New Year’s Eve is soon approaching, it is a time that should I allow it, feels me with unease and anxiety – which are two things that are NOT of God… I guess I always feel that way because it causes me to look back on the year that is ending, with all that has occurred and to the one yet to come with uncertainty because we never know what the future has in store. I think part of this is a type of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) from being a 12 year breast cancer survivor, one never expects to get sick, I certainly 12 years ago did not expect to be diagnosed with breast cancer, especially when their had been no history of it within my family! However, 80% of the women diagnosed with breast cancer come from families with NO history of it! (Please be conscientious of your body, go for your cancer screenings, mammograms and see your doctors immediately should you discover a lump, rash or something out of the ordinary on your body)… One never expects to be on the receiving diagnosis end of an illness, but we live in a fallen world, filled with sickness, illness and disease which does not discriminate against race, age, religion or sex. That being said, God IS the same today as He was yesterday, as He WILL be tomorrow, and while things *may* come as a surprise to us, NOTHING surprises Him. He IS greater than ANYTHING that can come our way, and as the Bible says in Exodus 23:26
“The number of our days He will fulfill.”
When you are holding on to the Father’s hand, you have NOTHING to fear. This is what Holy Spirit assured me today as I was praying about what He would have me write.
GOD IS NOT THE GOD OF FEAR
For the unbeliever, those that do NOT trust in God or believe His Word as truth, the fear of God is the fear of the judgment of God and eternal death, which is eternal separation from God. Luke 12:5 tells us:
“But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him.”
For the believer, the fear of God is something much different. The believer’s fear is reverence of God. Hebrews 12:28 tells us:
“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.”
As I look back on this past year, there was so much I did not see coming… So much I did not expect… But God knew everything that was going to occur and because I love Him, because I trust Him, because I believe Him, because I am one of His Called Remnant, my trust has NOT and IS not in myself or my circumstances… My trust IS in Him! My hand IS in His. My faith IS in the Word of God (the Bible), my life IS NOT my own. I belong to Jesus. Thirty-Five Years ago I prayed the sinners prayer and I willingly received Jesus into my heart by the power of Holy Spirit and made Him my Savior. Gave Him my life and I MEANT IT. And truly as in Galatians 2:20:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Fear has NO Place in me, because I belong to God. If YOU have chosen to accept Jesus as Savior, made Him Lord over YOUR life, than fear should have NO hold on you as well! Fear is NOT of God! God is GREATER than ANYTHING that can come our way! Romans 8:35-39 tells us:
Will tribulation, or trouble, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? Just as it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We were regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
“But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Let me testify to you what I personally know:
GOD HEALED ME OF CANCER. GOD HEALED ME OF TYPE 2 DIABETES.
GOD HAS PROVIDED FOR ME ALL YEAR LONG, GOD HAS BLESSED ME ABUNDANTLY IN WAYS I NEVER IMAGINED.
Why? It’s not because I am anything “special” or “better” than anyone else. (Believe me, I am NOT!). But because as in Matthew 6:33 I seek FIRST God and His righteousness and because of that, all else has followed!
GOD’S WORD IS TRUE!
People have asked me if during the time I went through breast cancer, if I was afraid I was going to die, the answer truly is, no. No I was not afraid I was going to die. Why? Because I was fighting to live! And also:
I KNOW WHO I BELONG TO. I KNOW MY LIFE IS NOT MY OWN. I KNOW THAT I AM FORGIVEN. I KNOW THAT JESUS IS MY SAVIOR, THAT HE IS LORD OVER MY LIFE. MY LIFE BELONGS TO HIM.
The Bible tells me in Philippians 1:20-21:
“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
As a born-again Christian, I know that death has no hold on me. I am no better than any of my other Pink sisters, who did not survive cancer or are still fighting this dreadful disease… But because of my faith and trust in God, I felt (and still feel this way) – If I live – I will continue to seek God’s will for my life. I will continue to walk in the purpose of my calling so that His name will be glorified and that Holy Spirit will use me as His vessel to intercede on behalf of those that are not saved. That I WILL continue to seek God and fight the good battle of faith so that His name WILL be glorified. If I die – I will immediately go into the presence of my God. 2 Corinthians 5:8 tells us:
“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
God’s grace and mercy has made us so that we don’t know the number of our days, but HE does. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 13:12:
“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
I’m grateful that God doesn’t reveal everything that will happen to us in our lives in the entirety, He knows we could not process it. It would be more than we could handle. Honestly, that is proof that God IS a good, good Father! Think about it, if you are a good parent, you talk and teach your child “age appropriately” because they cannot process in their young minds some of the things we as adults can process things. How much more is the case with God looking and dealing with us? I praise God who physically has made us with the ability to pass out if an injury causes us too much pain. What love and grace is that? Listen! It was NEVER God’s WILL for us to experience sin, sickness, illness & disease or death! That is why He told Adam AND Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:17:
“but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
This fallen world we live in was NOT God’s choice for us! But in His love for us, He had a plan of redemption for us! John 3:16 tells us:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
So as we look to close this year, and with God’s grace begin a new one, let’s take a look at the lessons we have learned from this one preparing to end. What will you take into the new year with you? What will you leave behind? What will you do to change what Holy Spirit is indicating needs changing? How will you enter into this new year? I pray that the peace of God goes with you. I pray that as you step into the new year that you do so holding your Father’s hand, knowing that He IS greater than ANYTHING that can come your way… Knowing that He LOVES you with an everlasting love! I pray that you determine within your heart to ABOVE ALL else seek Him and allow Him to love you as He originally created you to do! As Peter kept His eyes on Jesus and stepped out of the boat (read Matthew 14:22-33) he rose above ALL the situations that would try and pull him under because his eyes were on the Lord. It wasn’t until he allowed fear, doubt, uncertainty, worldly thinking to turn his head away from Jesus and began to sink. Let’s purpose to keep our steadfast on the One who has called us by name, the One who IS the Prince of Peace, Lord of Lords, King of Kings and He will continue to guide and keep us EVERY day of our lives – as long as we remember HE IS LORD, because – He is!
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