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!
DEUTERONOMY 11:1-12:32
LUKE 8:22-39
PSALM 70:1-5
PROVERBS 12:4
Comentários