Post by MIRIAM JACOB on Aug 2, 2007 11:22:26 GMT -5
October 26, 2006
“…men’s heart failing them from fear…of those things which are coming on the earth…”
(Luke 21:26).
Last week we talked about the increasing need to gather together with other believers and to pray for and encourage one another “as we see the Day approaching.” But what about those who see the Day approaching and have no idea what it means? Jesus said of these last days that people would actually die of heart failure because of the fearful things they would see happening around them.
If the tragic events of 9-11 didn’t begin to bring the truth of that prophecy into focus, I don’t know what will. I remember thinking on that day how terrified I would be if I didn’t know the Lord in the midst of such heartbreak and loss. And, of course, that day is just one example of the many fear-inducing events taking place in our world today.
But “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). It is only God’s power, available to us as His great and unconditional love flows through us to others, that establishes our thoughts, giving us a sound mind and preventing fear from gaining a foothold. As scribes commissioned to “write the vision” God has given us, we are divinely privileged to present the message of that great and unconditional love to a world that is gripped by fear—and well they should be! “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31).
It isn’t the terrorists or persecution or suffering that the unbeliever needs to fear, but meeting his Maker without Jesus as his covering. May we, as writers who know and love Jesus and who have appropriated His covering as our own, daily recommit our hearts and re-dedicate our lives to proclaiming the message that the ransom has been paid, and the Father waits to welcome home every prodigal who will leave the pigsty and return to His embrace.
For it truly is His “perfect love [that] casts out fear” (1 John 4:18)! May you walk in that perfect love today and always….
(C) KATHI MACIAS
www.kathimacias.com
“…men’s heart failing them from fear…of those things which are coming on the earth…”
(Luke 21:26).
Last week we talked about the increasing need to gather together with other believers and to pray for and encourage one another “as we see the Day approaching.” But what about those who see the Day approaching and have no idea what it means? Jesus said of these last days that people would actually die of heart failure because of the fearful things they would see happening around them.
If the tragic events of 9-11 didn’t begin to bring the truth of that prophecy into focus, I don’t know what will. I remember thinking on that day how terrified I would be if I didn’t know the Lord in the midst of such heartbreak and loss. And, of course, that day is just one example of the many fear-inducing events taking place in our world today.
But “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). It is only God’s power, available to us as His great and unconditional love flows through us to others, that establishes our thoughts, giving us a sound mind and preventing fear from gaining a foothold. As scribes commissioned to “write the vision” God has given us, we are divinely privileged to present the message of that great and unconditional love to a world that is gripped by fear—and well they should be! “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31).
It isn’t the terrorists or persecution or suffering that the unbeliever needs to fear, but meeting his Maker without Jesus as his covering. May we, as writers who know and love Jesus and who have appropriated His covering as our own, daily recommit our hearts and re-dedicate our lives to proclaiming the message that the ransom has been paid, and the Father waits to welcome home every prodigal who will leave the pigsty and return to His embrace.
For it truly is His “perfect love [that] casts out fear” (1 John 4:18)! May you walk in that perfect love today and always….
(C) KATHI MACIAS
www.kathimacias.com