Do it Afraid!

LISTEN!
"You may feel afraid, but you don't have to be afraid. You can keep going forward with your knees shaking and heart pounding and say, "God is with me. He will never leave me nor forsake me, and I am going to do everything that I need to do. I will not fear. What can man do to me?" (Psalm 118:6)" Joyce Meyer
DO IT AFRAID!

The funny thing is that when you tell yourself to "Do it afraid", courage rises up. My friend and Pastor, Brian Beattie once reminded me that the enemy can't touch us. He said that fear is just a yapping dog at our heels. I always tell that to myself when I'm afraid and I imagine myself kicking them off!

There's probably very little in life worth doing that doesn't first make us afraid. I don't give all the credit to the enemy either. I think fear is there to make us stop and think before we act. When pursuing the purpose of your life, this is where "the most important thing about you is what you think about when you think about God"(A.W.Tozer) becomes key, this is where truth meets up with the lies, and freedom runs up against our "safety" systems; this is the process that determines how long before we agree to the fulfillment of our destiny.

I personally have desired and dreamed my whole life of seeing people healed from sickness, and doing those "greater things" Jesus talked about (John 14:12-14). I've been held back by fear and reason every time there's been an opportunity outside my church. It's part of my destiny, the Holy Spirit is in me to accomplish these things. I guess if I'm going to do it, I'm going to "Do it afraid"!

Once we accept that fear is not going to leave before we first take action, then fear's power changes hands. "You may feel afraid, but you don't have to be afraid." J.M.
Fear doesn't own or control you. You control you!

DO IT AFRAID!

Daddy!

What does the innocent child want from his Daddy?
Standing before him he doesn’t ask for food, Dad takes care of that. He doesn’t ask for clothes. He doesn’t ask for a shelter over his head, he lives in his Daddy’s house. These things are provided without request from the child. It doesn’t cross his mind to ask for those things. The innocent child hopes stands there hoping his daddy will pull him up onto His lap. He sits there warm, contented, quiet. He Listens to Dad’s heartbeat, the bass in Dad’s voice, as he leans his childish head against his chest. It is a place of security; there is complete trust. The innocent child shows Daddy his boo boo and tells about the kids who call him names. The boo boo is healed with a kiss and the names are cancelled out by the higher thoughts of the Dad.
Then the child asks for a treat because there’s really nothing else to ask for; Daddy already supplies the rest. Dad laughs and pulls out a handful from his pocket.
The child thanks his Daddy and lightheartedly skips away. The Dad smiles and calls out after him, “Now make sure you share with your friends!”

Never Rich Until I Became Poor

There are Godly world changers doing great exploits. Some so great you can hardly believe it without seeing it! When you're not at that place it seems like a painful, scary journey. It seems like a place you'd never want to go. Yet you're being drawn there!

When you love Jesus it takes you where you could never get to on your own: Dealing with childhood memories, insurmountable fear, healing your sicknesses, assurance of salvation. As we pursue a relationship with Jesus, somewhere in the midst the love grows and spills out of you and you begin to help, heal and assure others.

If you take the time to contemplate where you came from and where you are now in this journey, it was only scary at the time, now the fears seem almost funny. I remember a time when I would start to get a word from God to share during a church service. I had to know the whole thing, I had to write it out word for word. then I would wait to see if something in the service lined up. The whole time my heart would race, stomach in knots, throat constricted. If! all those things were in place and the opportunity came, I would cry through the whole thing.
Now I'll get a sentence or a picture, I'll ask a couple questions like: do I share? Anything else I need to know? I wait for the opportune time, and then I open my mouth.

How did I get there? I can't even say exactly! I believe the key was that I kept pursuing relationship with Jesus, he increased, and I decreased; pushing out my fears and insecurities. I don't say this pridefully, but with great humility knowing that my only part is love for Jesus and willingness to trust him. Without him I am nothing.

"It is not a question of our equipment but of our poverty, not of what we bring with us, but of what God puts into us; not a question of natural virtues of strength of character, knowledge, and experience-all that is of no avail in these matters. The only thing that avails is that we are taken up into the big compelling of God and made His comrades." Oswald Chambers

"Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not —to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption." 1 Corinthians 1:26-30