Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship!
Welcome again to our discussion on the subject of overcoming HARD TIMES. As you know the World's difficulties aren't just financial; they're in every area of life. Non-believers have little choice but to try to deal with these things on their own. Believing Christians on the other hand have options: we can live like the folks in the World do or we can live in the Kingdom of God where there's faith and hope and solutions and victory, along with the Holy Spirit to help and teach us.
The Bible says that just before Jesus is to return to earth there will be wars and rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, tribulations, murder, hatred, the emergence of false prophets and lawlessness (Matthew 24:6-12). Another account says there will be dismay among the nations, "in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves" with people "fainting from FEAR" at the expectation of the things that are coming upon the World (Luke 21:25-26).
Many people believe we're seeing these environmental signs today in the form of the worldwide economic disaster, catastrophic weather, terrorism, widespread sickness and disease, wars, famines, major fires, global warming, etc. The result is the prevalence of FEAR and dread all around the world just as the Bible prophesied. But there's good news for Christians: we do NOT have to live in fear even during HARD TIMES:
"For God has NOT given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7)
People who are fearful have difficulty trusting God; therefore, fear works as the opposite of faith. Instead of fear, God has given Believers three basic attributes that we need in order to live by faith: power (authority), love and a sound mind. But many Christians are as fearful as their non-believing friends and relatives. Why are we not RESISTING and REJECTING something that comes to separate us from the victory that Christ won for us at Calvary?
Consequences of Living in Fear
The Bible instructs us in a number of places not to live in fear. For example Philippians 4:6 says, "Be anxious for nothing..." Matthew 6:31 tells us "...do not be worried about your life ..." Many times in scripture angels and others said the words of reassurance, "fear not" (e.g. Luke 1:12, 30). On several occasions, Jesus told His Disciples their fear demonstrated lack of faith (Matthew 14:30, Mark 4:40). In sum, God wants us to RESIST being fearful because it produces undesirable consequences in OUR lives.
The Bible wouldn't instruct us to do something we're not capable of doing but many precious Christian Believers routinely live their lives in fear and dread. They've forgotten to resist it and in doing so they've made a decision by default to live passively with their fear instead of DISCERNING that it's coming from the enemy over whom they have total authority and power. Friend, fear is a spirit tool of Satan that's causing us to experience defeat in many areas of life:
- Fear robs us of our faith and without faith it's impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Fear robs us of our peace because peace comes by faith (Romans 5:1). The World today is longing for the peace that passes all understanding but it's only available through Christ (Acts 10:36, Romans 5:1). In fact, Jesus specifically told us not to be fearful so we'd be able to receive the peace that He came to give us (John 14:27).
- Fear robs us of our joy. Fear always brings concern and anxiety that displace and replace our joy. The Bible says that our joy is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). It's a major weapon to protect us from the adversary and to bring victory over our trials. When we lose our joy, we lose our strength to successfully resist the enemy.
- Fear makes us self-absorbed. When we stop trusting in God, which is what happens when we surrender our faith, we start trusting in ourselves. Fear is intensified because we sense we'll never be capable of bringing the solutions we'd hoped for. Also, when we trust in ourselves instead of the Lord, we make ourselves vulnerable to the attacks of our adversary.
- Fear makes us grouchy and subject to strife. Fear always focuses on defeat which brings disappointment and despondency and makes us hard to get along with. As long as we trust in ourselves instead of the Lord, we'll fall easily into strife because our emotions are controlling us. When we move easily into strife, our relationships suffer; fear always strains relationships.
- Fear causes us to make unwise and expedient decisions and choices. When we're fearful, we move out ahead of God and tackle things in our own strength. There's no faith; God's not involved. An example is when we try a "get rich quick scheme" in response to the fear that God won't provide adequately. Where there's no faith, there's no wisdom because God's not in it.
- Fear robs us of our God-given love. The Bible says in 1 John 4:18 there's no fear in love. The two can't co-exist. Therefore if fear prevails, our ability to love God and the things of God is greatly diminished. If we're unable to love, we can't fulfill the commandments of Christ. (Matthew 22:37-40). If we can't fulfill the commandments of Christ, we'll be unable to accomplish anything (John 15:1-11) and we'll live chronically in defeat.
Friend, can you see now why so many Christians aren't living in victory during these HARD TIMES? And tragically most Christians don't realize that we've been equipped to resist and defeat fear by trusting in God and by using His Word instead of depending on our own strength and devises. Therefore, it's absolutely essential that every Christians take authority over ALL fear, kick it out of their lives and resist its re-emergence with the greatest of determination.
Taking Authority over ALL Fear
The authority of the Christian over every work of the enemy is clearly established for us in Scripture (Luke 10:19). So let's be perfectly clear: BELIEVERS HAVE TOTAL POWER AND AUTHORITY OVER FEAR. Therefore, to live in victory during HARD TIMES we have to first KNOW that the Word of God says we have ALL the power and authority we need, and then we can start using the weapons and principles of life that God has given us for overcoming our fears. Following is how you might go about it:
1. You must first make the decision to come into agreement with the Word which calls for you to RESIST fear. You must decide to exercise the authority Christ has won for you over your enemy instead of being passive.
2. Second, you must re-energize your faith so you can trust in the power of the Word. If the Word says something then it is absolute Truth you can set your Faith on. Faith comes by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17); so fear comes by NOT hearing the Word enough. Therefore, you need to get into the Word of God and start studying it in order to strengthen your Faith and cause fear to flee.
3. Third, you must come to know who you are in Christ and start exercising your authority over the enemy the devil. TELL him out loud to get out of your life and take his fear with him. If you resist him, he must flee (James 4:7). SPEAK in agreement with the Word and produce life (see Part Four of this series) to replace the fear.
4. Fourth, you must focus on loving God and others by faith. "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear..." (1 John 4:18). Strengthen your faith by speaking out loud about your love for God.
5. Fifth, the Bible says you can overcome anxiety by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Spend time with God in prayer thanking Him for what He's done in your life and His peace will return (Philippians 4:6-7).
6. Six, there are many scriptures that connect JOY to the act of PRAISING the Lord. Indeed, God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3); so by praising Him the sense of His presence is released and in His presence is the FULLNESS of joy (Psalm 16:11). The truth is if you're a born again Believer, JOY already resides within you (Galatians 5:22) and is just waiting for you to release it as a mighty weapon against fear.
7. Seventh, another weapon against fear is speaking in tongues. By speaking in tongues you speak directly to the Lord (1 Corinthians 14:2), you edify yourself (14:4), you pray out of your spirit instead of the Flesh (14:14), you build your faith (Jude 1:20) and all of these work to destroy fear.
8. Finally, the Word tells us that we should seek first the Kingdom of God instead of worrying about things (Matthew 6:31-33). Therefore, fear will depart when our priorities come into closer agreement with His Word.
Friend, you may have difficult issues in your life but you DON'T have to be in fear about them. You don't have to be worrying about them. You can release your faith that God will come to the rescue and then you hope and wait and believe for His best. If you give in to fear, then you stop trusting that the Lord will show up to deliver you from the situation that is trying to causing you to fear. Focus on today and stop worrying about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34) because focusing too much on the future leads to fear. Most of the time there's not much we can do about the future anyway.
Some Final Thoughts
The Bible says that the thief (Satan) comes to steal and kill and destroy (John10:10). He doesn't have the authority or the power to accomplish those things because Jesus already defeated him. But most Christians routinely allow Satan to steal their faith by not resisting the FEAR he sends to do his work. Friend, what stops you from having victory during HARD TIMES? The truth is it's very likely your own passiveness about the Word and the things of God He wants you to have. If you're a Believer then you're already the beneficiary of the VICTORY. But you have to possess it and the ONLY way you can do that is to get the devil and his FEAR out of your life. Speak to the FEAR and tell it to depart from you and you'll immediately begin to move toward your victory. And every single time FEAR tries to come sneaking back into your life, cast it out and you'll ALWAYS walk in victory.
Thanks for stopping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again NEXT Sunday night on August 24. In the meantime may the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing, compelling you to PROSPER in every area of life!
Sinners' Prayer
If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to and you can do it today just by saying out loud the following simple prayer:
Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.
If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.
And, when you get a chance have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer today and believing what you said:
Romans 10:9
2 Corinthians 5:17
Ephesians 2:8
Prayer Requests
If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM eastern time. Agree with us for God to answer your petition.
http://www.creditcounseling.net/prayer-request.aspx
Donations
If you've been edified by Prosperous Life Newsletter, you may want to consider making a SEED FAITH offering to support the Ministry (Galatians 6:6-7). God has instructed us to simply provide folks with an opportunity to sow seed into good ground so in due season you'll be eligible to reap a harvest and the rest is up to you as the Spirit leads. For your information PLN is a nonprofit gift to the Body of Christ so your financial offerings will usually be tax deductible (consult your tax advisor). Just go to the secure Shopping Cart on the Cornerstone web site by connecting through the following link. We appreciate your support and generosity.
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About Prosperous Life Newsletter
PLN is an outreach ministry of Make A Way Ministries domiciled in Miami, Florida. It is in its 17th year of distribution and has been published continuously since January 1998. It's an e-publication about life in the Kingdom of God and is sent ONLY to our email list of MINISTRY MEMBERS. If you're reading this and aren't yet on our growing email list, please let us know and we'll be so very happy to add you to the list.
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