Friends, how many times during your day to day life do you face situations and circumstances that challenge you to the limits… whether it’s the unexpected or the planned - you can so easily come face to face with ‘fear’ and be in a place where you need to remind yourself of God’s love and grace and remind yourself to not be afraid.
When the disciples were out in the boat, not only was there a storm… there were big waves and strong winds - and then, all of a sudden they saw someone out on the water – it was Jesus walking on the water. Their first instinct was to be afraid (they thought that Jesus was a ghost…) On top of that their hearts were probably already racing from the winds and the storm they were in… but Jesus spoke peace to them, He encouraged them to take good cheer and not to be afraid.
This past week, I had family in town from another country and went on a hike that I had not hiked in many years. It had been raining, so the hike was extremely slippery… but in the midst of it, after about 30 minutes of climbing, my heart-rate was up and I was out of breath and not sure how I would make it all the way to the end of the trail and back. I immediately had to turn my eyes onto Jesus and remind myself of His strengthening Grace. As soon as I started calling on Him for strength and help, I got my eyes of my circumstances (my wind and my waves) and started declaring that each step I was taking was by His strengthening and empowering grace. Of course, I made a deal with the Lord right there and then that I would never hike that hike again… I felt I was way out of my league.
When the hike was completed and we were back at our car a couple hours later, I was so thankful to the Lord and had a good laugh at myself, but in the moment of it all, I had the Lord ministering His peace to me and I did not fear. Had I given in to fear and panic, I would not have been able to complete that hike, but thank the Lord, when we have Jesus in our lives, we are fearless, we can conquer our goals, we can live life to the fullest and we can enjoy the journey of our lives in and through Him, His peace, His love and His strengthening grace.
Make this confession of faith - say this out loud with me…
“John 17:17 says that I am sanctified and set apart by Your truth - Your Word is truth - Your Word absolute truth – the Word is for me to walk in, to accept as final truth and for me to stand on, to declare by faith and for me to do – I am who the Word says that I am - I can do what the Word says I can do - I can be who the Word says I can be - Christ in me can do all things – I can do all things through Christ - I have absolute POWER over ALL the Work of the enemy – nothing shall by any means harm me – I have power to raise the dead – I have power to heal the sick – I have power to do the works of Jesus – I have total authority over all of the works of His hands in Jesus Name! – the power and the authority of the creator of all things is on the inside of me – when I speak by faith, I ALWAYS have what I say – As I speak the Word, the Father ALWAYS watches over it to perform it – The Father loves it when I expect Him to ALWAYS perform His EVERY Word! – I always expect the Father to bring to pass every word that I speak according to His Word – God is not a man that He should lie – His Word is literal, His Word is truth and His Word is final!”
