Hey y'all! Sorry for being MIA for a couple weeks. I just finished finals AND my best friend came out to visit so I wanted to take a little break.
I've been racking my brain about what to write about next and I was beginning to worry about the success of this blog. I was worrying so much that I had a thought to just give it up because "no one really knows this blog exists".
This thought had saddened the deepest parts of me because this blog is something that I have extreme faith in. I had realized that this was the enemy trying to instill fear within my being and discourage me from continuing this blog. So, today we will be discussing being held back and saying "no" to fear.
Satan is the master of creating fear within our hearts and the master of encouraging us to stray from the life God has promised us.
John 10:10 does a great job of summarizing who Satan is and what his mission is. It states, "the thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy". "The thief" refers to the devil. He will steal your happiness, kill your spirit, and destroy your life. That simple.
Personally, I overthink things so much that I no longer wish to pursue things that will help build God's kingdom. After learning who Satan is and what his lies are, I am able to stop myself from overthinking too much and pray that I gain more strength and confidence. Whenever I think that I am not strong enough or smart enough to write this blog or talk with people about Jesus, I tell myself that that is a lie. That God did not instill in me a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7).
To identify Satan's lies, I tell myself a few things:
1)He does not want us to be purely happy.
2)He does not want us to do anything that will build the kingdom of God.
3)He wants us to be hateful towards ourselves and to others.
4)He wants to isolate us and make us feel as though we are abandoned.
5)He wants us to feel purposeless and useless.
6)You're not good enough.
Remembering these things when you are going through a period of darkness and uncertainty will (hopefully) help you to find God's truth about you.
Here is what God says about you:
1)He wants us to know that our mistakes don't define us (Psalm 37:24)
2)He wants us to be radiant and joyful (Psalm 34:5)
3)He wants us to have drive and purpose (Philippians 2:13)
4)He will never abandon us (Isaiah 41:10) and he is always there for us (Philippians 4:6)
5)He wants us to be strong (Philippians 4:13)
6)We are fulfilled in Him (Colossians 2:9-10)
7)That we are good enough (Jeremiah 1:5)
God WANTS us to thrive and push ourselves past our comfort zones. He doesn't want us to hold ourselves back. The devil wants us to feel miserable and worthless so that we can throw ourselves into bottomless pit.
God wants the absolute best for us and tells us that fear is not what is best for us. Therefore, we should not let the fear of the unknown or uncertain hold us back from fulfilling ourselves in Christ.
So, what can we do to combat this feeling of fear?
For one thing, I would recommend to read the scriptures mentioned above and memorize them so that, when you may be feeling overwhelmed and fearful, your thought can move towards what your identity is in Christ is rather than what Satan is trying to get you to believe.
In addition, a lot of the things that we hold ourselves back from are out of our comfort zones.
Naturally, we tend to hold ourselves back from these things because it is unknown territory and our comfort zones are almost 100% certain. We need to move against the grain and push ourselves to do these things. I'm not saying to straight up skydive as a first step out of your comfort zone (i'm not exactly warm to the idea of jumping out of a plane myself). Taking steps such as inviting a potential friend to coffee, attending a Bible study group, taking the chance to travel to a new place, things like this would be good first steps out of your comfort zone if you haven't done so already.
God wants us to thrive as the children of God that we are meant to be. He wants the absolute best for us here on Earth. Yes there will be challenges and hardships, but that should not stunt our growth as Christians. Comfort zones are not meant to help us thrive, they are meant to trap us. God will catch us when we fall (Luke 12:22-26). We don't have anything to worry about.
God is and will always take care of us and protect us, he guides us to the right path (Proverbs 20:24).
Trust what God says about you, His wonderfully made creation, not the devil who wants to take everything away from you.
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