True freedom from fear consists of totally resigning one’s life into the hands of the Lord.~ David Wilkerson Resigned into God’s Care (on-line devotional)
In preparation for today’s quote I nobly stepped forward and looked up over 400 scriptures connected with the word “fear.” Grant it, I cheated a little, well a lot, and used Biblegateway.com to look them up for me. One by one I was going to pick out some that went along with today’s quote while weeding out those who had nothing to do with it.
With every intention of finishing the task the following morning my crack of the dawn devotional took me down a different path. The story of the day was about Jesus walking on the water out to His disciples. Scared that they were seeing a ghost strolling around on the lake Jesus spoke to them at once. “It’s all right,” He said. “I am here! Don’t be afraid.” Then He climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. They were astonished at what they saw. (NLB) Mark 6:50,51.
At least for this morning that one little verse said it all for me, “It’s all right. I am here! Don’t be afraid.” The subject of true freedom itself is a whole different topic but what David Wilkerson says here is “true freedom from fear.” There are all sorts of freedoms when we come to Christ, after all the Truth itself is what sets us free in the first place. But today we are talking just a small piece of the puzzle, the freedom from fear.
If you’re afraid, who would you rather have in your boat? Someone who made you feel safe or someone who intensified the fear you were already feeling? I would go for the one that made me feel safe. Those words Jesus spoke to the disciples still echo in my heart as He has said them to me many a times, “I am here! Don’t be afraid.”
There we have it, the invitation is out. The next part is up to us. We can either turn that fear over to the Lord by totally resigning ourselves to God or we can keep it to ourselves in our own hands. We can either invite Jesus to climb into our boat or life or we can tell Him to keep on walking by and leave us alone. We can either stay afraid or give up our fears to the one who truly can care for them.
I find it interesting that of all the words you can look up in the Bible there is one word you won’t find and that is the word surrender. At least the word surrender when it comes to talking about surrendering or resigning our lives to God. Perhaps it doesn’t say that flat out because its something that has to be our choice. When Jesus was calling His first disciples He didn’t tell them, “Surrender all you have and follow me.” If He had done that it would have come out sounding like some kind of bank robbery. No He just “Come, follow me.”
There is only one way we can successfully come and follow Jesus, the taker of our fears and that is to surrender ourselves over to Him. It doesn’t work to invite Him on board our ship in life and then sit in the back of the boat with both hands on the sides rocking it back and forth. I hate to burst any bubbles but we just can’t have it both ways. Again I have to go with the “Taker of our fears.” What a blessing it is that we have someone who cares we are afraid in the first place, who doesn’t walk on by thinking to Himself, “BOO! HOO! What a bunch of wimps.”
Fear is one thing if we had the opportunity to get rid of it we would. I don’t think there are too many people who would clasp on to it as a treasure to be kept. The treasure to be kept is the security, freedom, and safety we find in Jesus the taker of our fears not the one who is out to scare us.
Once again in order for Him to take our fears we have to willing to surrender them to Him as we resign our lives into His hands. We can’t have it both ways in a on and off kind of choice of when and what we want to surrender to Jesus. “I surrender all” means just that I surrender ALL. My fears for His security, it can’t be beat.
In preparation for today’s quote I nobly stepped forward and looked up over 400 scriptures connected with the word “fear.” Grant it, I cheated a little, well a lot, and used Biblegateway.com to look them up for me. One by one I was going to pick out some that went along with today’s quote while weeding out those who had nothing to do with it.
With every intention of finishing the task the following morning my crack of the dawn devotional took me down a different path. The story of the day was about Jesus walking on the water out to His disciples. Scared that they were seeing a ghost strolling around on the lake Jesus spoke to them at once. “It’s all right,” He said. “I am here! Don’t be afraid.” Then He climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. They were astonished at what they saw. (NLB) Mark 6:50,51.
At least for this morning that one little verse said it all for me, “It’s all right. I am here! Don’t be afraid.” The subject of true freedom itself is a whole different topic but what David Wilkerson says here is “true freedom from fear.” There are all sorts of freedoms when we come to Christ, after all the Truth itself is what sets us free in the first place. But today we are talking just a small piece of the puzzle, the freedom from fear.
If you’re afraid, who would you rather have in your boat? Someone who made you feel safe or someone who intensified the fear you were already feeling? I would go for the one that made me feel safe. Those words Jesus spoke to the disciples still echo in my heart as He has said them to me many a times, “I am here! Don’t be afraid.”
There we have it, the invitation is out. The next part is up to us. We can either turn that fear over to the Lord by totally resigning ourselves to God or we can keep it to ourselves in our own hands. We can either invite Jesus to climb into our boat or life or we can tell Him to keep on walking by and leave us alone. We can either stay afraid or give up our fears to the one who truly can care for them.
I find it interesting that of all the words you can look up in the Bible there is one word you won’t find and that is the word surrender. At least the word surrender when it comes to talking about surrendering or resigning our lives to God. Perhaps it doesn’t say that flat out because its something that has to be our choice. When Jesus was calling His first disciples He didn’t tell them, “Surrender all you have and follow me.” If He had done that it would have come out sounding like some kind of bank robbery. No He just “Come, follow me.”
There is only one way we can successfully come and follow Jesus, the taker of our fears and that is to surrender ourselves over to Him. It doesn’t work to invite Him on board our ship in life and then sit in the back of the boat with both hands on the sides rocking it back and forth. I hate to burst any bubbles but we just can’t have it both ways. Again I have to go with the “Taker of our fears.” What a blessing it is that we have someone who cares we are afraid in the first place, who doesn’t walk on by thinking to Himself, “BOO! HOO! What a bunch of wimps.”
Fear is one thing if we had the opportunity to get rid of it we would. I don’t think there are too many people who would clasp on to it as a treasure to be kept. The treasure to be kept is the security, freedom, and safety we find in Jesus the taker of our fears not the one who is out to scare us.
Once again in order for Him to take our fears we have to willing to surrender them to Him as we resign our lives into His hands. We can’t have it both ways in a on and off kind of choice of when and what we want to surrender to Jesus. “I surrender all” means just that I surrender ALL. My fears for His security, it can’t be beat.
© 2010 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing
5 comments:
Our bible group is currently doing a dvd study on the book, "If you want to walk on water, get out of the boat" and it was a funny reminder that out of all the disciples in the boat-Peter was the only one to take a chance and get out of the boat.
Even when he fell into the water, Jesus Christ was quick to grab his arm and help him back into the boat-and your post is a reminder of how,our Father is there to lift us up and won't let us fall where He can save us.
Fantastic post!
Karen, your "either/or" statements make the choice so clear: resign ourselves to God or keep it in our little hands; invite Jesus into our boat or tell him to keep walking by and leave us alone; stay afriad or give our fears to the one who truly can care for them. Great synopsis.
This is so good Karen. I remember singing the song "I Surrender All" in church. One time I heard a preacher remind us that the song doesn't say I surrender some. It's one way or the other; our heart choice.
I find that when I feel fear I have a choice to make. Do I truly trust the Lord or will I take things into my own hands?
You write so beautifully Karen and I always look forward to what you will write on our weekly quotes.
Blessings and love,
Debbie
I never knew that about the word surrender. It is true. It is a choice. I particularly like the same verse that spoke to you. "I am here! Don’t be afraid." It is because He is beside us, even when we don't have tangible proof - we can't see, hear, touch smell or taste him - we still have that peace in the middle of situations that would seem impossible or frightening to anyone else, but when we keep our focus on God our fears go away.
Great post!
I'm still stuck on the idea you looked up 400 verses! YOWSA!
"I am here."
Thanks for reminding us of that comforting phrase. Indeed, Jesus is here. Why do we ever fear?
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