[Discoveries] 12-28-07 The gospel of peace -- Luke 1:74

[Inspiration in Your Inbox]

/*... to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to 
serve Him without fear ... -- Luke 1:74*/

If we really understood the truth, could anything frighten us? The Bible 
says, "The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid, what can mortal man 
do to me?" Well, mortal man can do quite a bit. But Paul, who received 
"quite a bit" from the hand of mortal man said, "I reckon that the 
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the 
glory that shall be revealed in us."

What does this mean? It means that the gospel -- the real gospel -- is 
so powerful that it transforms our fears into peace and turns cowardice 
into courage. When speaking of the armor that defends us from the 
schemes of the evil one, Paul refers to the "gospel of peace."

How do we receive this transformation from God? By denial? By 
suppression? By pretending that we have no fears, when, in reality, we 
are riddled with them? I don't think so. It's by inviting Jesus into our 
fears and asking Him for the transforming truth.

One day I was driving to a church to tell a pastor about a seminar I was 
doing. For some reason I found myself dreading this meeting, and a shaky 
fear was growing inside me. So I just found a quiet spot on the road, 
pulled over to the side, focused in on this fear, did my best to 
discover where it was coming from and invited Jesus into the whole mess. 
Nothing terribly dramatic happened, but the fear dissipated and I sensed 
it was time to go on. I went into the church without fear, had a 
wonderful meeting with the pastor, and went on to have great meetings 
with several other pastors that day.

You see it isn't our heads that need to know all this information about 
"Fear not for I am with you," but rather it is our hearts. That's why we 
find our fears and invite Jesus into them so He can get the truth to the 
place where it's going to make a difference.

Be encouraged!
Dwight


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