Truly Loved + Wholly Surrendered

The next set of the “Do Not Fear” series is the times the Lord gave the command in the midst of different circumstances and situations, whether it be in times of war, or famine, or persecution. There are numerous stories in the Bible where someone was facing fear because of the situation they found themselves in. However, God wants us to walk in His love and be fearless in the face of life’s circumstances, and He gives us the command personally.  If you’re familiar with the story of Israel and the nations, you’ll kno w that God commanded the Israelites to wipe out various pagan nations. During these times of war, and later on, even when different kings had reigned over Israel and Judah, God commanded His people to not fear the impending task in front of them. However, I find it interesting that of these instances, He personally delivers the command. In Numbers 21, Moses was getting ready to cross through the land of the Amorites, but the king wouldn’t allow Israel to pass through t...

Continuing through my series of “ Do Not Fear ,” the next and final set of promises are promises God gave to Israel. As His chosen people, and even in the midst of their rebellion and repentance cycles, He continues to be faithful to this nation. You may already know that God promised Abram that “in [his] seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 22:18, see also Genesis 12 ). God has not forgotten Israel!  The vast majority of the promises I found are in the book of Isaiah, which was written by a prophet who continuously called Israel to repentance, and in the midst, assured them of God’s faithfulness to them, to keep the remnant of Israel. Of these verses, though they specifically apply to Israel as a nation, because the Bible is the authoritative Word of God and is “ useful for teaching, for reproof, for restoration, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16) for all believers , we can find hope in these verses as well because Gentiles are grafted in...

In my last post , I started a series on the instances the Bible says to not fear and how we can walk in peace knowing God’s presence is always with us, no matter where we go. The promises God gave in the Old Testament are not the only promises given. Jesus also promised His disciples they are valued, seen, and chosen—and as His disciples today, we can carry those same truths wherever we go.  We can know we are valued and seen because Jesus says in Luke 12:7, “Indeed, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows. ” In this portion of Scripture, Jesus teaches His disciples to be on guard against the Pharisees’ teaching and alludes to the persecution they will face. Since we too will face some sort of persecution and are taught to “ test the spirits ” (1 John 4:1), I believe this can be applied to us as well.  We may or may not face severe persecution, but when we do, we can know the Lord sees us in the midst of it. My pa...

 When I read somewhere that “Do not fear” occurs in the Bible 365 times—once for each day of the year, I wanted to take a look myself and find all those instances. There are not 365 instances, by the way, but there are however a lot of verses where God gives the command to not fear. I want these verses to remind you, and me, that God is always for us, fighting our battles, seeing us in the midst of our circumstances, and through it all, He wants us to trust Him and not be afraid. The verses show the different circumstances people faced in the Bible and in those circumstances, the Lord says, “Do not fear,” or, “Do not be afraid.” I hope you'll find these verses encouraging and applicable to your own life, and that you'll always remember: no matter what is happening in your life or in the lives of those you love, with God on your side, there is nothing to fear. After searching for verses that contained or dealt with the command not to fear, I categorized them...