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Face That Fear and Teach the Fear of the Lord

It's Jen, your favorite, back to bring you some encouragement that I hope will help you remember who you are and just who God is and how BOSS that is!  

Let's do this.

Eph. 4:  One of the super boo-yah opening statements of all time:  "as a prisoner of the Lord."  Nobody treats prisoners like Jesus.  He doesn't even have to take them by force; they surrender to His goodness.  Do you love it?  You should!  The statement completes by saying , "I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received."  Best part:  the rest of the chapter tells you how to do just that.  No fuss, no muss.  Act like you know who Jesus is ...and here's how!  Some of these directions take practice, but nothing worth anything comes easy.  Jesus is way worthy (she said believing it to be the understatement of the year).

2 Chron. 20:  Wow, did I need this.  I so needed what this verse is serving up.  

First things first.  Jehoshaphat is seriously one of the coolest Bible names ever.  Just saying.  

So Jehoshaphat, 4th king of Judah, finds out that a vast army is about wage war on his people.  What's the first thing he does?  Calls for a fast and inquires of the Lord and tells his people to do the same.  Not call his advisors, generals or diplimats; his first response in a really bad situation is to call God for help.  He cried out in front of all of Judah to the Lord, "‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’  For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

Have you been there?  Facing something terrifying that you know you can't do anything about?  Your parents splitting up, your best friend moving or just moving on without you, someone dying, really hard classes that you just don't understand, a bully that just won't go away, a health issue of your own...I could go on all day.  Everyday we face giants, and I hate to tell you this, but they only get bigger as you get older.  But there is really, and I mean REALLY good news!

There is God.  And this is how He answers us when we go to Him with our battles. "‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s...You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lor will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’” Eph.4 15-17

That's right.  You don't have to fight alone or even fight.  Just face your battles.  The Lord fights for you.

Jehoshaphat hears this and starts a worship party.  This is some seriously good news.  And while they are worshiping God, God gets to gettin'.  He sets up ambushes within the enemy so that they end up killing each other.  The next day, Judah's army goes out and sees nothing but dead guys.  So, as not to be wasteful, they go and take up the valuables.  It took 3 days to plunder the dead.

Not only does God fight for you, you take plunder from your enemies.  The giants fall and you take away from them not the other way around.  

 "Eph 4:29 The fear of God came on all the surrounding kingdoms when they heard how the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. 30 And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side"

Take your battle to the Lord.  Let Him fight for you because He wants to show you how much you depend on Him.  He will not only win the battle for you but give you plunder.  And when seeing what God has done for you, people will come to Him and fear Him knowing what He does for His people and what He does to those who attack them.  

Face your giants and fears with praise and thanksgiving, with a heart of worship toward the One and Only God Almighty who is already fighting this battle for you.  Don't be afraid, young warriors. Take heart!  Take plunder!  Give God the Glory!  Expand the Kingdom!  The battle is won!

  

Well...okay...time to improvise...

Jen here.  Well, techically I'm here.  Not sure if the brain is really working yet.  I can't seem to type to save my life.  It's really bad.  I hope I didn't just break Eric's keyboard.  Sigh.  Anyway...

I can't locate the list of verses I'm supposed to be blogging about.  So, I'm going to write about something I've been thinking about lately.  The list of the Seven Deadly Sins.  They aren't written down as a check list but these are the things that we are warned against over and over in the Bible. (Proverbs 6:16-19 and Gal. 5:19-21 are examples.)  God does NOT need to repeat Himself, so when He does, our ears shall perk up.

On this list you find:  gluttony, lust, pride, wrath(extreme anger), envy, vainity, and sloth (laziness).  I would like to not that these things are all states of mind really.  Minds on themselves and not on Jesus, that is.

Why are these things "deadly"?  Well, quite frankly, that's the roads they lead you down.  Death Way.  Sin Street.  Broken Boulevard.  Wow-My-Life-Is-In-The-Flusher Drive.

Gluttony:  a mind set on food that eats whatever it wants can lead to all kinds of health problems as well as make your body so round that you can't do the things God has for you to do.  Does anyone want to hear God say, "Well, I wanted you to build houses for the refugees in Rowanda, but you liked cake too much."?  Not me.  I'm working on this one because it's one of the two that plague my mind. 

Lust:  that one is kinda self explaining.  Not only could you get a disease that will follow or lead you to the grave, but you can ruin hearts and lives of others as well.  Lust isn't just sex.  You can lust for many things that take you away from God.  It's a bad one.

Wrath, Envy and Vanity:  These are the ones that really feed off each other.  We think so much of ourselves that we are offended when something good happens to someone else and it makes us angry.  These three, from the beginning of time, are what makes people think it's acceptable to take the lives of others.  It's what revenge is made of.  They isolate people and makes them cold and bitter and bullies.  I'm sure you've seen it yourself.

Pride:  How many happy reunions are lost on the beaches of pride?  How many hearts and relationships could be healed if not for pride?  How many mistakes owned up to and fixed and learned from?  I could go on.  Pride may not literally cost you your life, but it can certainly make your life lonely and miserable.

Sloth:  Jen's struggle #2!  I could sit and eat all day.  There is no Jesus in that.  It is NOT the life God has called me to.  I will fight against it, and I call on Him to help me win the battle because if I don't, I won't.  A life where you just sit and zone and do nothing is a life wasted. Just wasted.  It's both sad and disgusting.  Nowadays, that isn't all there is to sloth.  Entitlement, that toxic cocktail of gluttony, vanity and sloth rears up:  give me what I think I should have without my trying to earn it.  Gimme.  Gimme.  Gimme.  

Understand that all these sins could lead to actual death, but they more swiftly kill you spiritual life.  Can you praise God through your envy of others?  Are you too proud to even go to God in the first place?  Are you too lazy to even start praying?  Would you rather just go for tacos and to check out the honeys at Taco Bell?  Think about it.

Beware my lovelies, so that you can look for the danger before it snatches you up.  Call on God for backup.  Call on your family and those you trust in the Lord for back up too.  We love you, and we want to see His glorious destiny for your lives completed.  We want you to LIVE.