"so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it." Isaiah 55:11
By the Word
Perhaps my favorite gospel is the Gospel of John. That’s because there are so many sayings of Jesus where we can know that not even death separates us from Him. Listen to Jesus’ calming, soothing, and reassuring words to Martha after her brother Lazarus had died: “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this” (John 11:23-26)? Have you lost a loved one? If they were in Christ, Jesus would tell you the same thing as Martha told Jesus: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Even anxious-hearted Martha could rest in that promise. Doesn’t that make the funeral service a believer a more joy-filled event than others? D.L. Moody once said, when you read in the newspapers that D.L. Moody is dead,” Moody said, “Don’t you believe it! I’ll be more alive than ever.” God’s Word promises nothing and no one will keep us from Him (Rom 8:38-39). It’s as if you’re signed, sealed, and ready to be delivered (Eph 1). The stamp of Jesus’ blood has sealed you as a child of God. Now what in this world and life should we fear, and why should we doubt?
In His Promises
God’s Word contain many great and precious promises, but the promises of God are not like any you’re used to in the world, because circumstances change, people break promises, and we’re often disappointed when things don’t’ turn out right or people in our life let us down, but the promises of God won’t be one of those. The Apostle Peter wrote that God “has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2nd Pet 1:4). That means, one day, we’ll be saved to sin no more, and for me, that can’t happen soon enough, because I’m so sick and tired of sin, especially my own. The Old Testament promises given to Abraham were also amazing (Gen 12:1-3), however the Old Covenant ministry is far exceeded by the New Covenant, as “Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises” (Heb 8:6), but even before the cross, Abraham was included in these promises of God because He believed God, and God accounted that to Him as righteousness (Gen 12:4; Rom 4:3; Gal 3:6), so it was “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son” (Heb 11:17). Trust God’s promises, not your (and my) human fears and doubts.
Hiding the Word
When I say you can help conquer fear and doubt with hiding the Word, I mean the Word of God. We know there is power in God’s Word (Isaiah 55:11; Rom 1:16; 1st Cor 1:18), so here’s how you can unlock that dynamic power of God, or God’s very own breath, which active and sharp (Heb 4:12-13)! Memorize it. That’s it! It’s not rocket science. It’s a matter of reading and writing and memorizing God’s Word, and particularly certain Scriptures for resisting temptations and overcoming sin. The psalmist tells us a cause and effect that God’s Word has on us when we store it up in our minds: “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). Imagine your brain is a processing unit, which it is, sort of, and you are feeding it certain information. Over time, that information will tend to dominate the data bank, and whatever is stored up the most, will be how the person will act like the most. The psalmist must have had access to the Old Testament books, because he could store it up in His heart. Then, he was ready to access it when he needed it, just as Jesus rebuked the Devil in the Temptation in the Wilderness by using the Word of God every time the Devil tempted Him. That’s what we must do too. That’s why memorizing Scriptures like, “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin” (Job 31:1), has helped hundreds of men turn their eyes away when tempted to lust in their hearts or view pornography on any number of electronic devices. They tell me it really works!
Confessing Your Faults
The Bible tells us through James, to “confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16). I believe James is saying that our struggle is not to be done in isolation. We know we need one another (Heb 10:24-25), and confessing our faults and sins to others is good for us. I don’t mean we should tell others every single sin, but we should confess our weakness or faults to others. If we admit our faults before others, it’s out in the open, and then others can relate to your struggle. That’s why our prayers for one another help us in the healing process of addictions like drug, alcohol, or pornography, and in other areas of our lives that we struggle in. When we pray for others to overcome certain strongholds in their lives, we know that we are praying for something that is God’s will, and don’t you think God will hear and answer such a prayer? Sometimes people fast and pray to break their strongholds, but for sure, we need one another and to come to our brothers and sisters when they need help, and we must accept our brothers and sisters burdens, and as we share out own faults, we pray for one another.
Conclusion
There are more ways than four to break the strongholds of our life, foremost of which are doubt and fear, but sometimes, when we’re struggling with things, it can cause us to doubt our own salvation and we might live in fear of the wrath of God, but that’s where we come in my friends. Jude insists that we “have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh” (Jude 1:22-23). So attack fear with mercy; God’s mercy that is, and be merciful to those in doubt, not being harsh or judgmental, but in prayer, confessing your own fault, so that you (and I) can be healed of our own strongholds, whatever they might be.
May God richly bless you
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