Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Day 52 - Fear of Faith?

Bill Johnson has said that at any given time, he is within five minutes of being depressed if he would allow himself o go there. I can certainly understand why he would say that. I know that in my situation it is truer now in my life than ever before. If you listen to any news during the day, or even the weather, it is all fear based. Take last night as an example. All night they were saying how bad the roads were going to be in the morning. “All that snow and slush is going to freeze, and make the roads treacherous.” “Stay inside, don’t drive, schools are cancelled…” It goes on and on. That’s just the weather. Then they get started on the news. It’s a wonder we all don’t crawl in a whole and wait for the rapture. (If you believe that there will be one.) Most of the church operates in a bunker mentality. “We must protect ourselves from all the sin and bad stuff out there” We wind up on the defensive, trying to hold on to what we have, rather than taking the offensive and advancing the Kingdom of God.
We as believers have to stop filling ourselves with all the negativity. I used to watch a lot of news, and listen to a lot more. But for me right now, the Holy Spirit has limited me on how much news I can watch. I really don’t get involved in politics like I used to. I don’t think it’s wrong, but when I do that I wind up seeing all the negative, and lose heart as to what God wants to do. What we behold is what we become. I think it’s funny that Holy Spirit has convicted me of this, yet I can go see almost any movie. Interesting isn’t it, fear kills faith and the news papers, television stations and even the weather stations feed off our fears. We are afraid of the republicans, or we are afraid of the democrats. We really need to be spending the time we spend worrying about what’s going to happen worshiping and crying out to God, letting Him show us what He wants to happen. We would have a lot less fear, and a lot more faith. I think Julia began to help me see this over the last year. Does this mean I don’t have political views, or passions about things? No, I’m very passionate, but my focus is no longer on what is wrong, or what is about to be wrong. I try to put my focus now on bring forth change in my sphere of influence. I can be more effective in intercession buy praying the solution than by praying against problems.
One of the things about getting older, notice I didn’t say old, is that you begin to see your life differently. It’s no longer just about me, me, me. Sure you still want to do things, to accomplish dreams. But you see more of your life as an investment of time, an investment of your time into others. These others are your children and grandchildren to be sure. But there are many more. These become spiritual children. They may be older or younger than you, but they become part of your inheritance. This has become more real to me in the last two months. I see Julia and parts of her in so many people. I see myself in many also. Julia caught on to this mentoring thing before I did. I still wanted to press into the deep alone. Then one day we realized it would be much more rewarding to take others along. I didn’t realize how much this had become a part of who we are until Julia was gone. Now I look around and I see her everywhere. I had dinner with a young couple that we have been hanging out with for the past year. They are neat, and we love to spend time with them. As I looked at the wife tonight, I could almost see Julia in her. It was so strong. Her strength, and discernment., even her mannerisms reminded me of Julia. We always think it’s about us. Have you ever thought how many people your life touches? It’s amazing. So how you act and react, how you think, how you worship, how you pray. They all have an impact that you don’t realize, our faith matters. We all have an impact on others, and sometimes our greatest impact will not be realized until we are gone. You see, in the spirit, Julia is still very present. I see her everywhere in many different people.
So probably the best things we do are sometimes what we think are the least. Love people an be willing to pour your life into them. That’s what Julia did, and with renewed vigor, that is what I am doing. The world needs spiritual mothers and fathers. You don’t have to be old to be one, you just have to have a passionate love for God, and want to show His goodness to others.

2 comments:

  1. I'm not sure if I've written this on here before. It seems like I have. But I'll write it again in light of your post. At my father-in-law's funeral my husband said, "You all think that you are here because you loved Chuck. Really, you are all here because Chuck loved you." Impact. When you wrote the last part about impacting peoples' lives and how you can still see Julia in different people, I thought of that. It wasn't as much that people loved Julia, it was that Julia loved people.

    And I agree with you about the news. I stopped watching it a long time ago because it would get me in an emotional tizzy. Now I just rest knowing that God is in control of it ALL. I catch news through yahoo.com or drudgereport.com. :-D

    Blessings!

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  2. Powerful Points:
    -What we behold is what we become.
    -Love people an be willing to pour your life into them.

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