Fear

One of the biggest issues facing us in our lives is fear. Fear can be a crippling experience. And the type of fear that we face is drastically different. It really boils back to the fear of the unknown in most circumstances.

But as Christians, we are not to fear. That isn't the way God built us. It's easy to say and very hard to do. But over and over again in the Bible, God tells us fear not, I'm with you, I am going to help you.

David himself felt the fear. David's biggest fear at times was the fear of being alone. Remember before David was king he was chased around the country side by King Saul who wanted him dead. David said in Psalms 102 6-7: I am like a desert owl, like and owl among the ruins. I lie awake; I have become like a bird on a roof. (NIV)

Paul also had the fear of being alone. Paul himself was a people person. For an example of that read 2 Timothy 4. Paul was isolated and alone at the end of his life. In a prison where he could have been eaten by rats. He knew as he talked about in 2 Timothy that we need people when we are alone. That was a fear that he faced.

There are six primary fears: poverty, death, loss of love, loss of health, old age, and rejection. 

If you have God then you have no excuse. Just do what he tells you. Let the chips fall where they may, and most importantly TRUST HIM! It is impossible to fail if God is with you no matter what your fear is. He is the same God that reassured Paul, David, Gideon, Moses, and Joshua. And he will reassure you as well.

Seasons

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

I think Solomon in this passage is trying to tell us something and that something is life is ever changing. That several seasons in our life are vastly different from one to another. And that it is a complete circle. Where we go, we go back to. Through time we go from one extreme to another different extreme. 

We go through the circle of life, the seasons of time. From planting flowers to watching them witter and die, to reseeding them again. The cycle continually evolves.  We watch as war starts and then end. And we get sick and then heal again. We laugh in one moment only to feel the pain in the next. We search and then give up. We are silent and then comes a time to speak. 

Think about this....

Just look at how much fashion all in itself changed! In 100 years. 

All of this tells us some things....change is inevitable. Who controls change? Do you? I know that I don't some of the best moments and the worst have been unplanned by me. Ultimately it is God that controls outcomes, the universe, and everything in it. One minute we could live in prosperity the next poverty.  

For example this guy...

Vince Young signed a $26 million dollar contract. Now he is broke. He filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in January of this year. Vince Young had a change in season...and usually with a change in season, I think that God allows a storm to accompany it. That's how you know the season is changing! 

Every purpose has its time and its season. What are you doing to take advantage of what season you are in?

And for your past...that's just what it is your past. In your past...remember this: You view what actually happened, what others have said about what happened, the devil's spin on it, and what God has to say about it. We got so confused on the past we can't tell what happened! And always, at least in my experience we view the past with blinders. We see the best of the past not the worse.

If you are in a season of life that you don't like or in the midst of a storm...remember this--it's a season, and you won't be in it forever either. 

Whatever season you are in make an impact...how do you want to remember this season and what can you do with the season to glorify God. The future is clear to him, fuzzy to us. So it's best to trust the one who knows.