When Fear Crowds Your Mind

 

 

There is a monster lurking in the dark recesses of your mind. He stays pretty quiet until you begin to venture into new territory. All is well as long as you don't try to step out in faith and accomplish the seemingly impossible. As long as you stay in your "comfort zone" he remains as quiet as a church mouse.

 

But, try something new, step up to work in a new ministry at church, begin to write a book, start a new enterprise, apply for a new job, or tell yourself that things are finally going to be different and the monster awakens. As he awakes, you feel your heart begin to race, small beads of sweat begin to form on your forehead, and anxious feelings arise within you. As he awakens so does his two companions, doubt and worry. A million negative "what if's" begin to flood your mind.

 

• What if I can't do it?
• What if people make fun of me?
• What if I fail?
• What if I succeed?
• What if I can't finish what I start?
• What if no one reads the book?
• What if no one joins me in my new venture?
• What if...what if...what if?

A sense of paralysis begins to set in and we are faced with a choice.  Do we "Forget Everything  and Run?" or do we "Face Everything and Rise?" For many people facing the monster is hard. The fear of the unknown overwhelms them and they shrink back into a life of mediocrity - they crawl back under their "comfort zone" covers and pull the blankets over their head hoping the monster will go away and he does. When you are not willing to face him, he will quietly retreat back into his corner until you awaken him again.

 

But, the monster is not real! He is like the proverbial "bogie man" under your bed that keeps you awake at night until you finally get up the nerve to lean over the bed and look under it to discover that there is nothing there. You finally realize that it is a figment of your imagination and from that point forward you go to bed and sleep like a baby.

 

In order to conquer your self-imposed fears, you must choose to "Face Everything and Rise." Your greatest fears will go away when you face them. Your fears will subside when you begin to write that book, work in that ministry, start that business, or apply for that new job. The scriptures clearly tell us to not fear.

 

"Fear not" is the most repeated command in the scriptures. There are 366 "fear not's" in the Bible, one for each day of the year, including leap year. The Psalmist gives us the formula for overcoming our fears. Listen to what he says,

 

"When I am afraid,
I will trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise,
In God I trust; I will not be afraid.
What can mortal man do to me?"

(Psalm 56:3-4)

 

Go ahead, take a peek under the bed, you can do it - lean over and see, there is no "bogie man" it is just a figment of your imagination.

 



The Art of Persistence

The Art of Persistence  

Grant Cardone in his book, The 10X Rule makes a powerful statement in Chapter 22, page 164. He says, "The ability to persist on a given path regardless of setbacks, unexpected events, bad news, and resistance - to continue steadfastly or firmly in some state, purpose, or course of action in spite of conditions - is a trait common to those who make it . . . we all have to learn how to persist through all types of situations. It is as though this planet has some kind of force or natural tendency - almost like gravity - that challenges people's ability to persist. It's almost like the universe is just trying to find out what you are made of as it continues to confront you."

And all God's Children said, AMEN! Whew, I could not have said it better myself. On our path to becoming all that God intends us to be and on this path of accomplishing all that He wants us to accomplish, we will inevitably hit a few brick walls - maybe more than just a few.  I know that I have come up against numerous seemingly insurmountable obstacles in my lifetime.  Now when faced with them I have choices. I can quit and turn back from the race God has chosen for me to run; I can stop dead in my tracks and neither move forward or backward, or I can persist through the obstacle and see what I am made of.

I choose the latter. Now, I wish I could say that I have always made the choice to move forward, but that has not always been the case, but I have learned through the years to just hang in there. Like the mouse above, I have had to put on a few helmets to move forward to reach my goal. I recently heard a quote (sorry I don't remember who from) but it said, "The prize is not to finally get what you are after, but the prize is what you become in the pursuit of it." God uses every type of circumstance and challenge to make us into his image.

I am so grateful that Jesus, when faced with the cross did not quit but he went all the way. Was it hard, you bet? He cried in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane that His Father would take this task away from him, but he did not want his will to be accomplished, but the Father's.

How about you? Will you persist? Will you make it to your destiny? Will you, despite all the trials, tribulations and challenges finish your race. The Apostle Paul came to the end of his life and said, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7, NIV). I will finish mine, I have dedicated myself to that task.

Fear or Faith

When someone keeps telling you to “be strong and courageous,” you might suspect you are up against something big.  And the Israelites were.

They are about to enter the land that had been promised them 600 years before and they had a giant-sized task awaiting them.  Literally!  Forty years earlier ten spies had come back and told the Israelites that the inhabitants of the land were so big they felt like they were the size of a grasshopper in comparison.  Fear took them captive and it was that fear that kept them from fighting the epic battle that God wanted them to fight and because of it, that entire generation lost out on God’s incredible blessing for their lives.

Fear always has the tendency to debilitate us. What we need to overcome fear is courage.  Because courage is not the absence of fear, it is doing what we were called to do in spite of the fear.

The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years until the faithless generation was replaced with a faith filled one.  After 40 years their children were ready to take the land.  They were physically no taller than their parents had been.  The enemies in the land were no smaller than before.  But the Israelites’ faith muscles had grown and they were tired of a wilderness experience and knew there had to be more. So they were ready to face their fears and their enemies and march into unknown territory to claim what God had promised.

The two spies, upon returning back to camp, reported that the land was theirs for the taking. Joshua, the faith filled leader, rallied the people together to prepare them for the battles ahead. God, tells Joshua, three times in the first nine verses of the first chapter of Joshua: “Be strong and courageous.”  He also reminds him “the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

My guess is you have a few giants in your life.  I know I have some.  We have also fought some battles and lost because we allowed fear to rule the day instead of faith. We have had some uphill battles that appeared insurmountable.  We have faced some tasks that demanded more than we thought we could give. We have faced times of discouragement and wondered if we had the strength to carry on.

Maybe you have one too many things on your “to do” list than you have the time or energy to do. Unemployment is staring you down.  Depression has a grip on you.  Bills have raided your bank account and left it empty.  An illness hovers in your life like a threatening storm.  You’d rather just run and wander.

But, would you listen to the words of the Lord as he brings encouragement to you today. Here is what he is saying: “Be strong and courageous! I will be with you wherever you go!” We have a Joshua that will lead the way.  The New Testament equivalent of the name “Joshua” is “Jesus.”  And he has promised to be with you always (Matthew 28:20). 

Jesus knows how to lead you through battles.  He had a few of his own while he was on this earth.  Enemies attacking him with accusations (Mark 3:22).  No home and no bed (Luke 9:58).  Crowds and expectations pressing in on him (Luke 8:45).  The religious establishment eventually insuring he was sentenced to a brutal death. (Mark 15:14).

Yet he took on the most barbaric giant there is, death, and lived to tell about it.  He can help you do the same.  You need only be strong and courageous in your faith. 

When You Are Walled In, Look for the Way Out

 

 

 

There’s a wall in front of you.  Behind you is a past you are running from.  Beyond the wall there awaits the promise of a new life.  But you’re not moving because there is this “wall.”  You feel trapped and it seems like there is no way out.  But, can I share something with you; this is just the sort of situation in which God does some of his finest work. 

Don’t believe me, ask the Israelites.  Behind them was a life of back-breaking work and slavery.  Ahead of them was a life in the land of Promise.  Behind them was the fierce army of a fanatical Pharaoh coming towards them.  Ahead of them was a wall.  Their wall was a river overflowing its banks and crossing it was impossible, or at least they thought it was.

Your “wall” may be a fear of failure.  Or maybe it’s a lack of confidence that has grinded your progress to a halt.  Or maybe you have made so many mistakes that you think life will never turn around for you. Or it could be that you have so many insurmountable problems that you don’t know which one to tackle first.

So you have stopped and feel stuck and you aren’t sure if there is a way over, around, or under this imposing impediment. 

Here is where most people panic.  Anxiety courses its way through the body, atrophies the movement muscles, and rigor mortis overtakes their resolve.  Eyes which once had clear focus now only focus on the wall just inches away.

Of course we can always find someone else to blame.  The Israelites blamed Moses. You can blame your spouse, or your boss, or your friends and yes, some people blame Jesus. Blame all you want but the wall remains.

While the Israelites were body punching Moses, he opted to look elsewhere.  Moses could have looked at the enemy’s army.  He could have looked at the ungrateful people he led.  He could have looked at the wall of water spread out before him, sat down, and given up. 

Instead he looked to God.  And God opened an unlikely route through the wall of water.  Safely on the other side, the very wall that had halted their steps became the source of their deliverance.

The very name of the book where we find this story serves as a reminder when we face our “walls.”  “Exodus” is a compound Greek word meaning “the way out.”  And in case you might have missed it, the way out was not a better job, a different spouse, or a victim mentality.

No, the way out is God.  Next time you find yourself up against a wall try looking to him.

Keep on Dreaming No Matter What

 

People nearing mid-life often crash into some startling and unexpected observations. For instance, we all dreamed big dreams when we were younger.  But as we move at a break-neck pace through our twenties, thirties, and forties, we eventually slam head on into the realization that some of our dreams will never be realized. 

 

That observation throws some people into a mid-life crisis.  Some don’t make it that far with their aspirations, having already given them up somewhere along the way.  Some run into conflict that makes them weary and they settle for less.  Still others make bold decisions to trade one dream in for another. 

 

That’s what Joseph did.  Talk about dreams!  He had some big ones.  At seventeen he dreamed his ten older brothers would bow down to him.  It’s enough he dreamed that dream.  What makes it worse is that he told his brothers about it.

 

The older brothers already had issues with the younger son.  Their father favored Joseph.  He had even given him a valuable, multi-colored coat.  That’s the modern-day equivalent of a parent of four teenagers giving one an iPhone and the other three a stack of quarters each for a pay phone (assuming they could find one on their travels).  The brothers banded together and tossed the dreamer in a ditch, eventually selling him into slavery at the first opportunity.   The next thing Joseph knew he was waking up in Egypt.

 

From there his life was a rollercoaster thrill ride.  One minute a slave.  Nest, he was in charge of an Egyptian official’s house.  Then he found himself in prison.  Next, he was in charge of the prison.  Then he found himself in front of Pharaoh, called upon to interpret the leader’s dreams.  With God’s help he was able to warn Pharaoh that he would have seven years of abundant crops and he should be put in storehouses in anticipation of seven years of famine.  Recognizing his wisdom, Pharaoh put Joseph second in command of all of Egypt.

 

Because of God’s personal involvement in his life, Joseph able to save his family, the same family that God was building into a nation.  Joseph was in position to bring his family to Egypt and give them the most fertile land to work.  And it was definitely fertile.  In the time they were there they were “fruitful and increased greatly” (Exodus 1:7).

Joseph could have lost his life getting caught up in the details of his life. He could have questioned every challenge he faced and allowed the negative things he went through to stop him in his tracks and quit chasing his dreams and desires.  Instead, he chose a better story, God’s story. 

 

You can do the same.  If your life’s dream has stalled, look to God. If your dream now realized is not all you thought it would be, look to God. He can give you another dream.  A better one, not according to the world’s standard but God’s criterion.  God is still in the dream giving and dream fulfilling business. Don’t let the set-back cause you to quit but allow them to give you a greater resolve to accomplish all that God has for your life.

 

Pastor Rick

God Chooses the Most Unlikely People to Star in His Story!

God Chooses the Most Unlikely People to Star in His Story!

People love their reality shows, don’t they? Truthfully, I have never found them that interesting, but I overhear conversations about “Idol,” Dancing with the Stars,” Survivor,” and the “Voice.” We also have reality shows that highlight some famous family and all their drama.  I have enough drama of my own; I have little need to experience someone else’s.

But imagine for a moment that a new reality show is being cast and this new series will be a spellbind story about a man and a woman who build a dynasty. We are going to follow this couple from their first child birth through the building of this empire. Trust me; it is going to be a riveting story.  In our mind we conjure up this image of a handsome man and a gorgeous woman who meet, fall-in-love, and start building their empire. This is the pilot, and it is crucial to make the right call on the individuals who will launch this Kennedy-like family of influence and fame.

The season premier is scheduled and we sit glued to our television set waiting for this dynamic couple to be introduced.  The moment we have all been waiting for finally arrives and the actor and actress are brought into camera view and our mouths drop. Instead of the expected vibrant, young couple with gleaming white teeth and tanned and toned bodies, a 75-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman emerge.  Really! We shout across the living room, how can a dynasty be created from this most unlikely couple.

That is the question Abram and Sari have on their minds, too.  How can it be possible for us to have children must less start a nation? Sari is barren and for her entire life she has never been able to get pregnant and Abram is old and probably past child bearing years, too. I am sure they thought God was out of his mind. And yet, this is what God has chosen.  This is the couple God has chosen to start his “chosen” nation and the couple through which “all the nations of the earth would be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3).

But that is not the rest of the story.  It will be another 25 years before this promise comes to pass.  By the time they finally have a child, Abram and Sarai will be 100 years old and 90 years old, respectively (and their names will be changed to Abraham and Sarah).  And, they will make numerous mistakes during this waiting period. We all hate waiting, don’t we? There is something at our very core that despises waiting. And, how many times have we tried to take matters into our own hands while waiting?

But this story is not just about waiting; it is more about the types of people that God picks to be a part of His Story. God picks people you and I wouldn’t necessarily select to take part in his story. In fact sometimes we are shocked who plays the starring roles in his stories.  Unlike the way we do business, God doesn’t choose people because of their ability, he chooses people because of their availability. God searches for people who are open to be used by him.  Who would have thought that God would choose a “farm-boy” from Delano, California to be one of his under-shepherds? Who would have thought he would have chosen you, either?

That’s good news, isn’t it?  In the business world, you may not have a great pedigree.  In academics, you may not be a Rhodes Scholar.  You may not have a lot of money and you may have average looks.  But you may be sitting in a pretty good position to be a top pick for God’s work. Are you available?

Creation: The Beginning of Life as We Know It

 

This last year my sister began searching our family tree through Ancestry.com.  She sent me over the link and I have to tell you I was fascinated looking through the tree and discovering grandparents, great-grand parents, great-great-grand parents and so on through 9 levels of grand-parents.  I found out that my lineage came from France (mais oui, bien sûr – which means “yes of course”) and I had two great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grand fathers who fought in the Revolutionary War. I could continue on with the stories, but I'm sure it doesn’t interest you the way it did me. Why? Because this is not your lineage, it is mine.

The excitement comes because it is “My Story.” Something that looks dull to others becomes intriguing to me, firing up my heart and igniting my imagination.  By looking at my lineage, I am reminded that I am part of something bigger than me; something that began before me and will continue on long after I am gone (should Jesus tarry.)  

That is why God wants us to know His story.  It’s found in another genealogy book, the Bible. And yes, it is our story because Adam and Eve are our far-distant great-great-great-great-great………grand-parents.  They are the ones who started it all. Let me make this personal! In His Book, God wants to take you into his house where he has framed photos of your ancestors––yes, these are folks you may not know but their photos are still lining the walls of his house.

In our story we will read of a family patriarch named Abraham whose faith was so powerful that he is listed in the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews Chapter 11.  We will see a matriarch named Ruth with courage that would make the most hardened warrior proud.  We learn of a stubborn distant relative named Jonah who rebels against God and gets swallowed by a huge fish. Then there is a timid man named Gideon who God calls a “mighty warrior” and he defeats his Midianite enemies with only 300 men of valor. You go Uncle Gideon! Then there is impetuous Peter and his big mouth and Paul who brought this story to the Gentiles so we too could be adopted by God as his very own sons and daughters.

Yet, in this story there is one more person that our Heavenly Father wants us to meet and that is His Son (our elder brother) Jesus.  He desires for us to look long into His eyes and hear his claims that what he began in the first chapter of the book, of creating a paradise for his people, will be realized in the last chapter of the book, where a perfect people can live in a perfect place with their perfect Lord…forever and forever.

The beauty of the Story is that you can be in this perfect place by accepting the perfect sacrifice, Jesus.  Will you be there? You can be there when you find your place in His Story.