http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/faith-and-love-vs-fear-and-worry/
By John W.
As all our plans seemed to be falling apart, I was attacked with fear, discouragement, and worry. There were no solutions in sight at all!
Our little family wants to adopt another one or two abandoned kids in Congo. But there is a new law which forbids taking adopted kids out of the country. They even put two white people in prison recently who tried to take out orphans.
The head chief is still blocking the further construction of our school buildings, asking for bribes, and so far none of our contacts have been able to persuade him otherwise. The cadaster office wants us to pay bribes too, for further registration of the land where we build the school.
The Ministry of Education registered our school over a year ago but doesn’t pay the teachers yet, which means we have to carry that bill longer than expected.
The contact who helped us a lot in the city where we land before going into the bush doesn’t help anymore. No idea how we will continue without that help.
Although the Lord did a big miracle of supplying a nice place to stay in Kinshasa near the school which offered to take in Anissa free of charge, there arose a new challenge: after her operations Lenka has a cyst which is growing, and Congo is really not the place for such health issues. And I’ve been waiting for her here for two months already.
We didn’t know if all this happened because we were going over the top or because we were off track. We asked the Lord to show us why He allowed all this and what He had in mind. Abandoning our project? Not adopting kids after He told us to do it? It wasn’t easy to accept, but we had to be open.
Even if the Lord hasn’t shown us a solution to any of these problems at this time, He has shown us clearly not to worry, but to trust Him.
He also showed me a new tactic. Whenever a negative thought, doubt, or fear comes up, I should raise my shield of faith and immediately think about Him. The same goes for any other problems, weaknesses, or temptations. Whenever anything negative comes up, I should just ask Jesus for help. If sadness appears, ask Him for joy. If weariness tries to come in, ask Him for strength. Feeling confused, ask Him for clarity, etc. I’m still learning to apply this, but I can see it has helped me to stay closer to Him and have His strength to “fight the good fight of faith.”1
One day, as I was feeling very low, I received word that the 40-year-old cousin of our friend in Kinshasa had died that morning in the hospital. All she had was pneumonia! So many people here die in the hospital for lack of proper care. Then I found out that she and her now widowed husband have ten kids, and seven grandkids, and not enough money to pay the hospital bill or for the burial. I really felt sorry for them, and suddenly my problems were small. Thinking of other people’s bigger problems can bring things back into perspective real quick. Even if all our plans and projects fail, so what!? He’s still there, we are still alive, and He always has a solution.
During this time I felt so weak that I had to spend extra time with Jesus and His Word, which strengthens my faith and love for Him and drives out fear. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear hath torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love.”2 “Fear not: for I am with thee.”3 “The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”4
I didn’t feel strong enough to do a lot of physical activities. I didn’t even know exactlywhat He wanted me to do, so I opted to lie low and take more time to read and study His Word and listen to His voice. “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”5 I took more time to rest and meditate. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”6
In the article “The Spiritual Disciplines: Celebration” I saw these famous verses in a new light: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow.”7 Peter says: “This doesn’t mean we take no action, but that we bring our needs and concerns before God in prayer, and in doing so, that we put our confidence in His love and care rather than worrying.” I always thought that “seeking His kingdom” meant that I have to do something for the Lord, but before doing so, I should first seek Him.
My wife sent me some helpful quotes from the book Stay Alive All Your Life by Norman Vincent Peale:
See your fears for what they are; then stand up to them and kill them. But in doing this you must have, not bravado, but faith. Nor is it a vague kind of faith; it is a strong, substantial faith in God. Only faith in God can kill your fear. The ultimate technique for ending worry is to bring God into every fear situation. No fear can live in the presence of God. The deeper your faith in God becomes, the less power fear will have over you. The Bible outlines the process, “I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4).8
The Lord has also shown me to be more childlike in my faith. Children have so much faith and overcome obstacles much easier than adults. No wonder Jesus said that we need to be like children.9 They generally don’t worry about things, and if they do, it usually gets solved quite quickly and easily. They usually have a positive, carefree attitude which I’d like to acquire.
In this process of drawing closer to Jesus I need to bring my thoughts more into subjection,10 especially when there is an overload of thoughts about all the things that are not going well. Whenever I take time with the Lord and some thoughts about my work come in, it saps my focus on His Word.
Meditating is not easy for me. I’ve found that the best time for me to meditate is right when I wake up in the morning. There is a moment when I’m still in the spirit world, many times connected to a dream, and as my mind wants to let thoughts of the day and the work come in, I shut out those thoughts and hold on to the Lord, thinking about Him, loving Him, praising Him, and thinking about the good things, the many things I can be thankful for.11
The Lord is showing me that He is all that matters. Everything else can fall apart. The circumstances of our situation may not change at all, but if we look to Him, we don’t have to worry about any plans and projects. If they are His plans and projects, He has to do it. And if they are not, we don’t want to do them anyway. Only He can solve those problems. It’s all under His control. The most important thing is Him and our love for Him. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.”12
PS added two months later: We can see how the Lord honors our trust in Him. He never fails! Here are some miracles He did in removing the obstacles we faced:
The Minister of Education intervened: after one week all the confiscated building materials were returned and the construction of our school is under way again.
The Minister also promised to work out the payment of our teachers, which will be another miracle, as the department that is responsible for this is known to ignore such requests, pocketing the money which is supposed to go to the teachers for as long as possible.
Lenka’s cyst disappeared, and besides battling the heat, her health is doing very well.
Concerning the adoption, we still don’t know how this will work out, but even if it doesn’t, we are thankful for the adopted child that the Lord gave us six years ago. She is such a treasure, and we have peace that everything is in God’s hands.
We don’t have to worry about anything, but rather just trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Him.
1 1 Timothy 6:12.
2 1 John 4:18.
3 Isaiah 43:5.
4 Exodus 14:14.
5 Psalm 27:13–14.
6 John 14:27.
7 Matthew 6:33–34.
8 New York: Prentice-Hall, 1957, 79–80.
9 See Matthew 18:3.
10 2 Corinthians 10:5.
11 Philippians 4:6–8.
12 Matthew 22:37–38.
By John W.
As all our plans seemed to be falling apart, I was attacked with fear, discouragement, and worry. There were no solutions in sight at all!
Our little family wants to adopt another one or two abandoned kids in Congo. But there is a new law which forbids taking adopted kids out of the country. They even put two white people in prison recently who tried to take out orphans.
The head chief is still blocking the further construction of our school buildings, asking for bribes, and so far none of our contacts have been able to persuade him otherwise. The cadaster office wants us to pay bribes too, for further registration of the land where we build the school.
The Ministry of Education registered our school over a year ago but doesn’t pay the teachers yet, which means we have to carry that bill longer than expected.
The contact who helped us a lot in the city where we land before going into the bush doesn’t help anymore. No idea how we will continue without that help.
Although the Lord did a big miracle of supplying a nice place to stay in Kinshasa near the school which offered to take in Anissa free of charge, there arose a new challenge: after her operations Lenka has a cyst which is growing, and Congo is really not the place for such health issues. And I’ve been waiting for her here for two months already.
We didn’t know if all this happened because we were going over the top or because we were off track. We asked the Lord to show us why He allowed all this and what He had in mind. Abandoning our project? Not adopting kids after He told us to do it? It wasn’t easy to accept, but we had to be open.
Even if the Lord hasn’t shown us a solution to any of these problems at this time, He has shown us clearly not to worry, but to trust Him.
He also showed me a new tactic. Whenever a negative thought, doubt, or fear comes up, I should raise my shield of faith and immediately think about Him. The same goes for any other problems, weaknesses, or temptations. Whenever anything negative comes up, I should just ask Jesus for help. If sadness appears, ask Him for joy. If weariness tries to come in, ask Him for strength. Feeling confused, ask Him for clarity, etc. I’m still learning to apply this, but I can see it has helped me to stay closer to Him and have His strength to “fight the good fight of faith.”1
One day, as I was feeling very low, I received word that the 40-year-old cousin of our friend in Kinshasa had died that morning in the hospital. All she had was pneumonia! So many people here die in the hospital for lack of proper care. Then I found out that she and her now widowed husband have ten kids, and seven grandkids, and not enough money to pay the hospital bill or for the burial. I really felt sorry for them, and suddenly my problems were small. Thinking of other people’s bigger problems can bring things back into perspective real quick. Even if all our plans and projects fail, so what!? He’s still there, we are still alive, and He always has a solution.
During this time I felt so weak that I had to spend extra time with Jesus and His Word, which strengthens my faith and love for Him and drives out fear. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear hath torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love.”2 “Fear not: for I am with thee.”3 “The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”4
I didn’t feel strong enough to do a lot of physical activities. I didn’t even know exactlywhat He wanted me to do, so I opted to lie low and take more time to read and study His Word and listen to His voice. “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”5 I took more time to rest and meditate. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”6
In the article “The Spiritual Disciplines: Celebration” I saw these famous verses in a new light: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow.”7 Peter says: “This doesn’t mean we take no action, but that we bring our needs and concerns before God in prayer, and in doing so, that we put our confidence in His love and care rather than worrying.” I always thought that “seeking His kingdom” meant that I have to do something for the Lord, but before doing so, I should first seek Him.
My wife sent me some helpful quotes from the book Stay Alive All Your Life by Norman Vincent Peale:
See your fears for what they are; then stand up to them and kill them. But in doing this you must have, not bravado, but faith. Nor is it a vague kind of faith; it is a strong, substantial faith in God. Only faith in God can kill your fear. The ultimate technique for ending worry is to bring God into every fear situation. No fear can live in the presence of God. The deeper your faith in God becomes, the less power fear will have over you. The Bible outlines the process, “I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4).8
The Lord has also shown me to be more childlike in my faith. Children have so much faith and overcome obstacles much easier than adults. No wonder Jesus said that we need to be like children.9 They generally don’t worry about things, and if they do, it usually gets solved quite quickly and easily. They usually have a positive, carefree attitude which I’d like to acquire.
In this process of drawing closer to Jesus I need to bring my thoughts more into subjection,10 especially when there is an overload of thoughts about all the things that are not going well. Whenever I take time with the Lord and some thoughts about my work come in, it saps my focus on His Word.
Meditating is not easy for me. I’ve found that the best time for me to meditate is right when I wake up in the morning. There is a moment when I’m still in the spirit world, many times connected to a dream, and as my mind wants to let thoughts of the day and the work come in, I shut out those thoughts and hold on to the Lord, thinking about Him, loving Him, praising Him, and thinking about the good things, the many things I can be thankful for.11
The Lord is showing me that He is all that matters. Everything else can fall apart. The circumstances of our situation may not change at all, but if we look to Him, we don’t have to worry about any plans and projects. If they are His plans and projects, He has to do it. And if they are not, we don’t want to do them anyway. Only He can solve those problems. It’s all under His control. The most important thing is Him and our love for Him. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.”12
PS added two months later: We can see how the Lord honors our trust in Him. He never fails! Here are some miracles He did in removing the obstacles we faced:
The Minister of Education intervened: after one week all the confiscated building materials were returned and the construction of our school is under way again.
The Minister also promised to work out the payment of our teachers, which will be another miracle, as the department that is responsible for this is known to ignore such requests, pocketing the money which is supposed to go to the teachers for as long as possible.
Lenka’s cyst disappeared, and besides battling the heat, her health is doing very well.
Concerning the adoption, we still don’t know how this will work out, but even if it doesn’t, we are thankful for the adopted child that the Lord gave us six years ago. She is such a treasure, and we have peace that everything is in God’s hands.
We don’t have to worry about anything, but rather just trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Him.
1 1 Timothy 6:12.
2 1 John 4:18.
3 Isaiah 43:5.
4 Exodus 14:14.
5 Psalm 27:13–14.
6 John 14:27.
7 Matthew 6:33–34.
8 New York: Prentice-Hall, 1957, 79–80.
9 See Matthew 18:3.
10 2 Corinthians 10:5.
11 Philippians 4:6–8.
12 Matthew 22:37–38.
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