When "I surrender" is the weapon you need to conquer fear forever

Welcome back to A Good Bible Study! What changes in your emotions and heart have you been experiencing over the past couple of weeks? Make a comment, or email and share privately what's been happening. I promise, if you sincerely want change, God will perform a radical selfish-ectomy on your heart!

You might have also been experiencing a feeling of fear, or dread, about what might happen if you really give your heart to God, and give His Son, Jesus full access to the innermost recesses of your heart. I know that is what happens to me, all the time. But, what I have learned is that fear of any kind is always from Satan, not God. Satan wants to keep you distracted so you won't experience the power and strength that comes from real love, God's love. I have taken some really good advice from Joyce Meyer and that's "Do it afraid!"

The moment you are tired of being afraid that God is going to change your whole world, (He is, you know, but it's the best ride you will ever have!) and say "Yes, God, I'm afraid but I am more afraid of staying the same, so yes, I want You, I want Your love, I want to love others the way You love!" that is when joy begins for you.

If you want to get very little out of this study, give very little. Rush through, skip the prayers, just read without writing down your responses.

If you want to be changed forever, and love the changes, and have people around you talk about the fact that they don't know why, but there's something different about ______, there's a lightness, something that just makes them want to be around you, how you just don't get upset about the small stuff so much, and how you have something in you that they want, too . . . then start out this bible study time by just telling God you want to be a better person in some way at the end of this 15 minutes or half an hour of spending time in His Word.

Tell Him to not let you waste even one session reading through like it's a task to check off! Try reading the prayers aloud and meaning them. This is not rote prayer, traditional prayer that has lost it's meaning and become something you recite ritually. These prayers are powerful if you agree with them, and you also pray them as your own prayer and request from God. God looks at our hearts, not our outer actions. It is so important to understand the difference.

You can also say your own individual prayer before starting the day's study, asking for what you want to get out of it. Even a simple prayer of "God, overcome my human tendency to rush through Your Word, and help me to get everything out of this study today, that I can. In Jesus' name, amen," is so, so powerful if you mean it.

You don't have to pray feeling some emotion. You just have to pray with honesty. You can even pray for a genuine feeling of desiring to get more out of it. What do you have to lose by trying? Believe me, when God moves on your heart to change it, it is exhilarating, never fearful. Satan tries to block us with fear, because he knows fear is the most powerful weapon he has to distract us from God. Your only way out is to surrender, but to God, not to fear. Tell God how afraid you are, and then surrender.

God tells us the way to Life, is to lose your life. This means the way to His eternal Life of joy on earth and eternity in heaven, is to let go of the things in our life, like pride, selfishness, fear, greed, etc. that we think give us so much, and make room for real power - His strength in us. It's like in all the movies, where the hero realizes that he must sacrifice something he really, really wanted, to save his friends or help someone he loves get what they want and deserve, and he finds out that the rewards of that sacrifice end up being so much better than the prize he thought he wanted!

So, don't let fear keep you from your happiness! God promises if you seek Him first, all you have to do is tell fear (yep, try it out loud) to leave in the name of His Son, Jesus - fear and all other spirits of Satan are required to obey. It might sound weird, and you will never know unless you try it.

Let's pray together:

Lord, I admit I have been holding back because of fear. I'm not going to be controlled any more. I want what You have. I would rather follow You even though I am afraid of what You might change, than stay the same and live with no power at all in my life. I say now, out loud, that I resist fear and all other evil spirits in the name of Jesus, and I know that You promise me that these spirits are required to leave me now, in the name of Jesus. I don't want to leave any doors open for those spirits to return, instead I want Your Holy Spirit to be everywhere in me that fear used to reign. Take me Lord, I am yours. In Jesus' name, I will never be the same, in Jesus' name! Amen.

Stay by yourself awhile and feel whatever it is you are feeling, let it sink in, you are a child of God, and the more you give Him of yourself, the more He gives you of Himself. Love, Karen

Photo by JoLin, courtesy of photoxpress.com