Neither Let It Be Afraid

This is a follow up message to our broadcast from yesterday on Let not your heart be troubled.  I encourage you to listen to that message online.  In that message we discussed how to let not your heart be troubled.  Briefly, we said, Pray and ask God for help.  Patiently calm your feelings.  Turn your mind to good thoughts.  Counsel with someone close to you.  Wait on the Lord.

Once the peace of God works effectually in your heart as you pray and calm down and wait on the Lord, there are things you can do to neither let it be afraid.

Thank the Lord.  Phil 4:6 says “…but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God”.  You must thank him in this present situation, 1 Thes 5:18, and for this problem and that has troubled you, Eph 5:20.  You have to trust that, although what you’re going through is not good, God can us it for good together with other things in your life, Rom 8:28.

I have seen people so troubled that they couldn’t sleep at night.  You could tell that a major part of the problem was their fear.  They were afraid.  Yet, through prayer, the peace of God came in coupled with their thanksgiving.  And shortly after this they had the wonderful sleep that God gives to his beloved, Ps 127:2.

Rejoice in the Lord.  Phil 4:4.  Before the verses on prayer in Phil 4, God says, “Rejoice in the Lord, alway: and again I say, Rejoice”.  The Lord has been so good to you and there are many blessings in your life for which you can thank him.  These blessings are often overshadowed in the wake of all the trouble through which you are currently going.  Don’t let any trouble “capsize your boat”.  Rejoicing in the Lord is excellent ballast to keep your “boat upright”.

We had a fellow in our church who was treated for incurable cancer for 7 1/2 years.  Every other week, after his maintenance dose of chemo, he was sick for a week.  One bad week, followed by one good week.  That would wear anyone down.  However he didn’t let it wear him down.  Every time we saw him at church, he always walked in the door with his head held high and a genuine smile on his face.  He rejoiced in God’s goodness in sustaining his health.  At the hospital, just one day before he died, he was sitting up in bed, with a smile on his face, giving me instructions for caring for his soon to be widow.  He never let cancer make his heart be afraid.

Learn the lesson the Lord is teaching you.  1 Pet 5:10.  Often the Lord uses trouble to teach you something, and to strengthen you.  Always learn the lesson.  Make sure you do because you may find yourself in a similar situation in the future and you don’t want to have to learn the lesson again.

Also, remember that the Lord may be letting you go through the trouble you’re facing to prepare you to help others through similar trouble.  This is called the ministry of consolation, 2 Cor 1:3-7.  You have to come through your trouble on the right side so that you can encourage others who go through trouble not to succumb to the fear.  Instead, they can benefit from their experience.

And if the trouble is brought on by someone else…

Confront the person if directed by the Lord.  Gal 2:11.  In this case you must get past the fear and confront the person who is causing you the grief.  When you do, get right to the point and don’t give him or her any explanation that could be used in retaliation against you.  You’re simply and succinctly getting to the point that their actions are troubling and that you want them to know.  They may not change, but you have communicated the problem.  And you should take the appropriate steps to protect yourself from future trouble by adding a safe boundary.

Walk away if directed by the Lord.  Prov 9:7-8.  If the person causing you trouble is a scorner, you won’t make any headway confronting him or her.  You will only make it worse.  When you think about it, there is nothing that you can do or say that will make the person change.  You just need to let God deal with the trouble without you doing anything more than praying about it.  You’ll just have to wait it out until the person involved makes the change, if and when he or she ever does.  This is often true in the case of wayward teens.

Conclusion: to keep you’re heart from being afraid in trouble, first deal with what’s troubling you the way we discussed in the prior broadcast.  And then follow these simple instructions.  Thank the Lord, rejoice in the Lord, learn the lesson the Lord is teaching you in this trouble, confront the person causing the trouble, if directed by the Lord, and leave them alone, if you can’t.