WHAT IF’S: It’s sad, but so many live in fear. What makes it worse is, they don’t think they do. They deny it. You talk about being deceived by the devil. They believe his lies instead of the Truth. They roll play, “Well what if…” this happens, or that happens? Do you want to know the truth? Many times, those “What if’s” never happen! They only steal your time thinking about them, and worrying about them. Even worse, living bound up by those fears hurts others, especially those who know the Truth, who know Jesus, who have themselves been set free. The battle is fear vs faith. Terror vs trust. Fear and terror may never happen, but faith and trust always do!
You can annihilate the “What if’s” with “God if’s”
GOD, IF’S: When something in life comes up, and you don’t know what is going to happen, or how things are going to turn out, instead of worry and fear, instead of “Well, what if?”, you can simply pray, “God, if you will take care of this for me.” Or, “God, if you will walk with me through this.”
Living like this will calm your mind, calm your spirit man down to where you can walk, and live in peace. How else would one walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil? This is how you can sit, and relax enough to eat, at a table, in the presence of your enemies. (Psalms 23)
The battle is in the mind. You must learn to rethink how you look at things and situations.
Look at things from God’s point of view!
Asking God will break the chains of fear, and will set you free. You will feel better because now, you will breathe like you have never drawn a breath before. You will skip down the sidewalk, because of the joy you now feel. Because of the Light in your life instead of darkness. Okay, perhaps you won’t actually skip, but you will want to.
“God, I thank you personally, that we have an alternative we can choose from. In you, and in your strength, we can flip the environment. Just knowing we don’t have to live in bondage is liberating in itself. I love you God, and I know you love me, and everyone, especially those who have read this battle plan to defeat the devil. You’re so awesome. Thanks!”
Copyright © 2019 Mark Brady. All rights reserved.
One of the hardest things about being a child of God, is not knowing.
Keep Recognizing Jesus
How can we sum this up? All those people who didn’t seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their “God projects” that they didn’t notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling. Isaiah (again!) gives us the metaphor for pulling this together:
Yes, that quote is from the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Why am I referencing it? Well, for the last two weeks I have been working many hours a day to prepare for a major move in my life, and I have witnessed God’s mighty hand all along the way.
“But it’s what I know! Yes, you’re right. I don’t like living like this, but…I just don’t know how to change it,” said the man, asking for a handout.
I have been reading from the Bible book of Exodus. Today, I read a portion of chapter 12. The true story of Pharaoh and the children of Israel has always intrigued me. In meditating, upon this portion of God’s word, I realized one thing, being with God, being in his presence, is all about obedience.
Our founding fathers didn’t declare this, but congress did in 1956. They could have declared a lot of things when they were deciding what to inscribe on our currency. Something that would be used around the world. I’m sure after a lot of thought, it became obvious, the only thing to say was who they trusted in. Those men knew God and His word. After all, men came to this land for the “pursuit of religious freedom.” It just makes cents!
brady, mark a. 