THE FEAR

Today we’ll jump straight into one of the most common things we experience, fear. There is no one on this Earth that can tell me they have never feared anything. It could be a fear about what your life will be or what it won’t, you feared your parents, you had an illness and you feared that might be it, you failed your test and you feared there will be no tomorrow. You got fired and you feared you’d have nothing to eat or provide your family. You reached the age you wanted to get married and have children and there’s no sign that’s happening anytime so you feared. Or even as simple as you saw a spider and feared, or some animal you disliked and you feared. Fear is always there for some reason and the Bible is aware that we will have that fear at a point that’s why according to research “fear not” was mentioned 365 times in the Bible…basically one “fear not“ a day.

See the Bible did not say you will go to hell if you feared. The Bible just encouraged us to “fear not”. I cannot even tell you the amount of times I have been afraid of something, but when you start to read the Word and you start mediating and affirming these scriptures, it becomes a part of you and when you fear, you use that to calm you down. One of my favourite “fear not” verses is from Isaiah 41:10 (a very common verse) which reads “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Like wow…God will strengthen you, help you and uphold you with His righteous right hand…that sounds so comforting.

But today, we’ll look at Isaiah 43:1-2. Verse one says “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” Fear not, for I have redeemed you. We were all redeemed when Christ died and shed His blood on the cross for us, which wiped away all our sins and cleansed us from all our unrighteousness. God is telling us, do not be afraid for I have saved you. I have saved you from that abuse. I have saved you from that poverty. I have saved you from that sin. I have saved you from that sickness. I have saved you from it all. And it goes on to say "I have called you by name and you are mine". Sometimes I feel like we think God saved us all so this is a general thing but we need to understand that God saved us together but individually. He called us by name. He called Philip, He called Samuel, He called Chantelle, He called Adrian, He called Ryan, He called every single person, individually. God knows your situation and He has called you out of it say amen. God knows your personally. You are His and God doesn’t treat what belongs to Him anyhow. God makes sure you are loved, you are cared for, you are happy, you are comfortable. He makes sure that when hard times comes He’s your shoulder to cry on, He’s there to help you through it. You are His and you should feel privileged to be His.

Verse two goes on to say (Isaiah 43:2) “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” Note how it says water then it goes to say river. Fire then it goes to say flames. God is trying to tell you that no matter how big or small it is He is there. He will be there. He is present. No matter how big or small it is you shouldn’t fear because He can get you through it all. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were in the fire the Lord was with them. The Bible says King Nebuchadnezzar stood up when he saw four instead of three boys in the fire and he declared to his counsellors “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” Daniel‬ ‭3:24-25‬ ‭ESV‬‬. Our God is there with us. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the courtroom, it doesn’t matter if it’s in a classroom, it doesn’t matter if it’s in Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, the Lord is there whenever you need it. The Lord will get you out. Listen, people will see you and ask “I thought this person had no helpers so who is that helping them”. Do not let fear consume your life when you have an Almighty God. The Prince of Peace. The I Am that I Am. You need to speak to your fears. You need to tell your fear “I am not afraid cause I have been redeemed and I belong to God, the creator that makes the impossible possible”. Fear not. Fear not. God is good. God got you. Fear not. May God bless you.

Prayer: Our Heavenly Father we thank you for this day. Lord we have come to understand that we will fear, however, we will not let fear determine our outcome. We will overcome fear with the power you have bestowed upon us. May we always declare your word over our fears. This we ask in Jesus name, amen.