Got Fear? What (or Whom) is it Putting to Flight?

Fear is a funny thing. It can act like a prison guard that keeps us bound in chains, but it can also do quite the opposite! There’s a freedom that falls when we finally realize that our former life of sin & shame is completely erased. A holy fear surfaces, chains fall & our deliverance becomes a springboard to tell what God has done!

Today I read about a possessed & naked man who has so many demons within, that they call themselves “Legion”😱 The locals bind the man in shackles & chains, but he simply breaks them with the demons’ power.

When Jesus arrives, however, He has no need of chains. He commands the demons to leave & immediately they fall before Him in fear. They beg Him not to send them back to hell, so He gives them permission to enter a herd of pigs that plunges down the hillside & drowns.

What happens next is a bit confusing. The townsfolk gather & upon seeing the man freed from demons, sitting fully clothed & sane before Jesus, they are suddenly ALL afraid! So much so that they beg Jesus to leave!

But the man who’d just been delivered, begged Jesus to go WITH Him! They all saw the same thing, but the man personally experienced deliverance!

Fear is directional. It literally means to put to flight. The fear-filled demons were put to flight into the pigs, the people begged Jesus in fear to flee, but the man, in fear & reverence, begged to stay by His side.

Fear is not a bad thing, we just need be careful what or whom we fear, as there is only One fear that can put all others to flight & that’s fear of the Lord.

When we know 1st hand the mess we left, a holy fear falls & we can’t wait to tell the masses!

Rather than letting the man accompany Him on His journey, Jesus tells him to go back to his family & tell them everything God’s done, & that’s exactly what he did!

Y’all we all have a story to tell & if Jesus saved you from a mess like mine, there’s absolutely nothing (covid, cancer, rumors of war) that can tempt us to fear IT more than our Father.

We can either let fear control us or we can

fear The One Who controls everything. When we choose fear of the Father, we make a directional choice that puts all other fears to flight!

#OneYearBible

March 29th One Year Bible Readings

DEUTERONOMY 11:1-12:32

LUKE 8:22-39

PSALM 70:1-5

PROVERBS 12:4

Are You Allowing Seed to Fall on Your Soil?

Feelings are not facts & I’m grateful for that.

This morning, I awakened early, but remained in bed for an hour & a half after the alarm because I was so tired. The 90 minutes were filled with a cycle of falling into brief dreams & then awakening with a guilty start. When I finally made my way down the hallway to turn on the coffee, I’ll be honest, it was a rare moment when I just didn’t feel like reading God’s Word.

The Lord has me on a one year journey, daily reading His Word & sharing any revelation that surfaces, The practice of reading & sharing with my family is common, but for some reason, today I felt weary & super unmotivated.

As I opened my One Year Bible, I was reminded that God’s Word always has a ready Word for whatever season we’re in…& it’s the only Source of steadfast Truth that supplants feelings & anything else that tries to become a rudder in our day.

As I began reading Luke 8, I chuckled at my good God because He knew what I needed to hear. Jesus is teaching & warns, “pay attention to HOW you hear.”😬

He’s just finished telling the parable about a farmer sowing seeds on different types of soil. The seed is God’s Word, & the soil represents our heart’s ability to receive.

There is much clamoring for our time & attention every day & yet it’s imperative that we pay attention to HOW we hear.

Why?

Because, Jesus reminds us,

“To those who listen to my teaching, even more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they have will be taken away.”

As the passage closes, Jesus is told that his family is looking for Him, but He responds by saying, “My mother & brothers are those who hear Gods Word & obey it!”

Y’all, we can’t obey if we don’t hear AND we can’t create a 100-fold crop if we don’t allow Seed to fall on the soil of our hearts! Pride goes before a fall & if we think we can do life without The Word, “even what we think we have will be taken away.”

Father, help us be careful how we hear. There is nothing more sweet & satisfying than the manna of Your Word. You’ve given us ears to hear, so guard them from feelings & help us to create space to allow Your Seed to fall on the soil of our hearts!

#OneYearBible

March 28th One Year Bible Readings

DEUTERONOMY 9:1-10:22

LUKE 8:4-21

PSALM 69:19-36

PROVERBS 12:2-3

You Don’t Know Better, Until You’ve Been Around Better

Yesterday we were on a walk talking to our youngest son. When I asked him the why behind something, his response literally stopped me in my tracks. It had to do with a hard, yet wise decision a friend had made & when we asked what led to it, he simply said,

“Well you don’t know better until you’re around better.”

I didn’t know why it impacted me with such weight until I read the story of the woman with the alabaster jar. Jesus is eating at the home of a Pharisee when suddenly, “a certain immoral woman” arrives with an expensive jar of perfume.

She kneels before Him & begins to weep. We don’t know her thoughts, but because of my past, I could quickly fill in the void with mine.

Here is a woman known for seeking a fake form of love, giving everything meant for her groom to anyone who’d “love” her. Her sins piled so high, she probably couldn’t see a way around them…until she met Jesus.

The Pharisee judges Jesus in his heart for letting a woman like that touch Him. But Jesus does what only God can do-He answers the man’s thoughts!

The man didn’t offer water to wash the dust off His feet, but the woman offered her tears.

The man didn’t greet Jesus with a kiss, but the immoral woman kissed his feet!

The man didn’t anoint Jesus with oil, but she did by sacrificing her expensive perfume.

Jesus turns to the Pharisee & sums up the entire exchange with this:

“I tell you, her sins - & they are many - have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love.”

This woman didn’t know better until she met, “Better”. The love she received, the forgiveness that washed her clean, brought her to a place of all-out repentance, now using what she once used for sin, as a way to worship her Lord!

Y’all I can look back on my life & see how I misused or ab-used the gifts God’s given me…gifts meant for His glory alone. Because I knew Jesus, I KNEW better, but like the Pharisee, I refused Him.

Sometimes the feeling of hopelessness can make it hard to see a way out of sin until we come face to face with “Better” - our literal Living Hope!

And when we do? May we, like the once immoral woman with the alabaster jar, use everything at our disposal, to love The One Who loved us first!

#OneYearBible

March 27th One Year Bible Readings

DEUTERONOMY 7:1-8:20

LUKE 7:36-8:3

PSALM 69:1-18

PROVERBS 12:1