Fear Not

Isaiah 41:10 "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

 

There are many verses in the Bible where God or His angel(s) tell His believers not to fear...there is a New Testament passage {the book escapes my memory this morning} that tells us we have not received the spirit of fear from God rather it is the work of the evil one.  Our purpose here is to bring glory to God and we cannot glorify Him if we let fear overtake faith.  I still have some fears I am battling, but ask me a year or two ago and I would not have been able to count them they were so numerous.  God has been teaching me to let go of that fear and let Him direct the entire path of my life.  He is in control, our purpose is to glorify Him and He will protect us unless tragedy or storms are meant to come to our lives to strengthen us or to refine us.  We need to cling tightly to our faith in God that He is Sovereign and He will not forsake us and we must allow Him to teach us to pray away any fears that do try to creep in.  God has never forsaken His people who set their hopes and faith in Him and He's not going to start breaking His promises now...but we must have faith in Him, we must battle away any fearful thought in our minds through the gift of the power of prayer.  You will be amazed, as I have been, at the slow changes that eventually have you looking back on how far you've come and how much better it feels to have built an instinct to pray at the first hint of any fearful thought.  Please join me in prayer now:

 

Dear Lord,

We come to You this morning in thankful amazement at the power of Your gift of prayer as our lifeline to You and as a weapon against fear.  Please help us to build our instincts to bring us to You in prayer if the evil one tries to invade our minds with fearful thoughts or feelings.  Help us to remain patient as we journey to this trusting place with You.  Father, we thank You again for the blessings of those who You use to protect us here in this world, soldiers, police, firefighters and paramedics.  Please bless and protect them and their families abundantly.   We also continue to be thankful for those who serve You and serve us through Your calling to be clergy.  We ask that You please bless them to keep us in Your Word and Your Truth many years.  Bless our leaders to make the right decisions.  Lord, we believe You are the one true and Triune God and we believe true healing comes only from You, be it spiritually, emotionally, physically or mentally and we ask that You please grant Your awesome healing to all those in need, especially Summer, Sharon, Melissa, Morgan, Phyllis, Carolyn, Randy, Emily, Brenda, Sheila, Mr & Mrs Jones, Darlene, Brandy's Mom, Nancy, Fran, Rob, Cathy, Alex, Melissa, Benjamin, Amber & Michael, Ward, Karen, Kim, Abby, Lynn & Mark, Heidi, Pam, Suzy, Tammy, Mary, Meg, Mike, Deanna, unborn baby Lauren and to all those who we may name to You now.  We pray that all we've asked here may be done not according to our wants but according to Your will and in Jesus' name.  Amen.

 

I pray that you may each have a safe, awesome and blessed weekend and week ahead.  I have a request for prayer updates.  I apologize I have not been better of keeping track of these myself but if I could get an update from everyone on who we should continue praying for and who we should rejoice in healing for than I will work to keep up with weekly updates before each "thoughts" email.  Thanks so much for allowing me the honor of praying with you for your loved ones and friends!!  I am truly blesses through each of you and through your continued interest in reading these emails.  Thank you again!

 

Love through Christ,

Niki