DO NOT LET FEAR DRIFT YOU AWAY FROM YOUR FAITH
DO NOT LET FEAR DRIFT YOU AWAY FROM YOUR FAITH
Isaiah 51:12-13 “ I, even I, am he that comforteth you: art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which be made as grass; 13 And foergettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and has feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor?”
Good morning faithful brethren in the Lord,
We thank God for such a wonderful day given to us through Christ Jesus our Lord. May the name of our LORD who created the heavens and the earth and everything within be praised now and forever.
The theme for our just ended youth week was DON’T DRIF AWAY, and as part of the messages preached by our wonderful sisters I have decided to share with you one of the things that was highlighted as a cause for us drifting away from the faith and that is FEAR.
In this passage we see how our loving God promises us and encourages us not to be afraid of our oppressors. In this days of life, our oppressors might be in a different form as in the days of the Israelites. Just as the LORD commanded Joshua not to be afraid ( Joshua 1:9), in our time and through the power of the blood of Christ we are equally instructed not to be afraid ( Matthew 10:28).
The question one may ask is, in this our generation who are our oppressors? Well I think we can list thousand of things that can act as oppressors in this our days as Christians one of which most people will not think about is OUR OWN SELF.
I know this may be a surprise to you and you are asking the very same question most Christians will ask.
How can I oppress myself is the question that is running through your mind.
In one of our previous studies we encountered the three root of sin and one of these was PRIDE.
I think now you are trying to agree with me that we can oppress ourself. Pride is a major challenge for most young Christians. The question I think you are asking now is how PRIDE makes us oppress ourself.
- Pride makes us an opponent to God and the grace we need to live without fear will be lost ( James 4:6)
- Pride will not make us reverence God ( Proverbs 8:13)
- Pride does not provide a room for God in our heart (Psalm 10:4)
- Pride leads to Isolation from others and as result things we could have asked for help we cant and will lead us down
- Pride goes before destruction as seen in Proverbs 16:18
I believe these few points support the claim that as a result of PRIDE we turn out to oppress ouself because we will not get the benefits and the good things God has promised us.
Having seen these negative effects of PRIDE that can make us oppress ourselves let us take a look at how in our days we can live of confident as children of God.
It is important to know that the bible doesn’t say oppressors will not be around us, even if external oppressors doesn’t come, we have seen that we ourselves can be oppressors to our own self. What can we do to live with confident even if we are surrounded by many oppressors?
- Trusting in the Lord with all our heart. (Isaiah 51:13, Psalm 20:7, Psalm 31:14, Psalm 56:3, Proverbs 3:5-6)
- Studying the word of God ( Joshua 1:8, Psalm 119:105, Proverbs 3:1-2)
- Be a prayerful person ( 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19)
- Be holy before God in all your activities and flee from sin.
God bless you
Antwi Bosiakoh Isaac