Let’s look at the Fear Factor…

In case you’ve been living in a cave the past week, you might appreciate
knowing that nearly a MILLION people have been evacuated from
their homes in California. In addition, there’s a drought in the
Southeastern United States as all those hurricanes that were predicted
for this year failed to deposit the usual, much-needed water. The Dow

is down today as a result of the housing market dropping another 8%. 

High gas prices, Iran’s nukes, the war on terrorism, global warming,

on-line child predators… the talking heads of the news networks are

feeding us a steady diet of politically correct pablum (if not blatant lies,

yet we continue to tune in as if their words were the Gospel)… what IS

a Christian to do?
Should we get more political, try to change things by lobbying to revise

the laws? Shall we protest, handcuff ourselves to movie theatres and

abortion clinics? The onslaught of everything of an anti-Christ nature

seems to keep coming against us in a tidal wave of never-ending evil.

It’s overwhelming!
Even within the Church itself, things are not looking good as the media is

sure to publicize every sinful act of Christian ministers that they happen to

hear about they make sure we ALL hear about.
My Bible declares that “the righteous are bold as a lion.” It tells me, “The

people who know their God will be strong and do exploits” and ” Be bold,

be strong, for the Lord they God is with thee!” What ever happened to

Christians who lived by those mantra verses? In most cases, the enemy

has the western Church scared spitless and virtually ineffective, exhibiting

“a form of godliness with no power” to speak of. The devil loves it this

way as we spend less time making a difference and more time making a

mess of all things spiritual. Yet, we persist, content in our self-righteousness

as we continue with Church-as-usual, deceived into thinking we’re

fulfilling the Lord’s Great commission by warming a pew somewhere.
No, we’re motivated by fear and it’s tainting everything we do. Fear of

death. Fear of disease. Fear of the latest headline. (See article

on “Demonic Terrorism.”)
IF GOD IS FOR US…
Fact is, we’ve got our spiritual enemies right where we want ‘em! How

so, you ask? Allow me to use my own life as an example in an effort to

explain.
Before I gave my life to Jesus, I was king of all my own kingdoms;

a veritable “Lord of all” I was…NOT!
To the best of my pea-brained knowledge, all things revolved around Me,

Myself, and I… the unholy trinity. The realization that my god (me) simply

wasn’t big enough caused me to fall and fall HARD. I needed to fall hard

AND to the point of breaking! I thought I was in control of those demons

assigned to me. I wasn’t. My kingdoms fell. I had obviously acknowledged

the necessity of having a “God” in my life, and I gave the REAL God a

great deal of religious-sounding lip service. Even put in some pious “pew

time.” But all of those gods I was ACTUALLY serving proved to be

impotent and insufficient for the job, including my own bad self.
I turned to Jesus ONLY after recognizing my NEED for the BIGGEST

GOD OF ALL. The greatest impact came from a very small group of

unrelated people who had at one time or another exhibited to me a living

faith in Christ in their lives outside of church buildings. They didn’t preach

at me. They didn’t tell me how evil I was. They simply loved me without

condition.
And it’s very likely they prayed for me.
Therefore, it remains my contention that, through prayer, by a consistently

growing relationship with God through the study of His Word, and by

repenting of our feeble attempts at ruling our own lives, God alone will

war on our behalf to get rid of all the monsters under our beds that we

believers incessantly scream and shout about.
Believers? That’s our job description … to simply believe, with childlike

faith, that His Word is true and that, if we do our biblical part, we can

see our prayers answered in a most miraculous way. If nothing else, we

can have peace in the midst of life’s storms. With that, let us not be

surprised when others begin to notice, as I did, that it is possible to

actually KNOW God, the ultimate ruler of all things. We CAN have a

relationship rather than mere ritualism and religion. Who can be afraid

when they know HE is on their side? Be not surprised when you begin

to make others jealous for that kind of relationship (Romans 11:11-14).
After all, we are to be “epistles read by all men” (2 Cor 3:2) and, as

Francis of Assisi said, “preach the Gospel at all times … using words

only when necessary.”
IS THIS “THE END”?
Is America coming under judgment? If we are, I think God will judge

that we have a long way to go and He will continue to burn off the

dross, the junk that’s keeping Him from seeing His own reflection in

those who call themselves His. First Peter 4:17 tells us, “For the time

has come for judgment and it must begin with God’s household.  And

if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have

never obeyed God’s Good News?”
God’s household? That’s not America…that’s The Church. We’re the

agents of change around here.
Aren’t we?
We’re the ones who will go through the fire and not get burned; the

flood and will not drown (Is 43:2-3).
Right?
About the current state of affairs, Revivalist Larry Silverman writes,

“Historically speaking, prior to every great move of God there were

times of great despair.  I recently wrote about the Moravian Revival of 1727.

Prior to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the people involved were under

a great amount of persecution.  Even after they settled on Count Zinzendorf’s

estate in Germany they were in a state of disunity.  In 1727 the “Suddenlies

of God” arrived, revival struck and everything was changed.
“Prior to Azusa Street the east coast of Florida was hit by a killer tidal wave,

the San Francisco earthquake occurred, and the Nation was in an energy

crisis.  Judgment of God?… no, a precursor to revival!
“I wish to submit to you that all that is currently going on within the

United States is not the judgment of God, rather it is His love preparing

us for the greatest spiritual renewal to ever hit our Nation!”
Thanks, Larry! So, fear not! Whether it’s the current world scene, or that

scene playing out within the walls of your own home, or in your own head,

“greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world,” (1 Jn 4:4).
READ ‘EM & REAP
Let’s take a look at fear from Christ’s perspective. After all, He said

that He was the Way, the TRUTH, and the life, right?
The truth? Good! We can use some of that. Here’s what Jesus had to

say about the fear factor:
(Mat 8:26) He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then

he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely

calm.
(Mk 4:40) He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you

still have no faith?”
(Lk 8:50) Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe,

and she will be healed.”
(Lk 12:5) But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who,

after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell

you, fear him.
(Lk 19:21) I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take

out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’
(Rev 1:17) When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he

placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First

and the Last.
(Rev 2:10) Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you,

the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer

persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will

give you the crown of life.
A careful review of the Scriptural references to fear reveals that God

alone is to be feared, and reverentially at that, out of awe and respect; not

based upon a demonic form of terror. First John 4:18 tells us, “Perfect loves

casts out fear.” Psalm 23:4 says, “I will fear no evil.” Proverbs 1:7 says,

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Yes, there are many

variations in Scripture exhorting us to “fear not” our circumstances and to

“fear the Lord” only.
Let’s keep our wits about us, Christians. Fear is faith in the devil! Fear

is a spirit and “God has not given us a SPIRIT of fear…,” (2 Tim 1:7).

In fact, Jesus gave us “power to drive out all demons…” (Lk 9:1), including

the spirit of Fear. Think about it… very few people have died from bird flu

in comparison to auto accidents or heart attacks registered on a daily basis.
So, chill, Church! We ought not lock ourselves indoors while screaming

“there’s a lion outside” (Prov 22:13)! We already KNOW there’s a lion

outside … his name is Satan and 1 Peter 5:8 says he roams about “seeking

whom he may devour.” If we focus on the prospect of a lion in our midst,

those bad reports of what MIGHT happen (just read the papers and you’ll

see evidence of his evil works), it will hinder us from going about our Father’s

business, building His Kingdom and making disciples as we were

commissioned in Matthew 28:18-20.
And the lion wins.

PASS THIS ALONG TO AT LEAST 5 FRIENDS!