Fearing the Future

Many of us who understand how politics 'seem' to work in the USA are very alarmed with the election of Barack Obama to the presidency. And his recent decisions seem to prove that our fears are not without merit and if anything it could be a whole lot worse.

As we perceive what the future may hold fear grips us and we wonder how we should prepare for the future, to ride out the apparent inevitable. We do want to be wise and learn from history, do we not? Lots of uncertainty. And if you are a parent with young children the situation becomes more serious then a mere concern.

I am almost 62 years old and I can remember well political events from way back - the first one I remember is when I heard the adults discuss a war which I know know must have been the Korean War. I have always taken a keen interest in current events as pertains to the USA government. I love our country. It is a beautiful piece of landscape - great diversity here. The sun comes up mornings, shines and by evening it goes down; night time falls and all the sounds of night awaken. Beautiful: What cannot be seen. just might be heard. God has made a wonderful, beautiful world. And I love it which means that when I hear of the evil running rampant, I get discouraged. However.....

This week the Lord reminded me of a Scripture in Isaiah 8:12-14: "You are not to say "It is a conspiracy!" In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy, And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it. It is the LORD of Hosts whom you should regard as holy, and He shall be your fear, and he shall be your dread. Then He shall become a sanctuary.." NASB

I was so blessed when I studied these verses again! And I know for a fact they are true! When Dr. Malcolm Field told me that our daughter is going to die in a few weeks, I cried hard for two days. I knew I would never survive until I had it out with Him. So one evening, after putting our granddaughter to bed, I spent a lot of time in the WORD, praying about this matter. Peace came to me and it was laid on my heart to live one day at a time; and if the LORD would take her (Which he did 9 1/2 months later) He will be there to strengthen me. But in the meantime, I am to live life to the full, make life happen and enjoy life! So I did and it happened just like I expected.

Now having experienced the faithfulness of God in a family situation, I just know the message of God is still the same: trust me! Do not fear man! (You know fear manipulates people, whatever it be, hence the act of fear is a serious one.) It appears to me that God has put us on a fast track to learn trust, faith, so how well are we learning?

Just thought I would share what is on my heart, how the Lord has been dealing with me on this issue...Hope it may help one person..

Blessings,
ginnyrose

Greetings ginnyrose
Thank you so much sister for posting this. It really meant a lot to me. I know that what you wrote here really helped me with some of the things that have been on my mind and heart.

God Bless
Maryjane

This week Proverbs 3:5: Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding" has been ministering to my spirit. One could paraphrase it to say: trust in the Lord with all your mind, emotion, and life and do not depend on your or anothers' smarts! There are a lot of people out there - who I suspect have honest intentions - are running scared. Really scared. And I am not so sure but what they do have reason to be scared. But who is in control? God is! God allowed Obama to be elected and he will be in that position as long as He wills. (Y'all may not remember but Richard Nixon won his second election in a landslide but was impeached and out of office a short time later. Was God in control? Certainly.) So, how will we react? Join some militia group who will fight to preserve the status quo? Or, will we submit to the powers that God set up over us knowing full well it could in the end physically hurt us?

Proverbs 3:6-8 teaches us more: "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones." I find this comforting: trusting will be healthful! Worry sickens a body. Really!

As I think about the future, its unpredictability, I know I will be forced to trust the LORD in ways unknown to me by experience. I can not brag about being so faithful when I was tested in the past. Knowing my weaknesses I am challenged everyday to lean upon the LORD to teach me NOW to hear his voice and trust Him NOW. And I must say it is health to the belly ....

God bless all as we learn to trust Him NOW!

ginnyrose

ginnyrose wrote:
Proverbs 3:5

But who is in control? God is!

...So, how will we react? Join some militia group who will fight to preserve the status quo? Or, will we submit to the powers that God set up over us knowing full well it could in the end physically hurt us?

God bless all as we learn to trust Him NOW!

ginnyrose

I guess it doesn't help that your country is about to have a constitutional crisis...one that could change your country forever.

At least that's what this person is leading Americans to believe, and he is not alone in it either; it seems there is a grassroots movement going on in the USA. I have more on this, but won't post it here.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Funbobbasso

so what are Christians to do?

You are right, that Christians are [u]not to fear man,[/u] and what they could do, but only God. Regardless of what is coming on the world, we are to be ready to give an answer of the reason of the hope that is in us. 1 Pet 3:15 Be encouraged and [i]take faith[/i], that Jesus is in us, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit sustains us always. And He will be with us, even to the very end. Matthew 28:20

At least that's what this person is leading Americans to believe, and he is not alone in it either; it seems there is a grassroots movement going on in the USA. I have more on this, but won't post it here.

I listened to most of this video. The speaker makes a lot of valid points.....BUT then I remember what the WORD says in Romans 13:1,2 (NASB): "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves." I believe the WORD is more authoritative then mere man, don't you think?

I have heard local hunters say ammunition is getting hard to find, that it is being bought up by people in the cities. Have no clue where that info comes from, but that is what the locals are saying. If this is true it would take no imagination what may be in store for the future. We can fear, panic and for what good? If civil war erupts, it won't be the first time ... and if we refuse to participate which in the end could take our life - well, so be it. God is still in control. It is like Richard Wurbrand used to say: If God wants you alive, no persecution can kill you!" I think he is right. God is sovereign and I am delighted to rest in it. (Remember, our country has been killing the unborn for many years, so judgement alone for that hideous sin is certainly forthcoming ...)

ginnyrose

Thank you for pouring your heart out sister. Your spirit shines in the midst of His presence.

Sometimes when I begin to fear about the world, politics, work, etc... I remember His words as well. Psalm 56:4 "In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me."

Its best to do as Jesus and stay out of politics and the world. Thats what I try to do at least. :-)

Its best to do as Jesus and stay out of politics and the world

You are touching a raw nerve here...the pressure to participate in politics is strong, at least to vote, e.g. Too many times it becomes an issue of voting for the lesser of the two evils. Tragic. When I decide I am NOT going to vote, my husband informs me I need to go and vote...{{sigh}}

"To stay out of the world" ...Miccah, would you mind sharing details what you have in mind? and how it can be accomplished?

Blessings,
ginnyrose

Ginny, it doesn't help that the internet's mass amateurism of publishing has flooded the church with news consumers who cope with their fears from consuming too much media by re-publishing this media for others to consume.

MC

"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
(Mat 6:25-34)

Dear Compton,

This is something that I have watched and practiced without actually knowing what it was.

It does not produce fear in my case. At times I feel like a sailors wife on top of the house walking the 'widow's walk,' watching for the sight if His sail. Every thing I read tells me, 'now much longer, spread the Lord's word while you still can.'

However, I will no longer re-publish anything I come upon. If it may cause another to fear it is not worth repeating. Point taken there.

Kind regards,
white stone

I will no longer re-publish anything I come upon

Deepest appreciation for your sensitivity White Stone. Very touched actually.

The internet is essentially one destination: namely a person's computer. This means that all the news a person wants about global currency, North Korean missile launches, or homeland disaster prophecies, are just a few clicks away.

There used to be a website dedicated to revival just a few clicks away. Lately that website's public forum has become a platform for republishing secular media under the theme of prophetic 'watching'. It has become a kind of end-times news outlet...even as the community welcomes a new baby into the world.

We decry the world seeping into the church, yet we have become publishers for the world. The signal to noise ratio, the bible to noise ratio, has become very low.

Something to consider. Thanks again White Stone.

MC

This encouraged me. Thanks for sharing GinnyRose.
:)

it doesn't help that the internet's mass amateurism of publishing has flooded the church with news consumers who cope with their fears from consuming too much media by re-publishing this media for others to consume.

Compton, I love the wording of this tongue-in-cheek definition of .... sounds like a dog chasing his tail! Actually, it made me smile - I think it is funny! You about to write some satire?

Seriously now, one could also include radio talk shows. Sometimes I get the feeling that there is a pack of dogs out there growling at me, ready to pounce on me if I make a mismove. I am concerned about our country, but how to balance this with faith leaves me in a quandary. Since this is the case I will opt to abstain from getting too intellectually involved in current events because I know how damaging it is to faith. I know my limitations, man's limitations, and I know God's power. Doing so will free me from worry and keep me healthy in every sense of the word. God has always been with his people and will continue to do so. He did promise to chasten His children (else we would be bastards) and that is not pleasant,but during all this he is still in control. He is observing, watching and limiting. So why are we running scared?

An interesting side note here... I have lots of cousins living in Elkhart County, IN where the unemployment is 20%. This stress is making people more God conscience, more thankful and they are not as arrogant either - more humble. Their financial stability is precarious, at best. If you have a job, you are so grateful even if it is not the kind of work you like. Just any job that pays anything will do. You would not have heard that attitude expressed several years ago.

Now, I do feel sorry for Barack Obama and Michelle and their precious little girls - they are cute little things!

Blessings,
ginnyrose

Lately, it is as if things are in a different realm. While things around me are in chaos, the place where I am standing is peaceful and calm. At times I become concerned that it is almost too quiet.

While He is having me to prepare, it is almost as if I am preparing things for another, and not myself. The events that are taking place seem unreal - as if I am watching a movie. Some of the events make me sad, but then I remember the depth of rebellion that has been leveled against our great and awesome God. How cold, and crass and greedy we all had become. How we just kept getting worse and worse.

Even now the people will not listen. Many choose to believe that this is all just temporary and things will soon return to what they once were. Heaven forbid that that should ever be the case.

hi Ginnyrose,

I know my limitations, man's limitations, and I know God's power.

This statement expresses such a reassuring inward tranquil strength. It is akin to Psalms 131, a passage I find myself turning to more often as I grow older.

"O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;
Nor do I involve myself in great matters,
Or in things too difficult for me.
Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child rests against his mother,
My soul is like a weaned child within me.
O Israel, hope in the LORD
From this time forth and forever."

Alas...these days with every natural storm, political storm, military storm, or financial storm there comes the even worst storm...the data storm. Zillions of flapping lips start oscillating, zillions of little fingers start typing and clicking away, raining down their instant replays, their slo mo replays, their edited footage, their diagrams and charts, their flying 3D logos and motion graphics, their theme music, their panel experts, their comparisons, predictions, prophesies and pronouncements.

Every day there is a buffet of baloney large enough to give us all information indigestion! Perhaps one cause of the 'love of many will wax cold' is crisis overload. People will burn out trying to process all of the burdens of this planet.

If we would remain strong enough, patient enough, compassionate enough for our families, church, and communities, we can't keep searching for signs of the Second Advent of our Lord over the global fretwork. Trying to calculate all the possible angles is not the work of a watchman, it's the work of a madman. Such a task would be hard even on a super computer without emotions, let alone the human psyche. We will blow a fuse sooner or later. We aren't God almighty.

Blessings,

MC

If we would remain strong enough, patient enough, compassionate enough for our families, church, and communities, we can't keep searching for signs of the Second Advent of our Lord over the global fretwork.

Well said, Mike. Excellent thread Ginny.

Those who have experienced a few of those storms in which the Master has spoken "peace be still" just cannot seem to get as agitated over every squall that comes along. Not at all saying that this is not going to be a major hurricane, but it is not the size of the storm, but the power of the Master that counts.

Clint