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Scripture

[ecko_quote source=" Isaiah 41:10"]Fear not, for I am with you; Be not discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.[/ecko_quote]

Devotion

I am greatly encouraged by this verse whenever the Holy Spirit God brings it to my remembrance - John 14:26. This scripture states our problem and also provides us with God’s solution and assurance. Firstly, it talks about how we should not fear because our God is with us. Faith and fear are two unrelated words that are mutually exclusive. You may or may not have noticed this but they are quite opposite words to each other. Therefore, Faith and fear cannot co-exist within us. They are mutually exclusive things.

To understand clearly, in Matthew 14:22-24, Peter said to Jesus "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water". In response, Jesus said, "Come". Then, Peter had come down out of the boat having faith in Jesus; he walked on the water to get to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, the scripture states "he was afraid" and was beginning to sink. He cried out, saying, Lord, save me.  Dear ones, Peter started out with faith but ended up in fear. Faith and fear can never live together peacefully nor can they share the same sheath. Either we're walking by faith or we're living in fear. That is it!

Our Heavenly Father asks us not to fear - Why? Because He is with us. When God is for us, who can be against us? My friend if you are in fear, heed to God’s instruction, we should exercise our faith instead of embracing the fear. The choice is ours to make.

There’s a story about the devil auctioning off his tools. He had a high price on pride, laziness, arrogance, hate, envy, and jealousy. But there was one tool that had a sign under it which said, "Not for Sale." Someone said, "What is that tool and why isn’t it for sale?". "Well" he said, "I can’t afford to get rid of that one. It’s my chief tool, discouragement. With this tool, I can pry open a heart, and once I get in, I can do almost anything I want".

In the next verse, God is telling us not to be discouraged. When we are discouraged, we hardly have any strength to sustain and continue fighting. The army which never gets discouraged inevitably wins any battle they face. When you are discouraged, consider it right soil for Satan to sow the seed of evil into our lives. Someone said that, "discouragement is a darkroom where the negatives of fear and failure are developed".  Therefore, my dear ones check constantly whether your soul is discouraged or disheartened. The moment we allow discouragement to come into our hearts is the very moment when we let the enemy to use his favorite tool on us.  Unfortunately, most of us don’t even notice it, and we keep moving in towards discouragement instead of rebuking it in the name of Jesus. It is wonderful to know that scripture says not to be discouraged - Why?, because God says "for I am your God".

Would you like me to tell you why and when you and I get discouraged? I’ll tell you in a nutshell—It's when we take our eyes off God! Furthermore, God tells us that He will strengthen us, help us, and uphold us with His righteous right hand. Don’t be afraid. Fear is an insult to God, who said, "I will be with thee". Fear will destroy you and me.

What's next?

Are you a worrywart? One lady said, “Don’t tell me it does no good to worry. Most of the things I worry about never come to pass." Be not dismayed. God will take care of you.

Did you know, 365 times in the Bible, God has told us not to be afraid? Three hundred and sixty-five times, which might imply every day of the year. He said, "Be not afraid" or "Fear not". The devil is the sinister minister of fear, but our Lord tells us not to be afraid.  As we start believing the promises of God, May He dispel any kind of fear that the devil might try to attack us with.

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