When I start to worry, am I remembering to consciously fix my heart and mind on my future home in heaven?

1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4  You know the way to the place where I am going."

INSIGHT:  The world’s way of fixing problems is to focus on them and to worry about them obsessively.  That’s perfectly ok to do when you are still the god of your own life because that’s when everything is still dependent upon you.  But that must change for those of us who are truly in Christ.  We are to live by strong faith in God, and yet so very few do.

Within 2.5 years of sharing my story publicly, I had heard from hundreds of people, and many of them from other countries.  One time, I paused to take a 30,000-foot mental flyover of what I was hearing and learning from all these people.  I realized that there was one snare that was common in nearly every story I heard.  It was like the devil had shown me his favorite hand to play and it didn’t matter what sex, race, culture, nationality, or continent; he was playing the same card in everyone’s life.  What common element do you see in the following excerpts, all of which came from actual emails I have received? 

“I am afraid that my life is over…that I will never feel good again…I’m afraid the darkness will never end.  I’m afraid of losing my house.  I’m afraid of my children losing faith in God because He’s not coming through for me.  I’m afraid my wife won’t come back.  I’m afraid of losing everything if I really surrender.  I’m afraid I’m going to walk into that hospital and not come out.  I’m afraid my ex-husband is going to hurt me.  I’m afraid we won’t get justice in the court and my husband’s ex is going to keep the children from us.  I’m afraid my health is never going to get better.  I am afraid of making a mistake teaching God’s word and having Him be mad at me forever.  I’m afraid to leave my church because of what others will think, even though I know something is not right.  I’m afraid of kicking out my foolish and ungodly roommate because then I’ll be lonely.  I’m afraid if I don’t find a spouse soon, I never will.  I’m afraid if I totally trust God, He will ask me to do something scary.”  FEAR, FEAR, FEAR, which is all SIN, SIN, SIN!

God commands all throughout the Bible that we are not to fear. A Christian who Satan ensnares by fear is a paralyzed, sinful, rebel against God’s will, and therefore cannot please Him (Heb 11:6).  It’s an effective way to rob God of His glory, and you of life to the full.  Fear is the sinful opposite of faith, but faith is not the absence of fear (1 Cor 2:3, Phi 2:12).  Fear is harmless until it paralyzes you and stops God’s will in your life.  I cannot think of much, which God has called me to trust Him in, that didn’t come with fear, but I remained obedient to the voice of God, not fear.  When fear becomes your master and prevents you from obeying your Master Jesus Christ, you are in rebellion against Him which may lead to disaster.  There was a sister who knew God had asked her to bless my ministry.  She delayed obedience and Satan placed an obstacle in her path through a lie.  The truth was made known to her but because she delayed, Satan had filled her heart with paralyzing fear, and she rebelled against what she knew God had commanded her to do.  We may forget how severe God can be, but He warned us, and we are to fear Him (Rom 11:20-22) She never repented of her sin and God had me turn from her (Rom 5:6-7).  Mordecai told Esther that if she shrunk back in fear and kept silent that someone else would be raised up to replace her and her and her family would all perish. (Est 4:14) Peter said women are daughters of Sarah IF they do what is right and DO NOT give way to fear (1 Pet 3:6).

When we focus on our problems or on what we don’t have, the pain and fear intensify.  But just as Jesus was teaching the disciples, if we train ourselves to intentionally think about the eternal life behind all our troubles—a life of supreme happiness and love that will never end, our fears and worries will greatly subside.  As with everything in the Christian life this is all only possible by faith.