Matthew 14:27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
Oh Friends, it was another beautiful day in my neck of the woods; not too hot, not too cold, too bright or cloudy, just perfect. I’m certainly praying for many more like it this summer. But regardless of the weather, or anything else in our lives, we’ve got to keep keeping on, keep persevering. We can’t afford to let fear of the known or unknown prevent us from moving forward both in our everyday family lives, our careers, plus maturing in our Christian walk and thereby furthering the kingdom of Jesus. I read an interesting quote today that deals with fear. It says: ‘Stripped of all their masquerades, the fears of men are quite identical: the fear of loneliness, rejection, inferiority, unmanageable anger, illness and death.’ Joshua Loth Liebman is credited with those words of wisdom and truth. Yes my people, we all have some deep, indwelling fear about something or another, but those mentioned above are some common ones. However Friends, if we live in constant fear, then we’re not truly living. We’ll be paralysed, just barely existing, hanging on by a thread, for to truly live life is to get up and go out and do things, run risks, not foolish ones, be a productive part of society, make a positive difference. In other words, we need courage. Now courage is not necessarily lack of fear, or even its opposite, but simply that ability to rise above our fear and do what we have to do, even with that fear still gnawing at our insides. And my people, I’m here to tell you that the best way to do that, to accomplish the goal of offsetting fear with courage, is by believing and following in the footsteps of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And we have a great example of conquering fear when the disciples were caught in a storm out at sea, in the wee hours of the morning. But fortunately, as I keep reminding us, our Saviour looks after His own. ‘And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.’ (Mat.14:25-26) Ah friends, that just highlights our natural fearful nature, for though the disciples had been hanging out with Jesus for some time, and saw Him perform numerous miracles, deep down they still couldn’t truly believe or fathom His Messianic power. But as always, the Saviour was calm and in total control of the situation. And His reaction to their fearful cry? ‘But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.’ Wow mih people! Jesus sure knows how to handle those ‘unhandleable’, uncontrollable situations! And my brethren, it’s the same thing He is saying to each of us today, to His followers who are stymied by some kind of fear: ‘My people, be of good courage. It is I, your Lord and Saviour, who gave His life as an innocent sacrifice for your sins, so don’t be afraid. I am here with you. And as I promised, I will never leave nor forsake you, I will be with you always, until the end of time.’ And the entire multitude of God’s people joyfully shouted: ‘Praise the Lord! Thank you Jesus!’ Yes Friends, that’s the decided intention of Jesus’ heart to all of us. He wants to help us safely tread this crazy, ungodly earth like giants in our spirit, without fear of Lucifer and his evil cohorts, just moving right along in the courage and guidance of His Holy Spirit that he sent to dwell in every believer’s heart, soul and mind for that express purpose. Hn, hn, hn! Bruh Paul must be smiling at that sentence, and saying, ‘Yeah, my kinda sentence!’ And if we continue with the example of the disciples in the storm and Jesus walking towards them, we’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. After Jesus stilled their fear, what happened? ‘And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.’ (Mat.14:28) Now that was Peter suppressing his fear and boosting his courage. ‘And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.’ (Mat.14:19) And all God’s people echoed a mighty: ‘Hallelujah!’ Yes mih breddren, because Peter believed the Lord’s command, that he could do what He said, thereby causing his courage to rise above his fear, he too was able to walk on the water. Unfortunately, the courage only superseded the fear for a short while. ‘But when he saw the wind boisterous (violent), he was afraid: and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.’ (Mat.14:30) And that my people is what happens to us many times along the topsy-turvy path of life. We get up the gumption, the courage to attempt the seemingly impossible, but in the midst of it all, that innate fear suddenly rises up again and strangles our courage. And what’s our automatic reaction? We cry out to the Lord for help! ‘And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?’ (Mat.14:31) And an even more grateful and raucous shout went up to heaven. ‘Oh praise His Holy name! Worthy is the Lamb that died for us!’ Why? Oh Friends, because it’s the same way that Jesus immediately stretches out His hand to us when we call on Him in times of trouble, when we’re about to go under and in desperation cry out to Him to save us. NEVER FORGET THAT! And Jesus amuses me with His little snide remark to His big, burly sidekick about his lack of faith and his doubt. That also applies to us today my people. It’s not humanly possible to rise above or control every troubling situation we face, but if we continually invoke the Lord’s help, we will do very well, come out victorious over most of our problems. And God willing, we’ll continue this topic tomorrow. Till then, Much LOVE!…when the storms of life blow strong…don’t worry…take courage…call out to Jesus for help…
Oh Friends, it was another beautiful day in my neck of the woods; not too hot, not too cold, too bright or cloudy, just perfect. I’m certainly praying for many more like it this summer. But regardless of the weather, or anything else in our lives, we’ve got to keep keeping on, keep persevering. We can’t afford to let fear of the known or unknown prevent us from moving forward both in our everyday family lives, our careers, plus maturing in our Christian walk and thereby furthering the kingdom of Jesus. I read an interesting quote today that deals with fear. It says: ‘Stripped of all their masquerades, the fears of men are quite identical: the fear of loneliness, rejection, inferiority, unmanageable anger, illness and death.’ Joshua Loth Liebman is credited with those words of wisdom and truth. Yes my people, we all have some deep, indwelling fear about something or another, but those mentioned above are some common ones. However Friends, if we live in constant fear, then we’re not truly living. We’ll be paralysed, just barely existing, hanging on by a thread, for to truly live life is to get up and go out and do things, run risks, not foolish ones, be a productive part of society, make a positive difference. In other words, we need courage. Now courage is not necessarily lack of fear, or even its opposite, but simply that ability to rise above our fear and do what we have to do, even with that fear still gnawing at our insides. And my people, I’m here to tell you that the best way to do that, to accomplish the goal of offsetting fear with courage, is by believing and following in the footsteps of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And we have a great example of conquering fear when the disciples were caught in a storm out at sea, in the wee hours of the morning. But fortunately, as I keep reminding us, our Saviour looks after His own. ‘And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.’ (Mat.14:25-26) Ah friends, that just highlights our natural fearful nature, for though the disciples had been hanging out with Jesus for some time, and saw Him perform numerous miracles, deep down they still couldn’t truly believe or fathom His Messianic power. But as always, the Saviour was calm and in total control of the situation. And His reaction to their fearful cry? ‘But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.’ Wow mih people! Jesus sure knows how to handle those ‘unhandleable’, uncontrollable situations! And my brethren, it’s the same thing He is saying to each of us today, to His followers who are stymied by some kind of fear: ‘My people, be of good courage. It is I, your Lord and Saviour, who gave His life as an innocent sacrifice for your sins, so don’t be afraid. I am here with you. And as I promised, I will never leave nor forsake you, I will be with you always, until the end of time.’ And the entire multitude of God’s people joyfully shouted: ‘Praise the Lord! Thank you Jesus!’ Yes Friends, that’s the decided intention of Jesus’ heart to all of us. He wants to help us safely tread this crazy, ungodly earth like giants in our spirit, without fear of Lucifer and his evil cohorts, just moving right along in the courage and guidance of His Holy Spirit that he sent to dwell in every believer’s heart, soul and mind for that express purpose. Hn, hn, hn! Bruh Paul must be smiling at that sentence, and saying, ‘Yeah, my kinda sentence!’ And if we continue with the example of the disciples in the storm and Jesus walking towards them, we’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. After Jesus stilled their fear, what happened? ‘And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.’ (Mat.14:28) Now that was Peter suppressing his fear and boosting his courage. ‘And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.’ (Mat.14:19) And all God’s people echoed a mighty: ‘Hallelujah!’ Yes mih breddren, because Peter believed the Lord’s command, that he could do what He said, thereby causing his courage to rise above his fear, he too was able to walk on the water. Unfortunately, the courage only superseded the fear for a short while. ‘But when he saw the wind boisterous (violent), he was afraid: and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.’ (Mat.14:30) And that my people is what happens to us many times along the topsy-turvy path of life. We get up the gumption, the courage to attempt the seemingly impossible, but in the midst of it all, that innate fear suddenly rises up again and strangles our courage. And what’s our automatic reaction? We cry out to the Lord for help! ‘And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?’ (Mat.14:31) And an even more grateful and raucous shout went up to heaven. ‘Oh praise His Holy name! Worthy is the Lamb that died for us!’ Why? Oh Friends, because it’s the same way that Jesus immediately stretches out His hand to us when we call on Him in times of trouble, when we’re about to go under and in desperation cry out to Him to save us. NEVER FORGET THAT! And Jesus amuses me with His little snide remark to His big, burly sidekick about his lack of faith and his doubt. That also applies to us today my people. It’s not humanly possible to rise above or control every troubling situation we face, but if we continually invoke the Lord’s help, we will do very well, come out victorious over most of our problems. And God willing, we’ll continue this topic tomorrow. Till then, Much LOVE!…when the storms of life blow strong…don’t worry…take courage…call out to Jesus for help…
SCRIP-BITS 