DO NOT FEAR

"Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

Isaiah 41:10 (NAS version)

In the above passage, God is promising the nation of Israel HIS help and encouraging them to look to HIM for deliverance instead of focusing on their fears and what was happening about them at that time. God, in these above verses, was reminding the children of Israel that He, the Lord our God, was greater than their fears. God wanted His people to look to Him for their strength and help.

A few chapters earlier in Isaiah 37, King Hezekiah had prayed to God when faced with being attacked by the Assyrian army. At that particular time, the Assyrians were mighty and undefeated. The kingdom of Judah by far was considered the underdog. It didn't look good for Judah. King Hezekiah went before the Lord in prayer with his fears. Verses 21-22 of chapter 37 tells us, "…Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, "Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib, King of Assyria, this is the word that the Lord has spoken against him…"

Did you catch that…"Because you have PRAYED TO ME about …."

Wow, to me that is just powerful! That same Lord, our God, who was with Isaiah and King Hezekiah, is the same one who is with us today. Hebrews 13:8 tell us that Jesus Christ (who is part of the trinity of God) is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Those promises above were made to God's chosen people. Back then, they were the Israelites. Today, because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the cross of Cavalry, it includes all those who belong to Him. When we give ourselves over to Christ by being buried in baptism and putting on that newness of a changed life, we belong to Jesus Christ. At that point, we are also given spiritual blessings. One of the most powerful, in my opinion, is the blessing of prayer.

Prayer is our conversation to God filtered by the Spirit in our behalf (Romans 8:26) and with Jesus Christ being our mediator before God in our behalf (1 Timothy 2:5). That means every time we pray, we have the Spirit of God interceding for us and the son of God coming before the throne of God for us. It's kind of like having our own defense team before God. Now that is powerful! Each of us should feel very, very special because to God, we are special.

The sad thing is that there were many times that the Israelites would forget God and forget to use that wonderful spiritual blessing of prayer. But not King Hezekiah! He used it for his and his people’s deliverance from what looked like a certain attack from Assyria. And again, God was pleased that King Hezekiah had used the avenue of prayer instead of panicking. But how often and consistently do we do use that same avenue of prayer that is available to us in our crisis situations?

The wonderful blessing of prayer is such a beautiful privilege and honor. Definitely in our crisis situations, we do need prayer; but, let us also aim to make prayer a bigger part of our life, including praising God and giving thanks and gratitude (Phillippians 4:6) for what He has done for us and continues to do for us. David prayed seven times a day (Psalms 119:164) and many of his prayers are recorded in the Psalms. David prayed when experiencing fear, loneliness, sadness, and depression. He also prayed when he messed up and needed to repent of sin in his life. But there are many, many prayers of David that are filled with joy, happiness, and great praise and adoration towards God. In fact, the word tells us that God considered David, a man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). What a testimony about the life of David and his prayer life!

Most of us, like David, are going to go through a tumult of emotions and situations, some good, some not so good, in our lifetime. The world's problems including war and the economy, along with our own personal problems and struggles, are going to impact us at times; sometimes, even several all at the same time. Let's strive, like David and those other men and women of great faith, to use that spiritual blessing of prayer to build that close "heart-to-heart" relationship with our Father not on an "as needed" basis, but on a "You are my everything" basis.



Anita Bick