Day 366: Matthew 28:10

"Then Jesus said to them, 'Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.'" ~Matthew 28:10, NIV

Today concludes a strange journey I set out upon 365 days ago. I sought to see if indeed, there was a verse for every day of the Gregorian year counteracting fear, and I found... Well. This blog has documented my findings, interpretations, and exhortations of the lack of 365 verses that directly state "fear not," or "don't be afraid". The instances are many, some repeat, but the situations can be boiled down to three: God directly telling His people to fear not, God using angels to tell His people to fear not, and God using other godly men to tell His people to fear not.

After Jesus was risen from the dead, some of His female disciples went to His tomb only to find it empty. This verse is just after He's appeared to them, and they fell down at His feet and worshipped Him, and I think it's a fine word to end this year by.

Don't be afraid - in fact, take what you've learned and share it with the world. Jesus said "go and tell my brothers". His plan is that we should go and tell the whole world this very news: that Christ is risen from the dead, we can be one with God again. For this, this is the good news, and this, this is the reason why we shall never have to fear.

Have a great 2013!

Day 344: Psalm 48:3

"God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress." ~Psalm 48:3, NIV

Cities. Ah, yes, we name them, and they go through life cycles. So it's no wonder that when poets get their writing utensils out, they personify the places that we live as people - in this case, we're talking about Zion, the city of the Great King.

She is just a place, and yet somehow God is in her, and is her refuge, the walls around her citizens. Poets don't personify without purpose. If they want us to believe God inhabits a city as a person, then isn't the point they're trying to make that God inhabits people as He does a city?

Will He not protect them from attacks, from sieges, from catapults and ballistas, trebuchets and cannons? Will He not provide for the city, making its inhabitants teem with blessing?

Yes, He will. That city has nothing to fear - and neither does the person who trusts in the Lord. 'God will protect them,' is the message I read from this psalm.

Day 341: Psalm 56:4

"In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?" ~Psalm 56:4, NIV

David obviously believed in a God who controls the universe and holds tightly to what He has created. He believed in a separation of the body into body, soul and spirit, and knew that the spirit is the element that lasts forever.

David knew body and soul would eventually pass away, but the spirit would always remain. Therefore, he was aware that mortals could do what nature would by killing his body (and thus his soul), but that his spirit was in God's hand.

If the spirit lasts forever but the body exists for only a breath, why fear those who can only harm the body? What could mere mortals do in terms of eternity? Nothing. God, on the other hand, could do a lot, but David trusted as we can trust that in God's benevolence if we trust, accept and follow His son Jesus we can live an eternity of peace.

That is the God we trust and give our fear. The one who loved us so much that He gave the body and soul of His son into the hands of the devil so that when our life is sucked from us, we would not die forever.

Day 296: Joshua 4:23-24

"For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God." ~Joshua 4:23-24, NIV

In the Old Testament, people built monuments to remember great deeds. We read about it all the time - Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, and on and on. In great trials, God always came through, and the wise Israelites wanted to remember that.

Even now, we have monuments and memorials - statues that commemorate an event. But how often do we build them to remember what God has done for us?

And if we don't remember what God has done for us, how will we trust Him to do things in the present? We have the Bible to remember what He's done in the greater past, but who will remember the lesser past?

God fulfills His promises all the time, and if you can't remember, maybe you need to start building monuments as they occur. Because if you can look back and see what God has done, won't you believe He can do all things? And if He can do all things, what the devil are you worried about?

Day 282: Zephaniah 3:17

"The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing." ~Zephaniah 3:17, NIV

As we know, God uses His prophets to communicate with His people. And one of the things the prophets were saying way back before Jesus was a warning of conquest.

Beware the Babylonians. Beware the Assyrians. Beware your sins make this happen! 

And so much of the prophetic books in the Bible are filled with fire and brimstone, and generally fear-inspiring things. It's not what a person wants to hear. But always, no matter how bad the picture is, God always promises a future restoration.

It won't always be fire and brimstone, in fact, God wants to bless His people. He promises that for restoration, the mighty warrior who saves will always be with you. His love will not hurt you, it will make you better.

God's love is in restoration mode. He doesn't want you to live in fear, He wants you to step out and to boldly preach His name and His love. He promises to be with you as you do so.

Day 269: Psalm 13:5

"But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation." ~Psalm 13:5, NIV

If you have time today, I recommend reading all of Psalm 13. David is crying out to God, asking Him "how long" will he be forgotten? All of his enemies are around him, jeering that his God is not there. David feels forsaken, alone, lost. He's on the losing side, God seems to be far away.

Yeah. That's what David's telling and asking God about. "No pressure, Sir, You're the ruler of the universe, not me, but You did say you wouldn't leave me. So where are You?" It's after telling God that that David makes the above proclamation: I trust in Your unfailing love.

Okay, so David's pretty cool. But his life had a lot of parts in it that I wouldn't want to take part in. Lions, tigers, bears, crazy kings, entire nations: he had a lot of enemies. And sometimes it seemed that God wanted his enemies to win.

Yet. David still trusted in God's divine plan. And look where it led him! You've probably heard how God has a plan for you. Well, funny thing, it's true. Even if it doesn't seem like it, God loves you with an immeasurable love, and His plan for you is incredibly awesome.

It may not seem like it. But it's true. You can trust Him. His people, maybe not on your own, but Him? Yeah.

Day 268: Judges 6:12

"When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior."" ~Judges 6:12, NIV

God has a plan for everyone. No matter who you are, what your talents are, or how many of them you have, He has a plan and it's the best thing that could ever happen to you. God's plan for Gideon was totally incredible.

And while you're in God's plan, He is with you. God knows us better than we know ourselves: He called Gideon a mighty warrior before Gideon knew it about himself. God knows you, and knows your situation before you do. And He wants to make it the best situation you know.

When God appears to you, it can be intimidating. He probably wants you to do something way out of your comfort zone. But He's not being unrealistic. He knows you better than you can possibly imagine.

So don't be afraid of God's plan, like Gideon was. Obey, and prove to yourself He is right.

Day 249: Psalm 46:10

"He says, 'Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.'" ~Psalm 46:10, NIV

You've probably heard this verse before - or at least the 'be still' part. I may have even talked about it earlier this year in Psalm 119. The application is the same. God knows our prayers, our problems, our conflicts and the dangers therein. He knows how small we are, and how fragile.

He knows this, and He knows how incomprehensible He is to our mind. To all of our fears, doubts and insecurities, He says fear not - but He also says "here, have some perspective. Be still and know who I am."

This is the God who is exalted by all peoples, who strikes terror into the hearts of His enemies and adoration in the hearts of His followers. This is the God who set the laws of physics and started our world spinning. This is the God whose creation tells unspeakably of His goodness and glory. This is the God whose side you've joined.

Take a moment to ignore the problems you're facing, the fears inside, and remember who God is. Focus on Him - this is the act of worship, and also a key to losing your fear. Focus on Him, and all else kinda fades away as irrelevant. So today, sit down in silence, and contemplate/allow Him to show who He is.

God.

Day 246: Psalm 112:1

"Praise the Lord. Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands." ~Psalm 112:1, NIV

I've mentioned before that the awesome thing about worship is that it forces us to change our focus. Praising God for His goodness makes us look past all the rough patches in our circumstances and see that it's temporary, that He's still good, and that these things take time.

And in that, we can see that there are benefits to trusting God in everything, to ignoring our fears. This verse tells us not only to look past ourselves in praise, but also that we who can find it within ourselves to surrender to Him are blessed. Obeying God's call to worship isn't so He can be fulfilled by us - we can't do anything for Him. Worship is to God, but mostly for us.

Crazy, but it's for us to see how small and puny we are and how great He is, regardless of situation. And we get a blessing when we can look up at Him instead of at our feet. God blesses those who love Him, and loves all no matter what. He wants to cultivate a proper spirit within us so that we His children can be more like Him. And He gives hope. Delight. A promise to never leave us.

Day 231: Matthew 27:54

"When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"" ~Matthew 27:54, NIV

Jesus' death was monumental. Not because of the claims He made and the astonishing things that happened as He died, but because He didn't stay dead. He came back, whether or not you believe it. In verses 51-53 of the chapter, it describes how the veil in the Temple was ripped in half, how the earth shook, tombs opened, and how dead saints rose to life and went into the city to testify.

If you were a Roman or a Jew in those times, you wouldn't want History to remember these things. The tearing of the veil for example, to a Pharisee or priest who was unwilling to believe in Jesus' self, was a sign of the failure of God. I suspect that to an extent, God left the holy place behind the veil when it tore. And what more hopeless concept is that to a chosen people, than to have your God leave you?

But He didn't leave. The methods through which He manifested Himself merely changed. Instead of being available to only the select few priests and prophets, Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to all who believe and everyone is a priest and/or prophet. Surely the Son of God who gives the Comforter will be with you. If the centurion and his soldiers believed by the cross with the evidence presented to them, can't you?

They were afraid because they didn't know what was going to happen next. You know what happened. You have nothing to be afraid of, because in His death Jesus defeated everything you could be afraid of. Death. Persecution. Mocking. Messing up. You're human, Jesus knows it, and He loves you anyways. No matter what happens, Jesus wins in the end. And so can you. You are His child, after all.

Praise God for that!

Day 223: 2 Samuel 22:2

"He said: The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;" ~2 Samuel 22:2, NIV

This passage from 2 Samuel may sound familiar. Because essentially, it's just a psalm pasted into another book of the Bible. A piece of praise for a miracle described earlier in the book. So instead of needing the background knowledge from another book, you just have to flip back a couple chapters to see why David is cheering for God.

And in this case, it's because God saved him from a raving madman who'd lost God's favor, on top of all of the other enemies of Israel.

This verse starts off the whole psalm with the declaration that God is a foundation upon which security is built. And as this psalm begins, so can our day - if we began everyday proclaiming what we know to be true, that God is the foundation of our day.

And then we can choose what we build upon that rock with the actions of our day.

Day 215: 2 Samuel 22:7

"In my distress I called to the Lord; I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears." ~2 Samuel 22:7, NIV

This entire chapter is basically a psalm - David's song of praise as described by the author of 2 Samuel. It says in v1 that he wrote the song when God delivered him from Saul and other enemies. The whole song is an awesome testimony of God's delivering graces.

This verse especially, though, describes what we as terrified people should be doing. Pray. Talk to God. Call out. He's listening, He hears you, and knows what you're going through and what you need to grow. He will help you. He knows your name, and weeps for your agonies with you.

Your time of distress is the perfect time to get to know your God better.

Day 196: Daniel 6:27

"He rescues and saves his people; he performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions." ~Daniel 6:27, NLT

Daniel had a rough job, being up on top of Babylonian hierarchy. His enemies fought him at every turn, and jealous peeps tried to get him killed. He was thrown into a lion's den in punishment for an unfair law that his rivals tricked the King Darius to sign. Darius didn't want to kill Daniel. Thus, after Daniel had been in the lion's den and they went to grab his body, and it turned out he wasn't dead...

Darius was elated, and immediately launched into praise of God's goodness. Even the foreign king of Babylon could see God's goodness, how He rescues and saves people, people like Daniel, and people like you. God saved Daniel, He can save you.

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Day 182: Psalm 139:14

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." ~Psalm 139:14, NIV

Today I wanted to remind you guys that one way to defeat fear is to focus on God through praise, and that's why today's verse describes one of the reasons David praised God. Psalm 139 is one of those "real" psalms that describes life as it is - hard. But despite those challenges, we can always look to God to save us, and we can remember who He is, what He's done, and give Him the glory due.

Look at the night sky, see what He's made. Look at the trees and animals around you, see what He's made. Look at your family, look at yourself, see what He's made! Hands that move, eyes that see, ears that hear, a mind that creates, the ability to love...

He loves you. So what are you afraid of?

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Day 167: Psalm 40:3

"He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him." ~Psalm 40:3, NIV

God is everywhere. He gives good gifts - including songs! Remember how once we said praising God was one way to get away from fear? Praise is a gift we can give, and a gift we can receive. God can give it to you, your radio station can give it to you, your friends can give it to you.

The best path is when we spread our praise so that many can see it, and they will know - as you teach yourself through praise - that God is big and you can trust Him. That God loves everyone and will save you. Try putting on a new song, and worship God before trying to deal with your problems. Even a breath prayer would suffice to get you into the right, world-changing mindset.

I'm pretty sure God would use it to change YOUR world.

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Day 116: 2 Samuel 22:3

"My God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. He is my refuge, my savior, the one who saves me from violence." ~2 Samuel 22:3, NLT

2 Samuel chapter 22 describes a song David wrote once he had been saved from his enemies, including Saul. As you probably know, David and Saul had a really rough relationship, and David ended up living for fear of his life whenever Saul was around (and often when he wasn't). David never stopped trusting in God, as many of his psalms show, and this song shows a similar flavor.

The song itself is a testimony of praise to the fact that God saved David - it's a "thank you" for all that God had done, and all who He was. The above verse sums up that second thought nicely, don't you think?

WHO IS GOD?

David saw God as a rock of protection, his shield, power to save him, and a place of safety. Added to that description is an understanding of God as a refuge, David's savior, and the one who saves from violence.

Who is God for you? Sometimes when we're in the heat of the battle, we don't see God as a refuge, or a shield, or one who saves from violence. It's then, when we feel beaten and unable to rise up again, that we have to choose to believe that He is a shield, He is a refuge, He is worthy of praise and thanks! Those choices make us who we are, make us a better person, make us more similar to His image, make us stronger, and further His kingdom. Better than that, it makes those thoughts that we choose to believe true.

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Day 83: Psalm 64:10

"The godly will rejoice in the Lord and find shelter in him. And those who do what is right will praise him." ~Psalm 64:10, NLT

"Be glad, good people! Make praise your habit." ~Psalm 64:10 MSG, paraphrased

These verses - the same though they be - are telling me one thing, one simple tactic for battling fear.

Praise. It's been mentioned before, but it bears mentioning again, since it's obviously in the Bible more than once. When you're afraid, it means you've got to "get your praise on"! Remember, choosing to focus on God instead of our fear isn't a simple task. One of the ways we can remind ourselves that we're in God's hands is by praising Him. When you're looking up and glorifying God for how good He is, and how much He loves you, it's a lot easier to look past whatever it is that's scaring you. In light of the God you're praising, that fear should be pretty insignificant.

I mean, praise doesn't have to be singing or playing music before God. God made people versatile for a reason. Singing, playing instruments, these are modern standards for the worship of God. Dancing, writing, drawing, taking pictures, running, playing in the snow; these can worship God with just as much passion as singing or playing an instrument. As long as it puts emphasis on who God is and gives Him glory, it is worship, and it pleases Him and will give you a new perspective.

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Day 35: Philippians 3:3

"The real believers are the ones the Spirit of God leads to work away at this ministry, filling the air with Christ's praise as we do it. We couldn't carry this off by our own efforts, and we know it." ~Philippians 3:3, MSG

Christianity is based on a very fundamental truth: humans cannot come before God clean with their own strength. Everyone will sin, and only the spilling of blood can cover over that sin. We need help to come before God.

And we have to trust Him to do it for us.

The verse above says the real believers are the ones who trust God enough to follow His spirit to work away at His ministry, singing for joy while they're at it. I'm not saying we need to be singing while we crunch numbers at school, work, or whatever, but we need to be aware that we need God's help, and be willing to submit to Him. And then we'll know that He won't let us fall so hard that we can't get back up again. Because we know who our God is, we can keep our eyes trained on Him and His loving awesomeness.

And with our focus on something that awesome, why would we even glance at things that scare us?

Day 34: Psalm 62:7

"My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no one can reach me." ~Psalm 62:7 NLT

Sound like a Klingon proverb, this verse does. Victory, honor? The most important things, for a Klingon. I suppose if Klingons did exist, they might have a proverb like that.

But the similarities between the fictional Klingon culture and a psalm are not what I'd like to draw attention to. If I'm going to draw attention I'd like it to be to God. Victory and honor, or "glory" as some translations say, come from God, and should go back to God in the form of praise. And when things are going crazy, God is a refuge! When the battle is raging around me, when it looks like I'm going to lose, I must remember that victory comes from God. And that no one can reach me when I'm in God's arms. I am separated from the mess of the world, I am set on a rock above the crashing waves. Sure, I might be able to feel the spray of the sea on my face, but I won't drown. I might even get a little bit wet. It's not as though God is going to protect me from EVERYTHING - challenges are what make us grow, conflict makes us better. And if you don't believe me, just try and figure out the change a character goes through in your favorite book. Books are made to be believable, and our favorite books do the best job of it. So stand firm and live in the confidence that God will save you. He might not protect you from everything, but He will rescue you from what you can't handle on your own.