Standing Up to Fear

When you smile I smile, because when you smile it means that the harmony of joy that is in your heart is starting to sing out. Put your issues in the hand of the Master and let all worries fall to the wayside.  Today is a new day so don’t bring old worries with you.  Keep smiling because like the rays of sunshine that come down from the sky, you never know who you going to touch.

Good day to you all!  I am going to pray for you sight unseen.  I may not know what you are going through, but God does, so I am going to pray for you.  Don’t forget to pray for yourself.

At some point we have all been afraid.  Sometimes it is the unknown that makes us the most fearful.  When we look back on what people went through in order to make sure that we all had freedom, sometimes it might be easy to over look how fearful they must have been.  They were standing up to authority, and that is something that takes a lot of courage.  Dear Reader I dare say that it takes a lot of faith as well.  One of my favorite stories in the Bible tells of Peter and John who were healing people and proclaiming Jesus when they were arrested.  They  stood in front of the council and when asked who gave them the authority to heal people and preach the word, it was Peter who replied, ”let it be known to all of you and to all of the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who God raised from the dead-by him this man is standing before you well.  This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, which has become the cornerstone.”  I love the way that Peter specified under whose authority he was acting. He may have been facing fear but He was filled with the Holy Spirit so He was not facing fear alone.

Dear Reader I want you to know that you too can stand up to fear.  Every time someone does something to glorify God, there is always someone there to question them.  I think they call them “haters”. When you uplift someone they will question your motives.  When you feed someone that’s hungry there are going to be people that are going to question where did you get enough food to give. When you love someone who the world has cast on the doorsteps of hate, there are going to be people that are going to ask who gave you the authority to love.  I don’t want you to leave them hanging.  I want you to answer them boldly.  You don’t have to answer in these words, but here is what  I like to tell them.  I say, “It is Jesus, the same Jesus that fed you when you where hungry.  The same Jesus that loved you enough to die on the cross and defeat death so that you could have life everlasting.  The same Jesus that lifted you up when you were down.  Under this authority do I do these things.  Under the authority of a living Jesus do I stand up to fear.”

Dear Reader when you doing what God told you to do, don’t fear what others may say to you or about you.  When you stand up to fear you will never stand alone.

You are beautiful, loved, and blessed

John Reed