Monday, January 24, 2011

Help for times of Adversity - Part 3 -Dealing with Fear



Happy Monday to you 
Sweet Friends,

Hope you had a most pleasant weekend.

Our's was pretty uneventful but pleasant and fun.
  We re-watched Amish Grace on Friday, then
watched "The Money Pit" on Saturday, we have
seen it before but a long time ago,  and was 
reminded of it by a post from Susan over at
between naps on the porch.  It is a pretty funny
movie...........sure wouldn't want to be living
it tho!!   This movie will make you laugh and 
make you thankful............thankful........ you
don't own their house!!   lol

The highlight of our weekend was church,
our fav smoothie, getting groceries at Wally
World,  cause we were out of everything,
and Scott and Megan came over last night
 to get Joey and to visit and had Cranberry
 Chicken salad with us.  We haven't had
that for awhile,  so that was fun too!!

Guess I had best get started on our next
segment on Adversity.
We will be talking about dealing with
Fear again,  so here is Adversity tip




#4
Remember that the opposite of faith is fear
so we must guard our hearts against it and 
take this verse below to heart.

 Hebrews 11:6
 without faith it is impossible to please God,
 because anyone who comes to him must
 believe that he exists and that he rewards
 those who earnestly seek him.

I can tell you first hand this is true, true, true. 
 Something that has helped me immensely
 in this fear area for years now I heard from
 Joyce Meyers about 7 or 8 years ago, and
 that is when you are feeling fearful to Just say
"I trust you Lord, I trust you Lord,  I trust you Lord, 
 and you might need to do it over and over again,
  but making that declaration of faith is an amazing
thing.  The Lord understands our lack of faith at
 times and here is a great example from scripture 
of what someone says at a time like that.

Mark 9:23-24
 " 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is
 possible for him who believes."
 Immediately the boy's father exclaimed,
 "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief 

God doesn't just expect us to trump this stuff
 up on our own,  that is why we need Jesus.

I rec'd an email some time ago that just made my
 heart sing,  and I guess that is because sometimes
 non believers can tell you some situation that just 
seems horrible and it just stops you in your tracks
 and you are left wondering what in the world should
 you say in God's defense.  Well,  the story from that
email was the direct dilemma this one christian lady
 found herself in as she was talking with her hairdresser.

Her hairdresser told her because of the mess the
 world was in she just did not believe God existed, 
and the lady just didn't  know how to turn that around, 
 so she sat there thinking Lord what do I say, 
 and nothing came to her. A while later,
 the hairdresser finished up her hair, and she
 paid her and left the shop, as she was leaving the
shop.... she happened to see  this man who was
very  dirty and unkempt andhe had greasy, messy,
 tangled and disqusting looking hair,  and an idea
came to her.........so she went back to her hair-
dresser and said come her,  look at this man....
see how unkempt he is and look at his hair, now
 I don't believe there is such a thing as a
 hairdresser,  and the hairdresser said of course
 there is I just finished doing your hair, and the
 woman said yes,  but look at that man's hair....
there could not possibly be a hairdresser
or that mans hair wouldn't be such a mess, so
 the hairdresser said well,  it's not my fault if
 he want come to me.............
and the lady said exactly,  so it is with God, 
 it is not his fault people will not come to Him either.

I tell that story not just for someone who may not
 believe in God or Jesus,  but sometimes even 
those of us who do, are still living in unbelief and
as if He doesn't exist..... many times we have not
 because we ask not,
according to James 4:2
You want something but don't get it. You
 kill and covet, but you cannot have what you 
want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, 
because you do not ask God.

And of course, we need to ask with right
motives and a pure heart,
but
Many times we are trying to live life on our
own and completely leaving God out of the
picture,  and we tie his hands of blessing.

So if we need courage, faith or strength or
 for God to take your fear away why not call
 on the one who loves us and can supply
 those things.  He is like any Good Daddy
He promises to meet our needs.
(not our wants or greeds,  altho he will many
times give us our wants or desires but I
believe there is a condition on that 
according to

 Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give
 you the desires of your heart.

 but his promise is to meet our needs as you
will see in

 Matthew 6:25-34
 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
 what you will eat or drink; or about your body,
 what you will wear. Is not life more important than food,
 and the body more important than clothes?
 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap
 or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father
 feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ?
 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies
 of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor
 was dressed like one of these.
  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is 
here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not
 much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
  So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What
 shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
  For the pagans run after all these things, and your
 heavenly Father knows that you need them.
 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
 and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
 for tomorrow will worry about itself.
 Each day has enough trouble of its own.




Now I realize some people might not like or relate to
 the Daddy analogy because some Daddy's are not
 good Daddy's, and might possibly have been abusive
 or mean, and trust me I understand that.............
 but there is one Daddy
you can always count on,  and that is our
Great and Awesome Abba Father...God!!

The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you;
 he will never leave you nor forsake you.
 Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

Something I learned a long time ago is that 
we either have to choose to believe God's word,
the Bible is true,  which means all of it is true,
or none of it is true and must be a lie............
we can't pick and choose the verses that we want
 to believe but throw the rest out.............
our christian life will never work for us like that!!

Stay Tuned for next week
when we will talk about some of the reasons
 for Adversity in our lives...........
What is God up to anyway!!!

If you missed Part 2 of the series

If you missed Part l,  click on Part 2
 and there will be a link there to Part l.

Thanks for much for stopping in,
and for your encouraging comments.

Have a Marvelous Monday!!

Hugs, and blessings Galore,
Nellie

7 comments:

  1. One of the thoughts the old devil wants to put in my mind sometimes is; "Why pray for these things, God has already established the results before you were even born." But, then the LORD responds in my heart saying, "Yes, and I knew you WOULD pray and that's why you received the outcome that I know is best for you!"

    I find it is just best to not question GOD, but just do what our LORD has told us to do. His results through our trusting Him will be better than we could ever do for ourselves!

    Blessings on you and Jim for being there for me today!

    I love you all very much,
    Susie

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Nellie

    What a great post today. I have a hard time when people tell me they do not believe in God. They tell me they were not raised in the Church and they have never read the bible. I have learned that I can tell them the Good news that they need to know and I do encourage them to read the bible. I was so pleased when a friend recently started to attend worship. She often asks me questions and I share all I know and I try to point her in the right direction.
    I know I have said this before but I feel like worrying is a sin because if we trust God then there is no need to worry.
    Thank you for your encouragement!
    Blessings & Love
    Janet

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nellie, that hairdresser story is just the one I need! What a great answer for those who look at the world and conclude God doesn't exist! (And - as you said - for us who sometimes forget He does and is waiting for us to come to Him with our requests!)

    ReplyDelete
  4. As always, You seem to post exactly what I need to read. Have I told you lately how very grateful I am that GOD brought us together here in blogland. I wouldnt have wanted to miss knowing YOU were in this world with me..

    Thank you for coming to see mean and leaving such kind and meaningful words.
    I am bless by your presence in my life..

    many blessings to You and Yours
    Sonny

    ReplyDelete
  5. Loved that story of the hairdresser! Thanks for these words of wisdom today! We ALL need to re-hear them from time to time.

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  7. This is great Nellie, such wonderful scriptures and so familiar even though we use the King James version of the Bible.

    Fear and discouragement are two of Satan's biggest tools to get people to lose faith in the Lord and his plan for each of us. Satan has the power to bruise our heel but we have the power to crush his head. He can only suggest but never make us do anything against our will. This is something we need to remember when we start to give in to his enticings.

    Faith in Christ is so powerful, may we all grow in it daily. And as author and writer, Sheri Dew once said, I want to live so that when I arise in the morning Satan says, "Oh no she's up (going about Her Father's business) again today!"

    Thanks for this, Nel! Very good!

    ReplyDelete

Special thanks to all who take the time to leave comments..........They are very encouraging and very appreciated. I enjoy every one of them so much!!
May the Lord Bless You!!
Nellie

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