Who Is This?

 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God." Isaiah 41:10...."Fear is faith in the power of Satan and the ways of the world." Chris Tiegreen

The testimony of His Word, His Spirit, and His Son is that we are to fear nothing and no one but God. It's been said that if we fear Him we will never need to fear anything else. Kingdom people, followers of Christ, are to be fearless in our encounters with life. I need to clarify that when speaking of fear, I mean living in its grip. Living in fear of what might happen. Living in fear of what the Doctor's report could be. It's living with the paralyzing sense that we are at the mercy of life and how our enemy, the devil, comes against us in this life. Both the Father, in the Old Testament, and Christ in the New, would almost always preface their appearance, actions, or the surrounding circumstances with these two simple, but mighty words; FEAR NOT! The reasons we are not to fear are found in the above Scripture; First, He is with us, and second, He is our God. God over all.

I think if we were to describe the overall emotion of our culture, of all cultures, it is fear. We live encased in it. We fear everything. We feel safe and secure in almost nothing. We employ every means possible to try and protect ourselves, but in our hearts, we know we cannot control the vast majority of events around us. We feel we are at their mercy.....and we are.....if we are without Him. That is a great tragedy. An even greater one though is that countless souls who say they have trusted Him for their salvation are living in just as much fear as those who never have. How can this be? We see the answer in Tiegreen's words above. We have more faith in the enemy's power and the world system he works through than in the One whom the Bible says "holds all things together." We "trust" that the enemy will prevail more than we do in the promise that Christ has already prevailed. When that happens, fear is what we live in.

If you're a churchgoer, you're likely familiar with the bible passage concerning Christ and His disciples crossing the lake when a terrible storm arises. Jesus is sleeping on a pillow at the end of the boat and His disciples are frantic, sure that they will be overwhelmed and perish. They wake Him, screaming, "Don't you care if we perish?" With a word, He calms the sea. Then He rebukes them. In one translation He asks, "How can you be so cowardly? Have you no faith?" In astonishment they ask, "Who is this that even the winds and waves obey Him?"

Cowardly? A very negative word, but what else are we when we tremble before what Christ has already told us to not fear? And why do we fear in the first place? I think the answer is found in knowing the answer to what the disciples exclaimed after the storm; "Who is this?" Until we are rock solid certain of who He is, what He promises, and what He's done, our faith will not be in Him, but in our believing that which seeks to undermine any faith in Him. Which is prevailing in your life and mine right now?

Who is this Jesus? How we answer that determines everything.

Blessings,
Pastor O