Walk With Jesus

Written By Judy Smith

In John 16:33 Jesus “these things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Tribulation can be defined as pressure, oppression, stress, anguish, adversity, affliction, crushing, squashing, squeezing or distress.  To me, tribulation is like putting a lot pressure on the freedom Christ has given us. It feels like bench pressing a weight you can’t lift without putting everything you have into it. So I start my day praying, petitioning, taking authority, binding, loosing, and committing everything into the hands of the Lord. And He truly has given me supernatural strength and peace in the midst of the storm.

 1 John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.  I know in whom I believe in, and I know I am an overcomer. I know this too shall pass. The hard part is saying strong and walking through it. It’s not by might nor by power but by His spirit.

 We are more than conquerors through who Him who loved us Romans 8:37. I know that in this the enemy is trying to wear me down and get me frustrated and discouraged enough to make me give up, but instead I choose to allow the Lord to use all this to make me stronger than ever and to come out on the other side of this with an even greater faith. Thank you Jesus!

 Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Thank you Jesus that when you are on our side, we have nothing to fear!  My hope is in the One who overcame so that I could become an overcomer.

 Romans 5:5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. True hope begins with the daily pressure we face, through tribulation we grapple with the truth of God, who He is, and what He has promised. Pressure produces perseverance- the ability to keep going and be patient because we see that God had never let us down. And perseverance produces character because our lives are not based on daily challenges, but on God’s eternal truths.

 That truth produces hope which does not disappoint because you have seen His goodness. Through it all we know Him and love Him more. And that is what is truly a reason to feel encouraged and hopeful. We need to praise Him and hope our way through our tribulations because in them, He is doing wonderful things.

 His love helps us endure all things. God wants us to be assured of His love and never allow anything to separate us from it. With a heart full of gratitude, we can rest in the knowledge that God loves us in good times, and He loves us in the hard times. God loves us on the days we act right, and He loves on the days we don’t act right. Thankfully His love is unconditional!

 He loves us based not on what we do, but on who we have become through The blood of Jesus. In other words we need to know that we are God’s beloved children and how to separate our “who” from our “do.” We won’t do everything right all the time, especially during tribulations, but we are still in right standing in God through Christ. I can celebrate through my tribulations because He loves me through them.

 Even though I want to please Him with my actions and my attitude through it all I know that His love for us is deeper than that, I know that through this troubling time in my life there is a mighty battle going on for my peace of mind but I when I shut out the world and focus on His presence, I can enjoy sitting with Him in heavenly realms. My greatest strength is my desire to spend time communing with Him.

 As I concentrate on Him, His spirit fills my mind with life and peace. I choose to stay in constant communication with Him as I walk through this season of my life. I refuse to worry, because worry is not faith.

 Psalms 5:3 My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You,

And I will look up. 

Prisoner of Fear

Written By Remaliah Evans

I was four years old watching Shaka Zulu and then I could not sleep later that night because I was afraid of being kidnapped. My Mom explained that no one would kidnap me, she prayed with me, pled the blood of Jesus over me, and then made me memorize 2 Timothy 1:7. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Since that day whenever I am afraid I say this verse because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. This verse has carried me through many situations.

Still, I struggle with two major fears: fear of failure and fear of success. I have been blessed to work with the same company for ten years. However I should have found another job years ago. But I didn’t. I didn’t leave because I was afraid that I would fail in a new position or get fired because of cutbacks. I didn’t leave because I was afraid of what it would be like to succeed in a new position. Would the responsibility of success eventually crush me? Would I become a workaholic? I was paralyzed by fear. I updated my resume and I looked for jobs but I didn’t look too hard because I was afraid. I was very picky about the positions I would apply for, and although I was “looking” I only applied to a handful of jobs each year.

Fortunately for me God knows how to shake me up and get me moving, but I was quite stubborn. I kept adjusting and adapting to changes that were designed to guide me into a new position. Instead of taking the hint, I decided that I would rather deal with being uncomfortable than face the fear of failure, the fear of success, or the fear of the unknown. Until my admin quit. My admin had been with me for three years and she was overqualified, so she decided to move on.

When she quit I realized that she had the good sense to move on, and I didn’t. I was angry at myself for staying longer than I should have. I was angry because I realized that I had allowed fear to hold me prisoner. I had even received a prophecy that said, “The prison door is open, all you have to do is walk out.” I didn’t get it at the time. Honestly, I just got that right now. To top it off I had another prophecy confirming that there had been not one, but several times where I could have transitioned out my job and I chose not to. That truth was hard to hear.

I now refuse to turn down opportunities simply because I am afraid that I might fail, or because I am afraid that I might succeed.

As angry and as stupid as I felt when my admin quit, I must tell you that it was another six months before I even applied for a new position, and I did not get the job. I’m still here, in the same position. The good news is that I am now facing fear head on and still declaring that God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Every day. The other good news is that I now refuse to turn down opportunities simply because I am afraid that I might fail, or because I am afraid that I might succeed. I had even stopped writing for some time because I was afraid that my writing would not make an impact. Throughout this whole process I have seen the Lord’s faithfulness and I have seen that no one is more committed to me than He is. No matter how strenuous and impossible the situation, God’s grace is sufficient.

It was never about the job, success, writing, or moving on. It has been about knowing Him more intimately.  Trusting Him, and trusting Him enough to follow Him even when the future seems uncertain.  I am no longer a prisoner of fear.

Encouragement