January 12: My heart is not afraid

The Lord is my light and my salvation — whom should I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life — of whom should I be afraid? When evildoers came against me to devour my flesh, my foes and my enemies stumbled and fell. Though an army deploys against me, my heart is not afraid; though a war breaks out against me, still I am confident.  (Psalm 27:1-3 — NET)

King David, a man who had experienced God’s deliverance over and over again, faced death many times, led armies into war, and taught an entire nation to follow God, here reveals one of the keys to his life: Have faith in God and reject fear. I’m sure he felt fear, we all do, but he fought against it and reasoned with himself that if God’s word was real, and if God had saved Abraham and Moses, then He would also save him. Not only did he decide to reject fear, he must have concentrated on using his reason.

We cannot hope to control fear in our lives until we put emotions and feelings in their rightful place. We all have feelings, and will always have them, but they must be controlled. We need to base our lives on reason and thought from the Bible; if feelings cooperate, fine, but if they don’t, they have to be rejected.

Fear is such an important subject because it is one of the most powerful tools of the devil and demons. Fear brings doubt and kills faith. When we give in to fear and neglect rational arguments based on God’s promises, our faith starts to shrink until we have nothing left. Fear means turning your back on God and the Bible, and faith means turning your back on the devil and demons. When we say by faith “my enemies are going to stumble and fall because God is the stronghold of my life” we are worshiping God and inviting Him to deliver us from the army of evildoers coming against us.

This week I challenge you to have no fear! Whenever it pops up its head, fight it — remember what He did for people in the Bible, or for you, and determine that you’re going to be victorious. If you do this, I guarantee this week will be an amazing one. You will have problems, but you will also overcome and feel God close to you.