Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

August 24, 2018

by Pastor Hawtree

I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE:

TO HELP ME TO BE STRONG (part 1)

Isaiah 35:4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.

Do you have a fearful heart today? I am talking about worry, anxiety, and fear. I am talking about anxiety from the past, fear of the present, and worry about the future. It happens to the best of us. We know the Bible, we have faith, we trust the Lord, but some things or circumstances just get the best of us. This became more of a problem for me when I got married. I was now responsible for another person. I had to make sure she felt safe, was provided for, and had her needs met. When I was single, I didn’t worry about many things at all. I was a bit of a free spirit. There were not decisions every day that had disastrous possibilities? But when I married my wife, that changed things. Then I became a parent three times over. Goodness! I have a thousand things to worry and stress about now. Then I became a pastor. I better stop right there. I’m getting stressed just writing about it. My point is, all of us have opportunity to succumb to a fearful heart. So, this verse says that there are some things that need to be told to those of us who struggle with fear.

“BE STRONG, FEAR NOT”
Fear is not always a sign of weakness, but fear can create weakness. When I allow worry and fear to overtake my life, it will tend to devour my strength. It begins to make you imagine things that are not there. You begin to go over scenarios that may never take place. You think of all the things that can go wrong and probably will go wrong instead of concentrating on what God can accomplish. You begin to doubt, question, and become unstable on things. It’s hard to be strong when you are unstable. God has already given us the promise that “greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world”. So as believers, we already have the strength, we just have to remember that. God has already given us supernatural power to do, and to face, anything that comes into our life. Remember:

* II Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

We cannot decide to be strong because of our ability, but we can remember to be strong based on God’s provision and promises.