Cabin Devotion with Miss Grace
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, help me find peace and rest in who you are and what you promise me as your child. Help my heart to be not overcome by fear but to find rest in you no matter what the circumstances.
Devotional:
I want you to think about your biggest fear. Maybe it’s something like spiders or heights or maybe something a little different, something like being alone, or losing someone you love. Throughout the Bible, we are told over and over again “do not fear”, however, I think too often we find ourselves in a position where we are letting our lives be controlled by our fear. Whether this is a fear of what others think about us, a fear of the future, a fear that we won’t be provided for, or a fear of anything else, these fears have a way of taking root in our hearts captivating our thoughts, and controlling our actions. These may seem like discouraging realities but the good news is that the gospel changes all of this. Jesus came not only to save us from our sins but so that we could have a personal relationship with the Father.
When it comes to a fear of acceptance, we can find hope and rest in the fact that the one who FULLY knows us, more than anyone on this earth ever could, fully accepts us in a way that no one else ever could. Jesus knows the ins and outs of our hearts, our fears, our doubts, and our sin, yet He still fully loves and accepts us. To me that is such a sweet truth to hold fast to when I start fearing acceptance by others around me.
When it comes to fear of the future, it is so important to fall back on the promises made to us throughout the Bible about our futures. Jeremiah 29:11 (For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope) has always been an encouragement to me when I start to have fears concerning the future and what it holds. Another encouraging promise I hold fast to in times of fear is the one that David prayed at the end of Psalm 23. Verse 6 of the Psalm reads “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever”. What an encouragement that is, that we can hold fast to the fact that the goodness and mercy of the Creator of this universe shall follow us through our entire future and in the end, we will get to dwell with Him in his house.
Lastly, the fear of provision. When I think about this fear Matthew 6:25-34 immediately comes to mind. In this passage, Jesus is speaking to the people who have gathered to Hear him teach and he tells them, 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
To me, this passage is so encouraging because it highlights the fears we all so often have and Jesus gives us a direct response to them.
Application:
- Think about some fears you may have and bring them before the Lord in prayer, asking Him to help you surrender those fears to Him.
- Dive into the Word! The more we expose ourselves to God’s promises the more we will be able to be encouraged by them!
- Listen to the song “Lay it All Down” by Will Reagan
“Bring your worries, grief, and pain, every cause you have for shame, lay it all down, lay it all down, when your cares have buried you, and there's nothing left to do, lay it all down, at the feet of Jesus.”
