Fierce Faith: Fighting Fear & Overcoming Anxiety | Unafraid Of The Future

Here is the devotional:

“But what if something terrible happens?” It’s a question that surfaces in my mind anytime I am starting something new, taking a trip away from my family, and even when one of my kids gets sick.

Experts in human behavior call this type of distortion in our thinking “catastrophizing.” It’s when we tell ourselves something bad is in the future and predict a catastrophe when there’s no real evidence that anything bad will happen.

The enemy of our souls has always used the fear of the unknown to keep us stuck. Instead of forging forward into the Promised Land, we wander around, lost and lonely, in our own wilderness. Just ask the Israelites. They should know. After all, they were the wizards of wandering.

After forty years of wandering just outside the land promised to them by God, they were finally on the verge of reaching their destination. God said to Moses, “Send some men to explore the lands of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites” (Numbers 13:1).

Just stop for a moment and reread those words. Notice the Lord says, “Explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.” He didn’t say, “If things don’t seem too crazy over there, I’m going to give Canaan to the Israelites.”

No, God was quite clear about his intentions.

“Take a look around,” he was saying, “because everything you see is going to be yours one day.” But after twelve spies went to observe the land, ten of them came back with horrible news. The land was perfect, but they saw no way they could defeat the giant Canaanites. They concluded the promised land was out of their grasp.

Just look how quickly the Israelites lost sight of who they were—God’s people—and how he’d saved them! This is because the enemy is 100 percent invested in keeping us in the wilderness while God is 100 percent invested in guiding us to the promised land.

Isn’t that the way fear of the future keeps us stuck in the wilderness ourselves? When we stand at the edge of our own next step, our own uncertain futures, the enemy will always try to stop us with fear.

But we know he who has overcome the world lives in us. We know that victory is his, and even though we face a battle today, the enemy will not be victorious.

Our future is filled with hope. But if we are going to face our future, we must face our fears.

I’ve learned God’s presence doesn’t mean I’m fearless; instead, it means I can fear less. We can look forward to the future because God is already there. As we face our future, the one God has mapped out for us, we can face it with hope. He knows who we are, he knows who he created us to be, and we aren’t going to fall apart, because in his hands, in his plan, we don’t have to fear the future.

Prayer:

Lord, I trust you with my future. I’m done fixating on all that could go wrong, and I’m ready to trust that you have filled my future with hope. I’m looking forward to my future knowing whatever comes, you are already there. I’m ready to walk boldly forward into your plan for me! Amen.

Action Step:

Think of a time when God showed his faithfulness to you. How does that memory reassure you about your future?

Here are the scriptures referenced:

Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Joshua 1:7‭-‬9 KJV

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For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38‭-‬39 KJV

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Here are Stu’s thoughts:

My first thought was who the heck came up with the term catastrophizing…

We do not need new terms for over thinking. Jesus help us. These morons. It’s just a ploy to get you on new meds…oh don’t even let me get started going down that hole…

We all overthink plain and simple.

Some are valid. Such as you get in a car wreck…you feel the next time you get in a vehicle there will be a wreck.

Your loved one cheats on you so automatically expect the next one to do the same. Valid…just not always true.

I had a dream when the kids where little that I would lose one of them due to a car wreck. Yeah…bad dream for sure.

But has that kept me from driving them around or even letting other people take them places? No.

Bad marriage and hurtful divorce is not a foretaste of things to come but rather a learning process.

Will I get married again? Only God knows that answer. Do I fear another marriage? Not really.

But let’s look back at the Israelites for a sec. One would think that AFTER all they saw God do for them in the past 40 odd years that they would not have feared those giant Canaanites. Yet the did. But God gave them the promise land as promised despite their wishy-washy thoughts. They just had to follow God’s plan.

We are so like the Israelites at times, well I know I can be. I’ve seen God move mountains and I mean huge mountains just in the past 10 years of my life to know I can trust him with anything that life throws at me.

And yet I can let an anthill cause me problems. And it is not God’s fault but rather my own.

I believe a lot of times we believe our fears of the future are bigger than God. We have God in a box more often than not.

Well God doesn’t and can’t fit in a box of man’s making. God is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscience.. meaning He is all powerful, all knowing and all present (everywhere at once).

He is already in the future making a way and at the same instant right beside while you contemplate how that works.

We need to let God out of OUR box and let God be God!

Cast you worries at his feet. God’s plan is for us to trust him with everything. So have those deep conversations with him. Let him know how you feel about that certain situation. Ask for peace about it. Let him move and then follow.