{"id":462,"date":"2019-06-04T21:38:43","date_gmt":"2019-06-05T01:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/?p=462"},"modified":"2019-06-04T21:38:43","modified_gmt":"2019-06-05T01:38:43","slug":"the-battle-belongs-to-the-lord-part-3-fear-faith-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/?p=462","title":{"rendered":"THE BATTLE BELONGS TO THE LORD, PART 3: FEAR, FAITH & FRIENDS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FEAR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fear is an evil game that is played in our minds<\/em>. Now of course the Bible admonishes us to \u201cfear the Lord\u201d, but that fear causes us to revere God\u2019s power and dominion over our lives, recognizing that he is the all-powerful creator, and we are the creation. And because he loves us, this healthy fear of the Lord draws us humbly closer to him. But time and time again in the Bible, we are told NOT to be afraid. This word has the meaning of flight, caused by dread or terror, usually from the intimidation of our perceived adversaries. When we get in difficult, uncontrollable circumstances, our mind often flees to fearful thoughts, thinking the \u201cworst case scenario\u201d. CJ used to call that type of thinking \u201cawful-izing\u201d the situation. The first week or so of our cancer diagnosis, we both fell prey to those thoughts. We thought of all the worst case scenarios and played them over and over in our minds, and this pretty much paralyzed our thought and actions for a while until we began to focus on God and not just our fears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      God does not want us to be afraid and\nfearful!<\/strong> II Timothy 2:7 says, \u201cFor\nGod did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and of\nself-control.\u201d <\/em>So where does fear, anxiety, and doubt come from? The Bible\nsays it comes from Satan, the dark, fallen angel who is the enemy of God and\nwho tries to draw us away from God and his love for us! Ephesians 6:12 reminds\nus, \u201cFor our struggle is not against\nflesh & blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the\npowers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the\nheavenly realms\u201d. <\/em>And the Bible warns us to be alert to the devil, who\nlooks to make life miserable for us:  I\nPeter 5:8-9 \u201cBe self-controlled and alert.\nYour enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to\ndevour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith\u201d. <\/em>There is the answer to fear and doubt! RESIST, & STAND FIRM IN\nTHE FAITH!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FAITH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Faith is the mental and spiritual exercise\nGod calls us to use every day to trust in him<\/em>. Just as fear is an evil game\nSatan plays in our minds, faith is the mental antidote that God has given us to\nconnect with him and his power over fear. Why\ndo we need faith?<\/strong> Think in a bigger cosmic scale from God\u2019s viewpoint for a\nmoment. In the beginning of creation, we were meant to walk with God in a place\non the earth called the Garden of Eden. We were sinless and knew no evil, life\nwas wonderful, God was in charge, and there was nothing to fear or be anxious about.\nBut you know the story\u2026 our ancestors Adam and Eve made a really stupid\ndecision and fell for Satan\u2019s lie that we really didn\u2019t need God, and rebelled\nagainst God. The punishment was banishment from that perfect life in the\nGarden, and from that point on we live in our sinful world of rebellion and\nsuffer death and all the results of sin, such as disease, discord, hatred,\nwars, fear, anger, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Because of\nour sin-induced separation from God, we no longer see him nor walk with him. We\nhave to believe and trust that God loves us and wants the best for us. He sent\nJesus to love us, die in our place, and offer us forgiveness through his\nsacrificial death and resurrection, but we still have to trust that it is all\ntrue! That is why faith is defined as \u201c\u2026the\nsubstance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen\u201d- Hebrews 11:1.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   We all face\nunknown and unseen circumstances that can harm us, because our sinful world is\none of disease, suffering, injustice, and eventual death. Our natural tendency\nis to be anxious and afraid, but God calls us to focus our minds on him and the\npromises he has given us. Romans 12:2 tells us \u201cDo not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the\nrenewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable\nand perfect will of God\u201d. <\/em> This is\nnot a one-time deal; we have to decide every morning to focus on God and his\npromises, rather than focus on our difficult circumstances and succumb to fear\nand anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Every day,\nyou and I have a choice as to how we think about our life. Think of a word play\non the  letters of the word FEAR: Forever\nExpecting Awful Results. Many people take that approach to life, and are filled\nwith fear, anxiety, and no hope. Or we can focus on the letters to the word\nFAITH: Full Assurance in the Heart! As we trust on God\u2019s promises and\nfaithfulness in the past, we can face our future with peace and hope, knowing\nthat God has our back! And the more you practice faith on a day to day basis,\nyou can redefine FEAR as Face Everything And Rise!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FRIENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Even though CJ\nand I have been Christians for decades and consider ourselves fairly mature in\nour faith, the daily choice to live by faith and trust instead of fear and\nanxiety is not always an easy or automatic response! We both have our moments,\nbut we find that reading scripture passages of hope and assurance of God\u2019s help\nevery day make a big difference. For example, one of my favorites has become Isaiah\n41:10- \u201cSo do not fear for I am with you.\nDo not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I\nwill uphold you with my righteous right hand\u201d!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Not only have\nwe been blessed with encouraging scripture, but we have found ourselves\noverwhelmed with wonderful support from friends from all different places in\nlife! We have received wonderful cards and notes from so many that have brought\nus to tears. And the many responses on our Facebook pages and the special\nupdate page have been amazing! I have been so surprised by the depth of the\nprayers and thoughts of folks on that page, often by people I hardly know, but\nare a \u201cfriend of a friend\u201d who has chosen to pray for us. I encourage you that\nno matter what crisis you face in your life today, read some of the great\nprayers & thoughts on the Facebook update page and apply them to yourself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Finally, the\nmost interesting source of encouragement has come from what might be called \u201cthe\nfellowship of cancer survivors\u201d. Soon after CJ\u2019s diagnosis, we heard from an\nold friend who told us she was also going through the same cancer, for a 2nd<\/sup>\ntime, and encouraged CJ that God would be with her and it was going to be OK! And\nso many others, from a sister-in-law to other cancer surviving friends have\njust changed our thoughts from fear to faith and hope. And then there was the\nwonderful woman at the chemo center who told us she has been fighting ovarian\ncancer on and off for over 18 years! She has lost her hair 5 times, and had a\nnew haircut presently!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, no matter what crisis you are facing now in your\nlife, or may face in the future, remember this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– God did not give you a spirit of fear or timidity, but\none of love, power, and self-control<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– make a conscious mental decision each morning to live\nby faith, not by fear<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– don\u2019t be a \u201cloner Christian\u201d; God designed his people\nto be a community, because we need each other for encouragement and just having\nfun doing life together!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– enjoy the day God has given you today, and don\u2019t worry\nabout tomorrow<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow may the God of all hope fill you with joy\nand peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy\nSpirit\u201d.  \u2013 Romans 15:13<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FEAR Fear is an evil game that is played in our minds. Now of course the Bible admonishes us to \u201cfear the Lord\u201d, but that fear causes us to revere God\u2019s power and dominion over our lives, recognizing that he is the all-powerful creator, and we are the creation. And because he loves us, this … Continue reading THE BATTLE BELONGS TO THE LORD, PART 3: FEAR, FAITH & FRIENDS<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions\/463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boomers4jesus.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}