kill Him. Yet Jesus talked to them with kindness, encouragement and forgiveness, how could I do any less.

Ruby Cripe

The Fearful Heart

The Angry Heart

The Shamed Heart

The Critical Heart

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