7/13/2022 • Desk of Dennis Piller
During the Catastrophic…How do we protect ourselves from fear?
I am facing a very difficult situation relationally, and the basis of it is very dark and the horizon looks bleak. So I have begun a prayer fast and I am in intercession for this person and the situation. I think I have worn out the carpet saying, “In Jesus Name!”
But what comes to mind is that God is not surprised when I am mortified by something. I gasp, and he says, "Lean on me". (Can you hear the melody of that song?)
We have been hearing about prayer for almost a month at church. How to pray. Drawing close to God in our petitions. Lingering before the throne at His feet in the Holy of Holies. Waiting for the Holy Spirit to give us direction.
But then you hit a wall.
You come up against something that rattles you to your bones and the test is upon you. What have you learned? What can you apply here in prayer and just as importantly in faith…believing that you are not in this alone?
True you may be an emissary of God, an ambassador, but you are just the mailman. Our power is not in us. It's from God. It’s from the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, I will never leave you! This is the time that we must have faith in that fact! We must push back against this spirit of fear that is so unsettling that it brings with it doubt, confusion, and attempts to paralyze us in the mucus of it all. So now what?
Faith is the essence of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
For me, I have to adjust my perspective of who God is to bolster my faith. It is often not enough to just know it in my head. I have to get it down a foot into my heart and my soul that God is God and I’m not! He works all things for his glory. I cannot see that now. I am in this blind maze of fear and uncertainty. We didn’t see that coming … and it takes us to our knees… maybe because we have no other option.
We have no control.
We cannot fix this in the natural.
We do not share Gods absolute existence. We do not say, I am who I am. We say with the apostle Paul, by the grace of God I am what I am.
1 Cor 15:10 Paul implies, “what do you have that you did not receive?”
1 Corinthians 4:7 says we are ultimately dependent on God for everything
*"We are depending on him for our being – especially our knowing of him.
We are because he is! We know because he reveals!
God is God and we are not. Our existence and our future come from him.
Our knowing him comes from him. Romans 1:19–21 but most fully, indeed infallibly, in his word, the Scriptures, “Have I not told you from of old and declared it? … is there a God besides me?” Isaiah 44:8 “
My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose”. Isaiah 46:9-10
When it comes to how much God controls, and how he controls,
we must be told by him."
So I am encouraged in this dark place to dig into God's word.
My flesh is saying, NO…NO this cannot be so. I cannot let this happen!
What can " I " do to fix this?
And God says I AM GOD and your not…rest in me! Put your trust in me.
Do what you can do but wait for my direction. We cry out…I don’t need direction on this matter…I see it clearly! It is a catastrophe…it is quite obvious! They need to change their way of thinking. Can’t they see this is wrong with capital letters? Why are they so blind to reason and common sense! Direction?…. No, I need you God to change their mind and their thinking… right now… because the repercussions could be life-changing.
Have you been where I am today? Can you hear my heart and anguish?
I FEAR! I am being attacked…by making logical deductions,…
I know from prior experience…this will not end well…
I am being attacked by the logical fear of my own thinking! To start reading into God’s promises… To believe that he works all things for his glory?… That I can trust God who loves them MORE … incredibly more than I do?.. that I am to have faith that the future will be OK? That this matter is in god’s hands and ultimately his control?
I need to let go of what I don’t have control of! I need to sit and rest in his presence and dig into his word and not the ones I am allowing to run rampant in my head doing all kinds of damage.
That means what? Yes, I am in a serious fight. Yes, I am called to do battle in a spiritual realm. No, I can’t do that in the natural. I NEED GOD’s Help! I must stand back and see the glory of God at work. I must realize, that I can do nothing on my own. It will not happen in my time. I may not get one of those split-second salvations from drugs or alcohol or pregnancy…whatever it is.
But God is either in control or not. God is either God or He is not.
Choose you this day who you will serve. The demons in your head. Your eyes that see the wickedness or the craziness of a situation. OR… You enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.
You walk by faith and you take up the shield of faith and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God and you start speaking them! And speak them again…and speak them again until YOU are walking in the Spirit.
You start covering your situation with God’s holy word. Read scripture. Pray scripture over the situation…until you come to a peace in your spirit that you believe God! That he has got this… that you can let it go…right at the foot of his cross. Be still my child and know that I am God. And only then can your racing mind rest. It is a racing spirit sent by satan to steal your faith and torment you.
STOP IT! With faith in God and His word.
There is no other way in heaven or on earth…but God's truth…not the truth you think you see. Perhaps you should write a letter to yourself, as I have done this morning, to get it all out before God.
Would you cover me and this situation in prayer this week?
I need my six!
Lauren Daigle Hold on to me.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPJFvbf8tNE9-_aYgeXfdKA
* Segment taken from John Pipers Book Providence
