Live fearlessly!

God designed us to live fearlessly and yet we are so often held back every day by fear. Mostly when someone says "fear", I think of spiders or heights or those things that you find on people's general lists, but those are not the fears that I'm taking about.

I'm talking about those fears that paralyse you without you even knowing about them. Those fears that stop you from moving forward in life, those fears that limit your potential. Satan can see the potential which God has placed in us from an early age and often he creates situations to scare us and keep us from the exact thing which God is calling us to. For example, the fear of rejection can stop you from loving, caring or giving or the fear of failure can stop you from breaking borders and going places where no one has dared to venture before. 

Often it is quite daunting to think about the things that really scare us. It makes us feel vulnerable and it is easier to just brush them under the carpet and put our "I'm fine" face on. Even though we know that the issue will pop out its head again sometime, we just prefer to ignore it. I guess the problem is that when we start thinking "what do I fear?", the most logical next question would be "why do I fear that?" and this is the hard one to face, because often we need to think back to a situation which was painful and which left many wounds.

When God highlights a fear like this in your life, know that He will create a safe environment in which you can deal with it. He will give you all the support that you need and in the process He will be taking you to new heights of confidence and potential. The problem with fear is that it eats away your confidence and prohibits you from being your true self, because it convinces you that a different you will be better, more acceptable, more perfect, more loved, adored and successful. We then start compromising and adapting to being someone who in our own eyes will be more acceptable, thus focusing so much on being what we are not, that we completely miss out on what we have that is unique.

What will our lives be like if we stop living to meet unhealthy expectations set by ourselves and others and we start accepting ourselves, loving ourselves and focusing on the unique potential which God gave us individually? I'm trusting that the more free we become, the more we will live life with increased joy, peace, love and an abundance of passion!

Picture credit: favim

When God speaks

When God speaks, He speaks life! It's not about conventional or rational, it's about Him, His plan and His purpose for your life. We don't need to breathe life into the visions that He has for our lives or the future that He reveals to us. By speaking, He breathes life over our situations and He will lead us through faithfully. All we can do from our side is to seek first the Kingdom and He will add the rest. We can build our relationship with Him and serve in the areas where He is using us. We don't need to carve out the plans or the road for ourselves.

Actually as soon as we start carving out the road, we start stressing and losing our focus because we start taking control of something which isn't supposed to be in our hands. How are we supposed to lead the way when we only know part of the journey? We cannot, it’s impossible and that’s why we need to keep our ears tuned to God’s voice and react to His promptings.

When God reveals something to you, wait for His instruction and follow the road which He lays out before you. Running ahead will highly likely create doubt and stress in your life. It is in situations like these where we learn to walk closely with the Holy Spirit. We learn to hear His direction and trust that He knows what’s best for us. Be encouraged as you are growing in faith. Remember that “faith is the evidence of things hoped for, the conviction of the things not seen”.  Rom 11:1

May you have wonderful adventures with the Holy Spirit as He pours His love into your hearts and leads you from glory to glory!

Picture credit: marielliott.deviantart.com

You are not alone

When you have God in your life, you will never be alone again. He is with you, watching over you, holding you, carrying you and planning your every step. He catches you when you fall and helps you back up in His love. He knows your fears and failures and He loves you still. He is not intimidated by your past or your current situation. He is not there to scold you, but to walk alongside you. He knows your motives and He sees your heart. He knows what He can expect from you and you can never disappoint Him. He knew what you were going to do with everything that He gave you and He still gave it nonetheless.

He loves you, accepts you, cares for you and is proud of you. He has an unlimited storeroom, His heart is to bless you and He cannot wait to spoil you. He waits for you to ask Him and He delights in answering your questions. He provides for you, protects you and dreams of a bright future for you. 

He is everything you want and everything you need. He is unable to lie, unable to disappoint and He will never be able to stop pursuing you, because His love for you is more than you can ever dream of.

A Tetris moment

So this week I had a Tetris moment. "So what is a Tetris moment?" you might ask and I'll explain it as follows. In a game of Tetris you have blocks of various shapes falling at a certain speed and you have to align all the blocks to fit perfectly. This becomes difficult as you do not know which block will fall next thus making it difficult to plan ahead. Also if you place blocks in awkward positions then you start running out of space until eventually you lose control, your screen overflows with blocks and it is game over.

So I had a Tetris moment in my mind, all these thoughts and ideas started falling at different speeds and I wondered how on earth I'm going to fit them all in in the most effective manner. I felt a bit claustrophobic as the thoughts crept in on me and I realised, I need a time out!

Sometimes we just need a time out to say: "hold on a moment, these thoughts shouldn't control me, I should control them" and then take some time to sit, identify the different thoughts and piece them together. We can so easily get overwhelmed by our multitude of thoughts and emotions just because we do not take a moment to sit and just organise them. It is so worthwhile to take some time out, sit with God and decide how these things all work together. Otherwise the confusion will always lead to anxiety.

Even when you are in a situation where you cannot merely draw up a plan of action, because the variables are unknown, you can still take time out and rest in the truth that God knows which block will be falling next and that He knows how to place them all perfectly and efficiently. He is the ultimate Tetris player, He never makes mistakes and can save any seemly lost game.
 
In Luke 12 Jesus says: "do not be anxious about your life" and "which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" Let's put our trust in God's hands and know by faith that He is looking out for us and that all things will work together for our good. He is in control and always looks out for His children. He has a plan for our lives and even though we don't know what the future holds, He knows and our future is secure in Him.

"And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you." Luke 12:22-31

Listen to this awesome song! - Hillsong United - Oceans


Photo credit: Loyal K.N.G

It's personal

We understand faith up to a certain level, but last week God told me to have faith in my relationship with Him and it got me thinking. Ok, so not just faith in Him, but faith in our relationship, because it's personal. Think for a second what the difference is. When we meet God we start to build a relationship with Him, the same way that we would start any friendship.

At the beginning you are unsure of who this person really is, what he likes, how he reacts, how he loves, how he speaks etc. As the relationship develops you see His kindness, you experience His love and blessings and you learn about His character and personality. At some stage you reach a point where you can put faith in the relationship that has developed. You can rely on the relationship, because you know Him as a person. You know that the relationship can withstand ups, downs and misunderstandings and you come to know that He always has your back and loves you with an unconditional love.

It is during challenging or teaching times that we can put our faith in our relationship with Him. We can know that even though He seems silent, He will speak again. We know that even though we think we might have messed up, He will never turn His back on us. Even when the enemy or people around us try and convince us otherwise, we can know and stand sure that He will never leave us or forsake us and that He is a good God.

Just because the circumstances in our lives change, doesn't mean that God changes as well. He is always consistent and when times are tough, we need to exercise faith in our relationship with Him and hold on to what we know and not to what we feel.

Ensure today that you know God personally so that you can rely on your relationship with Him when times are challenging. He will never leave you or forsake you and He has a plan. Hold on tightly and find peace in the midst of the storm. He will quiet the wind and the waves and you will be able to see clearly what was going on all along.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6

Picture credit: Asksister

Ask!

“And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Matt 21:22

Ask and you will receive. The problem is not that we don't ask, but that we don't wait to receive. We ask, but we leave our prayer times and go find our own solutions instead of waiting on God's plans and answers. Then we find ways to satisfy our desires temporarily with the wrong things or people, instead of waiting for the right things or people. This can often lead to disappointment and then we blame God again for not providing. Meanwhile we went chasing the wrong thing and totally missed the blessing. Scary hey?

I totally understand why this is happening. We live in a culture where everything is fast, comfortable, convenient and accessible. We tend to subconsciously think that God also needs to jump when we push the prayer button and when He doesn't we assume that He's not listening or that He doesn't care. Those thoughts are such lies! We know that the Bible says "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." Matthew 10:29-31 So clearly God does care and wants to be intimately involved in the detail of our lives.

We need to be confident in who God is. He is a God who speaks and leads and He will not leave you alone on your journey. If He hasn't given you an answer yet, then the answer is still coming. We need to grow in patience, knowing that God has our best interests at heart. He knows what the right timing is for everything in our lives and we can cast our cares fully on Him and trust Him completely.

Waiting isn’t easy, but it is totally worth it! I know how hard waiting can be, but the best is yet to come. Choose to exercise some patience today and accept (and find rest) in the fact that your answer might take a while, but it’s on its way. The plans that God has for us far exceed our wildest dreams and expectations and if we are willing to seek His face and wait on His instructions then we open the door to His throne room full of blessings.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

Photo credit: turnbacktogod

Perfect love

It always amazes me how many times I can read the same scripture and then, after I don't know how many times, get something completely different or new from it. Or I just completely forgot about the scripture and then when I read it again it is so refreshing to me. It really is amazing how God put so many layers in the Bible for us to discover!

I recently read the following scripture "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love." 1 John 4:18

This scripture really is amazing! When we have a revelation of how much God loves us, we cannot fear Him. With the word 'fear' I'm referring to 'being afraid of'. Have you ever thought of why you would be afraid of someone? You might be afraid of someone because they can hurt you physically or emotionally or punish you. But God has no intention of hurting us or punishing us. Jesus has already died for every sin that we have ever committed and will ever commit and He has taken the entire punishment upon Himself. There is no more punishment left for us.

Thus if we receive the revelation of God's love for us, we will fear no more and we will be free to walk without feelings of fear, guilt or condemnation as His love casts out all fear and keeps us in relationship with Him. If our revelation of His love is too small, then we are not yet perfected in love and fear might overtake us from time to time and make us feel condemned.

When God looks at us He sees us clothed in righteousness and in right standing with God, because of what Jesus has done. There is no disappointment in His eyes, only love for us. It is His love that sets us free, it fills us with peace and joy and gives us a foundation of security, knowing that we are always in the palm of His hand, that His favour is on us and that He is always in control.

Do not be afraid and do not be ashamed, but run into the arms of God. Ask Him today to give you a greater revelation of His love for you, so that you can be perfected in love. There you will find acceptance, love, rest and a peace that transcends all understanding.

“We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

Photo credit: favim