Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Boundaries”
Our Bible verse for today: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Fear is a self-imposed boundary.”
At least 94 times in the Old Testament and 28 times in the New Testament the people of God are told to “fear not” or to not give in to fear. If God repeats an instruction more than 120 times there must be something to it.
To describe fear the dictionary uses words like “anxiety”, “apprehension”, “disquiet”, and “agitation”. It is an impending sense of something bad that may happen. That sense of anxiety and apprehension can be crippling. Fear will often cause us to delay actions we need to take, or to put off decisions which need to be make, and it can render us ineffective or even helpless when we need to be strong. God doesn’t want the lives of His people to be governed by fear and so He repeatedly teaches against it. Over and over again He reassures us that we have no reason to fear.
Isaiah 41:10 speaks of the Sovereignty of God. To be “sovereign” means that He is supreme and has absolute authority over all people and over all things. That includes you and the circumstances of your life. This verse also reminds us that in addition to being sovereign – having supreme authority over your life – He is also “Omnipresent”, in that He is always with you, and He is “Omnipotent”, in that He is all-powerful.
So, because God has complete authority over your life, and because He is always with you, and because He has absolute power over every issue in your life, you do not need to fear. One other attribute of God which we need to consider this morning, and which applies to this subject of rejecting fear, is His total, unconditional, and perfect love for you. God is the very definition of perfect love and in 1 John 4:18 we read, “There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear.” (HCSB)
Fear is a self-imposed boundary. Fear limits and restricts us. It immobilizes us when we need to be active and it steals our joy. But God, in His perfect love for us, by means of His never-ending presence with us, and by His mighty power, gives us victory over fear. “Fear not, for I am with you.” says your God.
May you live free from fear today.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 