Thursday, August 27, 2015

In Christ, Whom Shall I Fear

"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear" the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid"

Psalm 27:1

We live in a dark and aimless world; one that will lead you astray if you don’t know the passage that we focus on in today’s devotion… There are many things that we are susceptible to in this life; many avenues that we can take that will lead us down a path of destruction… The word of God declares that For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. The paths we see leading toward darkness are more visible and enticing than the paths that lead to Christ; however, despite what you see around you and how things may appear to be, you must focus your eye on the narrow path which leads to life… Everything around you says that you can’t amount to anything and the statistics say that you will fall into one of many unsuccessful categories; however, you can use the things to motivate you instead of deter you and let the world know that “The Lord is my light and my salvation…” I don’t know about you, but I refuse to be a statistic, I refuse to allow this world to limit me an dictate my future based on my ethnicity or past… God wants to open your eyes to a bright future, He wants to transform your mind to begin to look beyond what you know and see, but the key to all this is for you to recognize that you can be better than you are and go further than you currently have gone…  As a child of God our focus should be on living a life that is pleasing to the Lord and not appeasing our fellowman… Even though we are sure to face highs and lows in the rollercoaster of life our focus cannot be deterred or become unclear… 

The psalmist today poses two questions that we will study and reflect on today, the first is “whom shall I fear” and the second is “whom shall I be afraid…” The use of the word fear in this verse means terror, dread or horror; we all have many things in our lives that at one point in time we feared… Notice that I did not focus this fear specifically on a person, because there are different circumstances, obstacles or trials that we fear… Fear can be a vice grip that strangles our relationship with the Lord and causes us to fall short of His promises… What is it in your life that you fear? Are you scared of losing that special someone so you do things that you shouldn’t, are you fearing the lose of a job so you compromise your morals or integrity, are you fearful of financial insecurity so you do all that you can to make a dollar…? These are the questions that plague our lives daily; however, we see as a child of God that “The Lord is my light and my salvation…” Think about your childhood and if you were ever bullied or made fun of; you feared being in the company of certain people and because of this fear the person or people mentally controlled how you walked in school, what areas you avoided and how confident you were within. Fear is a terrible trap that will take control of your life and cause you to be susceptible to allowing other people, circumstance or conditions to control you and your relationship with the Lord…The next question posed in our focus verse says “whom shall I be afraid”, when one is afraid they are frightened, scared or troubled… Being afraid is a little deeper than fear because we are called to fear God which means to revere honor and respect Him… When we are afraid of something not only does it control us, but it can kill us… 

When we are afraid of something it usually is a quick developing situation that will lead us to a quick response… It is critical as a child of God that we understand this, that is precisely why the psalmist says, “the Lord is the strength of my life…” before the second question is posed. We must remember that God strengthens us day by day, He provides us with authority and ability to do great things… No matter what the case may be, whether we are fearful or afraid, we must know that “The Lord is my light and my salvation…” and “the Lord is the strength of my life…” If you are walking under the umbrella of other people’s thoughts than you are not walking under the umbrella of God’s love and His precious promises… If you fear anything except God than you are allowing outside circumstances to control you and that could be the reason for some of your aches and pains within your journey… Jesus said that we will do greater things on this earth than He did; this is a powerful statement for us to live by today knowing that God was His light and strength… In reading this declaration that Jesus made I know that through His trials He was elevated to the highest honor so I will not fear nor be afraid because I know what my heavenly father has done and what He has prepared for me… If we will do greater things; that tells me that the light and strength of God will be even brighter in me… Don’t fear, because there is a light which is Christ shining at the end of your dark and dreary tunnel…

ALL FOR HIS GLORY!

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