What Are You Afraid Of?

Many of you are familiar with Genesis 12:1. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee.

What some of us fail to recognize is the use of the word had. God actually spoke to Abram and instructed him to leave his father’s house and his family, prior to his father Terah moving the family to Haran as we read in Acts 7:2-4. In verse 4 we read of Abram not moving or following Gods command until after the death of his father.

Why was it so important for Abram to leave familiar surrounding’s? It’s evident in what we just read that as long as Abram’s father was alive Abram was under his father’s influence. Many of us, just as Abram become comfortable in our surroundings and what we are doing and don’t want to move. Sometimes we are afraid of the unknown, afraid of failure or maybe even afraid of success.

What happens when we confront our fear? Initially we may be afraid. We are experiencing something we may not have experienced before, but once we realize there is nothing to fear we are able to move forward.  

Abram moved out of his comfort zone, away from a land with which he was familiar and away from family. What are you afraid of? What is standing between you and God’s best for your life?

As you are aware I have just published my first book, Secret Thoughts: Things We Are Afraid To Say Out Loud which is available on Amazon. A portion of the book contains personal information which I have not shared with many people. I thought it was important to share my story in an effort to empower others in a similar situation to not only share events of their lives if they so choose, but to free them from the bondage, shame, guilt or fear which may be associated with some of life’s experiences. I had to let my passion for empowering others be greater than my fear of people knowing my secret thoughts.

 

Fear immobilizes, confronting fear empowers. Don’t let fear hold you hostage.

Are Secret Thoughts Stealing Your Joy?

One minute we may be up and the next minute we may be down. Sometimes we may be able to sustain our joy, or life of abundance for weeks or even months at a time. When I say life of abundance I am referring to the life Christ lived and died for us to have. As we read in John 10:10 the thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. The reason we are unable to sustain our joy or life of abundance is described in the same verse.

The thief, that dreaded enemy comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. He does everything he can to prevent you from enjoying your inheritance of joy, peace, provision, prosperity, strength, health and all that the resurrected Christ represents.

Think about it. Think. One of the definitions of the word think is to have a certain thing as the subject of one’s thoughts. A certain thing. Oftentimes it is a certain thing that we are thinking of that allows the enemy to steal our joy whether momentarily or for an extended period of time.

What is that thing? That thought that is stealing your joy, the thought that prevents you from enjoying a daily life of abundance?  That thought that lingers in your mind no matter how you try to dismiss it. Notice the emphasis on the word you.

The enemy uses the fiery darts that he shoots at us to attack our mind. That is why we are to use the shield of faith to quench or extinguish those fiery darts, or thoughts that plague our mind. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Without faith it is impossible to prevent the thoughts planted in our mind by the enemy from taking root.

You wake up one morning with joy in your heart. The enemy sends a fiery dart your way. Whatever the thought may be it causes you to doubt that God can take care of it for you. Your faith in this situation has been replaced with doubt. What has changed? You, or your mindset has changed, God has not changed. The same God that awakened you with joy is the same God that will see you victoriously through whatever thoughts Satan has placed in your mind.

We read in Romans 7:22-24 for I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and brining me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

When we are born again our spirit relishes in the love of God. We desire to serve Him, to walk by faith and not by sight. But our flesh, in which the carnal mind lives wars against the knowledge of the truth that abides in mind of our spirit. So unwillingly, if we do not seek The Holy Spirit we give in to the thoughts of our carnal mind, and lose our peace.

Sometimes it is those Secret Thoughts that we do not dare to share that wreak havoc in our mind.

We read in 2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into capitivity every thought to obedience of Christ.

It’s a given, thoughts that are contrary to the thoughts God wants us to have will be placed in our mind, but it is imperative that we not allow them to take root. It is up to us to replace the thoughts that are contrary to Gods word with thoughts that align with His word.