Last week, we confirmed again NOTHING is too big for God.  He is the odds only favorite for every situation-every circumstance.  In times of crisis, most of us will make a bold statement like “God is able” or “God can do anything,” but do we really believe it?  The answer for me is a bold, “Yes!” 

The issue for me is not whether God is able, but “WILL HE…?”  Will He save me from this suffering?  Will He be there at the exact moment I need Him?  The answer again is “yes” but the truth is He will be there on His timing and on His terms.  Being the Almighty comes with privileges. 

So often, we dream of doing great things for God.  Our nights are filled with visions of doing something so much bigger than we are-going on a missions trip across the world, starting a new business venture, stepping into a position that requires us to use new skills.  Then we wake up and in the brightness of the morning light, we immediately begin to see the “holes” in our dream-the areas where we are under-qualified, under-prepared or perhaps, not even considered.  In front of our own bathroom mirror, we harshly judge our own qualifications and often leave the dream to dry and disappear like the condensation on the mirror.

Why do we do that?  Because we are afraid; afraid of rejection, afraid of failure, afraid of looking foolish.  Fear leaves us on the sidelines of our dreams watching others accomplish those amazing feats we KNOW the Lord called us to do. 

The greatest breakthroughs in our lives occur when we push past the fear, and JUST DO IT!

UNLEARNING THE FEAR:

Half of learning is learning.  The other half is unlearning.  Unlearning is twice as hard as learning as it involves rethinking, reworking issues and solutions we thought were already settled. 

Imagine the task in front of Jesus as he faced the Jewish aristocracy and claimed to be their long awaited king.  Where were his riches, his wealth, his army, his training?  What kind of king would the son of a carpenter make?  I have listened to many teachers talk of the Pharisees as arrogant fools for their treatment of the Messiah.  In my heart of hearts, I have often wondered if I would have judged Jesus any more fairly than they did.  Would I have recognized the deity of Jesus or would I have been outraged at the ridiculousness of his claim? 

The Pharisees never anticipated God giving his chosen people such an “inferior” leader.  The thought was not only insulting, it was terrifying.   Years and years of dedicated study of God’s holy word and the zealous interpretation of the Mosaic law might be wrong?  Ridiculous!  Preposterous! 

Our author reminds us of the crippled man laying next to the pool of Bethesda in John 5.  When Jesus asked him if he wanted to be healed, the man responded by telling Jesus he couldn’t get to the pool when the waters stirred.  The man had only considered one type of healing miracle, and he was imprisoned by what he knew.  If he couldn’t get to the water, he couldn’t be healed.  When Jesus invited him to stand up and walk, the man suddenly realized the pool was not his only path to healing.  The answer was right in front of him but the man couldn’t see beyond his own fears to grab it.  His thinking had been so fixed by studying the water day after day, he nearly missed the Living Water standing right in front of him. 

So how do we unlearn?

When we study scripture, and we begin to hide God’s word in our hearts — we too can begin to transform the tunnels we create by our own limited thinking. 

“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”  Col 3:16

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  Romans 12:2

Now how GREAT is that!  The Lord doesn’t ask us to figure out these amazing truths from the confines of our tiny little experience.  He invites us to dig deep into his Word and allow the Holy Spirit to unveil the hidden treasures of the limitless resources available to us.

FACING FEAR:

Not only do we need to begin to “unlearn” the barriers binding us in fear, but we also need to face our fears and conquer them.

According to our author, we are born with two innate fears, the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises.  This means any of the other fears we experience are learned behaviors and can be unlearned.

Our youngest grandson has learned to walk over the past year.  Now learning to walk is a brutal experience.  During those first few months, there are countless falls for every successful step.  Many times when Max would fall, his little face would crumple and tears were not far away.  He would immediately look to his momma to see if he should cry.  Instead of scooping him up and confirming his fear that he might be hurt, she would tell him to “stand up and brush off.”  As soon as he did, she would shout, “YEAH” and clap her hands in delight at his accomplishment.  Max would smile and clap his hands too and he was ready to try another step.

(Admittedly Max is very close to the ground and has a padded backside, but it always takes courage to get back up and try again.)

Recently the Lord called me to do some ministry things that are completely outside of my current skill set and scope of experience.   Despite my long experience in business, I have always had a creative trusty sidekick to help me with social media and other online tools.  Now that I was being tasked with trying to navigate this jungle of social media on my own, I was very afraid of looking outdated and being unable to handle the task.  I spent many hours in front of the computer, searching databases and watching videos.  It was a total internal battle as the fear of looking foolish just kept rising up.  I live in a family of technical geniuses, so it would have been very easy to just call for help and let someone else do it, but they were not called to do this – I was.  My first efforts did not go well.  I missed some deadlines, used poor marketing phrases, and overstepped my audience.  Each time I was “corrected” I wanted to just quit.  But the Lord has been there clapping his hands delighted with each small accomplishment, so I press on.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18

The goal of love is fearlessness!  When my grandson takes a step, even if he falls, he is that much closer to learning a skill that will serve him his entire life.  When I struggle to learn a new skill, even when I don’t get it completely right and might look foolish, I have refused to be neutralized by the fear of what others might think.  My faith grows as I become more concerned about obedience to a call than what the world thinks about the results.

FAITH ALLERGIES

In order to defeat the lion, Benaiah had to face the lion.

In order to defeat Goliath, David had to face the giant.

In order to save the world, Jesus had to face the cross.

We don’t overcome our fears by running from them, but by facing them head on.    For example, the cure for the fear of failure is not success.  It’s failure. 

If Max’s momma never let him fall, he would have never developed the balance to learn to walk. 

My husband owns a small technology business, but he is blessed with some very big ideas.  A few years ago, the Lord led me to give up my general contracting company so David’s business would support us.   It was a scary and difficult transition, and I mistakenly assumed the Lord would be so impressed by my obedience that David’s business would be financially blessed beyond reason. Not so much.

Instead of flourishing, David’s business began to struggle.  As cash flow got tighter and tighter, we both began to question whether we had made a serious mistake.  As we fasted and prayed, our resources kept getting smaller and smaller until eventually there was nothing standing between us and financial ruin.

DEFENSELESSNESS

Satan has two primary tactics when it comes to neutralizing you spiritually:

Discouragement and Fear

Our author says, “Satan wants to scare the heaven out of you.”  He couldn’t be more right.  There is nothing that will stop us in our tracks faster than fear or discouragement. 

As money got tighter and tighter, David and I began to question whether we had heard from the Lord in the first place.  Perhaps the dreams we had prayed about and sought after were just pride.  Surely the Lord did not intend for us to fail.  For months, we kept praying for a lifeline – something to put things back on track.  But nothing came except the impression to keep pressing forward.

People would ask how the business was doing, and we would hang our heads.  “No she doesn’t work for us anymore, we had to let our staff go.”  “Yes, we have considered closing the business, but there is not a clean way to do that.”  “No, we do not have a safety net.”

Did you ever consider that Jesus could have saved himself?  He was never powerless, always fearless.  At any point, he could have saved himself the pain and humiliation of his death on the cross.  He CHOSE to go through such unthinkable suffering.  Why?

“Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?  But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”  Matthew 26:53-54

Courage is putting yourself into a defenseless position.  Jesus did exactly that.  He made the decision to put it all on the line to accomplish the goal before him.  Without his sacrifice, none of us would have salvation. 

TAKING A STAND

Courage is doing what is right regardless of circumstances or consequences.  There comes a time when you have to face your fears and take a stand for what is right.

In the book of Daniel, four young Jewish exiles were subscripted  for service in King Nebuchadnezzar’s court.  From the beginning of their forced service, they chose to be obedient to the Law and refused to defile themselves despite living under the insanity of King Nebuchadnezzar.  Their very situation was a roaring lion.  It was only a matter of time before that big cat turned on them.

In Daniel 3, King Nebuchadnezzar erected a 90 foot tall golden image in the desert and then commanded everyone to bow down and worship it.  Everyone bowed except the Jewish exiles, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and the king was furious.  In response to his demand they either bow down or perish in the fiery furnace,  “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.’”  Daniel 3:16-18

By putting themselves in a defenseless position, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego left the stage open for God to show up.  When the king looked into that fiery furnace, there were not three men but four.  When they came out, not a hair on their head was singed and they didn’t smell like smoke.

What an amazing miracle!  I know that even now the Lord is walking out this business journey with David and me.  I write this blog from a hotel room in Buffalo, NY.  It is a paid consulting opportunity we received AFTER the business seemed to be incinerating around us.  While we cannot determine what the outcome will be, I rest in the assurance that God is walking through the fire with us and we have nothing to fear.

THE FUN OF FEAR

Have you heard the term “active retirement?”  In days gone by people used to talk about retirement as those years where there was no responsibility-just peace and quiet.  It is a scientific fact that people who “retire” and then don’t stay actively connected with the world die sooner than their busier counterparts. 

God didn’t design us to sit on the sidelines and watch the world go by — even if that is an option for us.  We are never more alive than when we face something that scares us and then overcome it.  There is a reason why high flying roller coasters are a multi-million dollar industry.  We have an inherent need to try things that scare us. 

The same is true in our spiritual walk. Maybe it is time to quit running from the stresses and challenges of life and to turn around and start chasing them.

What are the challenges that fill your dreams?  Take a step this week towards learning a new skill or trying something outside your comfort zone.  Ask the Lord where He is calling you and then take a step in that direction.  If you fall, don’t worry, He is right there shouting “Yeah” and clapping in delight at your efforts. 

Post a comment and share what you are going to try….