Bible Verse of the Day Wednesday October 4th, 2023

1 Timothy 1:7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

The world has experienced a disruption of unsettlement and disorder in the last few years. Covid came upon an unsuspecting world and turned millions, if not billions, of lives upside down. Fear engulfed people, some of whom did not understand the Covid pandemic. However, we were not the first generation that went through this unsettling period. During 1914-1918, the world experienced a worldwide pandemic (The fu pandemic) and a World War that was supposed to be the war that ended all wars. World War 1 took the lives of over 20 million people, and the flu pandemic took the lives of close to 100 million people worldwide.

These times are an excellent time for all Christians to understand the importance of living in peace and faith instead of Fear and apprehension. The monster of Fear does not surrender to reasoning and rationalization; we can't convince ourselves to stop being afraid. There is no earthly or physical cure for anxiety; the only salutation is a spiritual healing from God (Ephesians 3:17-19)

The more time we spend studying God's Holy Word, the stronger the anchor of the love of God through Christ Jesus will display itself in our lives. Fear is Satan's tool to steer us away from the Word of God's healing power and prayer's power in our lives. Faith is an anchor from God that can hold us tight in His love, grace, and mercy in any rough sea of Fear and anxiety.

I read a story recently about a traveling salesman who had a flat tire in the middle of nowhere late one night. When he opened the trunk to get the tools to fix the flat, he realized there was no tire wrench. He spotted a farmhouse a little way down the road and decided to knock on the farmer’s door to attempt to borrow a tire wrench. Walking up to the house, he imagined what the farmer might say. He thought he would probably be angry for waking up in the middle of the night, and then he began to think, what right did this farmer have to refuse a traveler in need? As he knocked on the door, the farmer called, "Who is it?”  In his anger, that salesman cried out, “You can keep your old time whence I wouldn’t use it now if it were the last tire wrench on earth.”

This story tells us how our fear takes us to the worst that could happen. Someone once wrote, “Fear is the wrong use of imagination. It is anticipating the worst, not the best, that can happen.” Fear is the emotion we encounter when we find ourselves in a situation that seems out of our control. Most of the time, fear is what we believe will occur with no base of reality.

1 John 4:8 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.