Morning Moments

The stage is set, the play is almost over, and then the curtains fall. That is where most evangelical Christians believe we are in time. Israel is God’s timepiece and the clock is ticking for the “Time of Jacob’s troubles (Jer 30:7). A small nation in the midst of ravenous wolves awaits the inevitable and its closest ally seems to be pulling away. The hearts of much fear.

Abraham Lincoln obviously used a large old family Bible frequently as he faced the trials of the troublous times of the Civil War, for that old Book naturally opens we are told opens to the 34th Psalm which reads, “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered my from all my fears.”

You and I may not be able to change the fact of soaring fear in other, but we can change failing faith in ourselves by building “ourselves up in the most holy faith (Jude 20) and being reminded of two things:

1. Fear cripples, but faith conquers – Faith come through hearing (listening with the heart) the Word of God (Rom 10:17.
2. Fear collapses when faith controls – Faith comes through learning from God (Rom 5:1-5, cuff 1 Jn 4:18).

When Robert Louis Stevenson was a little child, he accidentally locked himself in his room and could not get out. As darkness came he became terror stricken. When his father was unable to open the door he sent for a locksmith. As the locksmith worked on the lock Stevenson’s dad talked to Robert through the door. Hearing the fatherly words of comfort and assurance was just what the boy needed.

We must understand that fear cripples when what we experience is not what we expected and we doubt (Jn 14:1-3). Faith conquers when we submit to His Spirit regardless of what we see and hear around us, and trust God, as was the case with the three Hebrew boys in the fire (Dan 3:17-18).

On the other hand, fear denies God’s eternal deity and truth (Gen 18:14), and delights in our eternal destiny and triumph (2 Thes 2:2).

The story is told of John Knox that at one point he was very ill. He called for his wife to read the Scriptures. As she read, he prayed – for saints to be sanctified and for sinners to be saved. He then went Home. Is it any wonder that Mary, Queen of Scots feared his prayers more than armies?
What is happening in our world should draw us more and more to the closet of prayer, for if we pray, we faith not.

BLESSINGS!